Apple CEO Tim Cook’s apology hasn’t been enough to win the day in China.
China’s industry and commerce authority said this week that it will tighten its oversight of Apple and punish the company for failing to comply with Chinese laws. That in turn has led to speculation that the Chinese government may be pressuring the U.S. tech giant to cave in to its censorship demands.
"Although Apple has apologized to consumers, we will continue to listen to its words and watch its deeds, and will keep supervision on the company,” a senior official from the Department of Market Regulation under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce said, according to People’s Daily. “The government would take legal actions against Apple for failing to comply with Chinese laws, and punish it for the infringement of consume rights through unfair contract terms.”
A poll by China's leading Internet portal Sohu.com found that 73 percent of 2,841 voters polled support China's authority to tighten oversight. Nine percent support Apple and said the company doesn't deserve to be attacked, while 15 percent of voters said they don't care and will continue buying Apple products.
Following weeks of sharp criticism in China’s state media, Cook promised to improve the firm’s after-sales service in China, a move praised by China’s state media as “worth respect compared with other American companies.” However, some suggest the true purpose of the media frenzy may be pressuring Apple to caver in to the censors.
According to Fujian-based Telecommunication & Information newspaper, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is currently working out a regulation to “censor smartphone apps and built-in software.”
On April 4, Hao Peiqiang, a Chinese political writer and programmer, wrote on his blog that Apple has removed his Tibet-related book app from App Store because it “includes content that is illegal in China”. In an interview with the Financial Times, Hao saidApple may be taking heed of China’s censorship laws only after the past few weeks’ public relations crisis.
“Friends of mine tell me that Apple has had a censorship policy in place for at least two years, so I’m not sure if my app’s removal has anything to do with Apple’s recent trouble,” Hao said. “But the app has been operating normally for the last two months until now without any problems.”
Those problems include criticism of its warranty policies. The issue came up on March 15, World Consumer Rights Day, when China's biggest state-run television network aired an investigative report on how companies operating in China reportedly discriminate against or cheat consumers.
Apple, which operates eight retail stores in Chinawas criticized for providing a lower standard of after-sales service to Chinese consumers, including only offering a one-year warranty instead of the two years, as required by Chinese laws. The company initially defeneds its policies in statements issued after the CCTV program was broadcast. While online users in China seemed to support Appleother state media outlets stepped up the attacks on Apple. The People's Daily published harshly worded tirades against the U.S. company almost daily, including an editorial titled "Defeat Apple's Unparalleled Arrogance on March 27th.
Then China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce called for "strengthened supervision" of Apple and said penalties would be imposed for "illegal acts."
Cook apologized to Chinese customers on April 1 in an open letter posted in Chinese on the company’s China web site and said it will change the warranty terms for some of its iPhones sold in China.
Many Chinese netizens seemed dubious about the charges against Apple, according to online postings on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platforms.Some said the assault is bizarre due to the ferocity of the media attacks over a disagreement over warranty policies.
Weibo celebrity “Beijing Chef” commented on Sina Weibo, "What has astonished me is that the state media attacked a tech company just for failing to replace iPhone’s back shell. They are not even willing to report about the tens of thousands of pig cadavers in the Huangpu river in Shanghai. Where’s their conscience?"A netizen named “Beargold” said the accusations of Apple’s after-sale polices is just a disguise. “The attacks that Apple is facing are inevitable. The Communist Party’s real concern is the transparency and openness of information on iPhone and iPad apps.”
Other people on the Internet said the attacks against Apple are reminiscent of Google's spat with China’s state media a few years ago. That clash also included attacks by the government press over Google’s search engine.
Jia Jinchi, an investor of Dandong-based Young Time Youth Hostel in northwestern Liaoning province said in a Weibo comment that Apple’s experience has reminded him of how Google was forced into a painful retreat from China after a dispute with regulators over censorship. “When a foreign company wanted to keep its integrity and decency while adjusting its operation strategies in China, it was kicked out. It shall be our sadness, not theirs.”
“Google refused to bow to the Chinese government’s policy of censoring the Internet. What path will Apple choose? ” Sinta, an employee of Taizhou-based Aihua Logistics, asked in his Weibo account.
When Google quit China, it left local search market to rival Baidu. Google has just 15 percent of the Chinese search market as of Nov. 2012, according to Chinese research firm Analysys International. Baidu has a 79 percent market share.
Apple is enjoying extraordinary growth in China. Sales in China climbed to $ 23.8 billion to Apple's revenue in the 2012 fiscal year, up 3 percentage points from the previous year, and accounted for 15 percent of the total revenue in 2012. In an interview with China’s state Xinhua News Agency earlier this year, Cook said China will one day overtake the U.S. to become Apple’s biggest market.
