Posted on 10/15/2019 9:37:04 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Apple became a trillion-dollar company again last week, as rumors of a China trade deal drove the Cupertino tech giant's shares to a new 52-week high. But Apple's under-the-table dealings with China's communist bosses have some of the company's biggest and most public supporters angry as hell.
Last Thursday, after Apple banned the HKmap.live app, which allowed Hong Kong protestors to track (and avoid) massed riot police, well-known tech blogger and Apple developer John Gruber wrote, "I still haven’t seen which local laws it violates, other than the unwritten law of pissing off Beijing." He added, "Capitulation is a bad look for Apple." Indeed. Later that day, Gruber dissected CEO Tim Cook's company-wide memo defending the move, and concluded that "it doesn't add up." He went on to write, "I can’t recall an Apple memo or statement that crumbles so quickly under scrutiny." Gruber also said that Cook's decision was "both sad and startling."
Sad? Sure. Startling? I'm less sure, given how important the Chinese market is to Apple's bottom line, and how vital China's manufacturing sector is to Apple's products. If there's anything more unreasonable and demanding than a communist thug, it's a communist thug flush with U.S. dollars.
Ben Lovejoy, another longtime Apple watcher, wrote for 9to5Mac on the same day last week that the company's "relationship with China is turning into a massive liability." Lovejoy detailed Apple's recent history of kowtowing to Chinese interests:
Back in 2017, the Chinese government asked Apple to remove the New York Times app from the Chinese App Store; Apple complied.
Later the same year, China insisted that Apple remove more than 400 VPN apps from App Store; Apple did so.
Again in 2017, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security asked Apple to remove Skype; the Cupertino company again did as requested.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
Don’t like commie rules, don’t do business in commie countries.
Yes, but that's the ONLY law that matters in HK/China.
It’s a company, they money,
Social engineering is not their first priority
Pissing off the largest country in the world is not a money maker
As much as I identify with the HK people, Britain has relinquished control
Cupertino where Apple HQ is located is close to 80% Asian.
Its where I first heard the phrase: “Driving while Chinese”
RE: Cupertino where Apple HQ is located is close to 80% Asian.
Well, not all Asians are Chinese.
There are Indians, Filipinos, Koreans, Japanese and yes, even Engineers from Hong Kong.
DWO - Driving While Oriental.
It’s all about the Benjamins, baby...................
It bothers me even more that Van's shoes caved.
They used to be popular among skateboarders, and in a way, identified with rebellion and edginess.
But now it's "Shut up about those protesters and concentration camps, we want money".
Again, sad.
China is buying US real estate. Many people don’t even realize they fund the Chi-Coms.
Decades ago I worked in an office in San Francisco as a manager.
They listed for me more_than__twenty_ Asian countries that were the origins of the employees.
That includes Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia and others....
The “Asian” description is a total joke—about as helpful as calling everyone Earthlings.
I ceased a long time ago expecting companies to be able to
Love, Care, or Give a damn
Any organization, larger that ~150 ceases to care,
even about its own people, much less about “others”
Extremes of this include governments,
that treat their subjects like a herd of cattle
“real estate”
I never saw a problem with this. The property is still under US jurisdiction and if you’re worried about something nefarious going on there, the proximity makes it easier for our guys to spy on them.
I’m not sure how this makes it such that we are funding them either. It’d be the other way around since they tend to not default on property taxes.
The rent people pay is going to china. Cha ching
I never wore Vans back in high school. My Adidas were my skater kicks back then. In our school, anyone who wore Vans was a fag..
Apple became a trillion-dollar by a billion Chicom slave laborers and the left has no other recourse but to defend their slaves like the left has done historically.
I don’t know if these people are hypocrites or Apple is, or both.
We should ban any US company from kowtowing to the Chinese regime in any way.
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