Will Apple be the last US tech giant left in China?
Welcome, everybody! There used to be a time when the US tech giants were all in China. Today, Apple’s huge presence in the country looks increasingly attracting attention.
A few days back Microsoft which also operates in china announces that they will be shutting down their social platform LinkedIn in China. The company said having to comply with the Chinese state had become increasingly challenging — so it pulled the plug. But, unlike its peers, Apple has a huge presence in China but apple has its own censorship problems in the country. Apple Censorship, a group that monitors the App Store, says it has seen an increase in apps that have been removed this month. So, what going on?
It’s very hard to determine what is going on behind the doors in Beijing. Still, what is becoming increasingly clear is that Apple and Microsoft are in a domestic battle between the authorities and the Chinese tech industry.
China is even worried about the power of its own tech giants like Tencent and Alibaba. In April, Alibaba accepted a record $2.8bn (£2bn) fine after an investigation found that it had abused its dominant market position. Many other similar cases have been seen before also.
American companies also haven’t been spared from this “great tech crackdown”.
James Griffiths, in his book “The Great Firewall of China.” says that
“This crackdown suggests that both Apple and Microsoft are very aware that their position is more light than it’s been in recent years. They know they need to walk carefully,”
Apple, however, has a different set of priorities in China to Microsoft.
It is deeply entangled in the country, far more so than any other US tech company. In the last quarter, Apple made nearly $15bn in revenue in China and Taiwan — an extraordinary figure.
Its global supply chain also depends on Chinese manufacturing. And to be in China, Apple knows it has to play by the country’s rules — even if that means censorship.
Many US companies have backed off way before. For example, Google removed its search engine from China in 2010. On this, the company said that they cannot censor the searches anymore.
But Rebecca Fannin, in her book Silicon Dragons, says that Apple will fight to stay in china unlike Microsoft as also apple is one of the market leaders in China. Also, we don’t know what are the talks that are going on behind the doors between apple and Chinese authorities.
But If Chinese authorities want to take down any app, it just got deleted and we don’t know how long will this go on.
That’s all in this story and if you like this story then please do follow me and give a clap to this story…..✌️✌️
