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Apple Removes New York Times Apps from iTunes Store in China

nytimes.com

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Re: Apple Removes New York Times Apps from iTunes Store in China

#11

Post by MBCook »

wyager wrote: post #8

I wonder what is the largest legal entity a company like Apple or Google would be willing to flip the middle finger to and say "No, you are ridiculous, feel free to ban us." At some point the demands just become so onerous that you either have to have separate SKUs for that legal region (extra expensive) or you have to put the same backdoors or restrictions in all your products (which makes the product inferior for c…

Apple clearly isn't going to, although at least they have a very pro-encryption stance that we already know China isn't keen on.

Google already bowed years ago. They tried to stay out of China on principle with search didn't they? But in the end the market was just too big and they entered it.

It's easy to take a principled stance against North Korea (where users don't get a choice) or a smaller country that's pretty big like even Iran if they wanted to.

China is just too big for people to resist. At a certain point you're not going to grow much unless you go to China.

Re: Apple Removes New York Times Apps from iTunes Store in China

#13

Post by DINKDINK »

nkristoffersen wrote: post #6
sfoon wrote: post #4

bowing to Chinese dictatorship, so sad. then again, Facebook/Snapchat also has no shame bowing as well. good thing Google has a backbone

What has Google done that shows a "backbone" in China?

Gmail warns if they believe “Your Account May Have Been Targeted by State-Sponsored Actors”[1] in a prompt[2]. I saw this first hand on a friend's machine in Hong Kong.

[1] http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240527023036659045774495... [2] https://sophosnews.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/google-warnin...

Re: Apple Removes New York Times Apps from iTunes Store in China

#14

Post by hackuser »

Why are other publications (the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times are mentioned) doing to keep Chinese authorities happy?

This should be a badge of honor for any news source.

The NY Times doesn't publish anything about China that they don't publish about many other countries. Certainly coverage of the U.S. and U.K. is much more challenging to those authorities.

Re: Apple Removes New York Times Apps from iTunes Store in China

#15

Post by plussed_reader »

mbgaxyz wrote: post #2

Looks like the Chinese government would like to ensure that its citizens do not fall victim to 'fake news' and has thus taken on the responsibility of 'fact checking'.

China's been 'fact checking' far longer than the internet has existed.

Re: Apple Removes New York Times Apps from iTunes Store in China

#16

Post by wyager »

MBCook wrote: post #11
wyager wrote: post #8

I wonder what is the largest legal entity a company like Apple or Google would be willing to flip the middle finger to and say "No, you are ridiculous, feel free to ban us." At some point the demands just become so onerous that you either have to have separate SKUs for that legal region (extra expensive) or you have to put the same backdoors or restrictions in all your products (which makes the product inferior for c…

Apple clearly isn't going to, although at least they have a very pro-encryption stance that we already know China isn't keen on. Google already bowed years ago. They tried to stay out of China on principle with search didn't they? But in the end the market was just too big and they entered it. It's easy to take a principled stance against North Korea (where users don't get a choice) or a smaller country that's pretty…

Let's take the UK as an example. It's a medium-sized country, and no one has significant production there. Let's say the UK keeps passing insane backwards anti-privacy laws and at some point told Apple to drop the encryption from the iPhone.

If Apple told them to pound sand and got banned from the UK, how much sales could they recoup if they kept Irish Apple stores extra well-stocked? If the response to Brazil's VAT is any example, thrifty entrepreneurs will do all the hard work of getting iPhones into the UK for a modest but very profitable overhead. A couple iPhones sold at 25% markup is more than enough to pay for a RyanAir round-trip and a week living in a cheap flat.

Re: Apple Removes New York Times Apps from iTunes Store in China

#17

Post by gamesurgeon »

"...Later that day, a separate team from Apple informed The Times that the apps would be removed".

Am I reading that right? Seems like the Times is not-so-subtly implying that Apple tipped off the Chinese authorities. Maybe they mentioned the scathing nature of the article that could potentially paint China in bad light.

For those that didn't read that article, it unveils billions of dollars in perks given to Foxconn/Apple: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/29/technology/apple-iphone-ch...

Re: Apple Removes New York Times Apps from iTunes Store in China

#18

Post by olalonde »

hackuser wrote: post #14

Why are other publications (the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times are mentioned) doing to keep Chinese authorities happy? This should be a badge of honor for any news source. The NY Times doesn't publish anything about China that they don't publish about many other countries. Certainly coverage of the U.S. and U.K. is much more challenging to those authorities.

If I recall correctly, the NYT website was blocked a few months ago when it published an unflattering (e.g. allegations of cronyism) article on Xi Jinping. The NYT is also pretty heavy on "China-bashing" though that's not really unique to them[0].

[0] http://www.overcomingbias.com/2010/01/china-bashing.html

Re: Apple Removes New York Times Apps from iTunes Store in China

#19

Post by michel-slm »

sfoon wrote: post #4

bowing to Chinese dictatorship, so sad. then again, Facebook/Snapchat also has no shame bowing as well. good thing Google has a backbone

How did Facebook bow to China? AFAICT we are still blocked there.

Disclaimer: I work for FB, this is my personal opinion

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