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China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

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Re: China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

#41

Post by mtgx »

brightball wrote: post #3
tru3_power wrote: post #2

Jeez they even tried to get a song removed from Apple Music? I wonder how much other stuff China was able to suppress without anyone noticing.

When people believe that suppressing speech is the correct course of action, there's really no telling where it ends.

True. The recent trend of regular people demanding online platforms to remove "fake news" or other offending content has been quite worrisome, mainly because we don't know where it will end. The US government is already trying to take advantage of this by conflating the encryption debate with the content moderation debate.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20191007/00022343132/doj-i...

Re: China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

#42

Post by vermontdevil »

ycombonator wrote: post #31
strooper wrote: post #7

Western companies have been bending blatantly a little too low to save assets and market shares in China. With trade war, human rights abuse in Xinjiang, and Hong Kong protest, this is probably a good chance for the West to stand against China's invasion.

No politician for the past 50 years stood up to China until Trump faced them head on. Credit where it’s due.

He sure isn’t standing up for Hong Kong. Jeez.

Re: China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

#43

Post by helpPeople »

NicoJuicy wrote: post #33

I'm an Android user, but this might be the first action of Apple that gets some respect from me without alternative motives. It would be one that makes me change to a more expensive platform in 3-6 months. Nice

Apple has bent the knee plenty of times to China.

If you really are an Android user, this should not be news. You can put any app on your device. Only Apple restricts you.

Re: China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

#44

Post by noobiemcfoob »

_bxg1 wrote: post #18

The China market is often framed as a mortal necessity for companies that have no more room to grow stateside. What we forget is that this assumes infinite corporate growth, which is literally impossible, despite being demanded by shareholders. We need to drop this notion that every single year has to result in growth. Corporations no longer have the option of settling into a market segment and developing a harmoniou…

Am I wrong that this motivation comes from investors valuing the total stock price (and ultimate selling of those stocks) over continued paid dividends?

This preference has always bugged me as personally I'd prefer to have a consistent trickle I can plan on than a sudden value spike I have to capitalize on, but I suppose I've always been adverse to gambling anyway.

Re: China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

#45

Post by outside1234 »

_bxg1 wrote: post #18

The China market is often framed as a mortal necessity for companies that have no more room to grow stateside. What we forget is that this assumes infinite corporate growth, which is literally impossible, despite being demanded by shareholders. We need to drop this notion that every single year has to result in growth. Corporations no longer have the option of settling into a market segment and developing a harmoniou…

Especially since operating in China seems to always result in losses given the slanted playing field there.

Re: China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

#46

Post by dkonofalski »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #17
nkassis wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not like Apple would stop making and selling phones. And I doubt people wanting to buy a iPhone are the same as those wanting a phone from another brand.

Yeah, the iPhone is as much someone's identity now as it is a product.

Even as a pretty heavy Apple user, I feel so sorry for people that have to identify with a product. If someone asked me to describe myself, my choice in computer/phone/whatever would not be a part of that description.

Re: China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

#47

Post by helpPeople »

nanoservices wrote: post #20
brink wrote: post #12

This would be a great time for Apple to start allowing users to install apps manually.

Been an Android users since the first Android phone (HTC G1), before that I was on Windows Mobile. If Apple opened things up I would switch in a heartbeat. I doubt it will happen though.

I could never trust Apple given their track record.

Plus, their hardware is overpriced for what you get.

I genuinely have a hard time understanding the appeal. It seems to have the Gucci brand name, maybe integrations but I don't feel this is lacking on Android, and maybe privacy but I don't trust Apple for privacy.

Re: China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

#48

Post by dkonofalski »

vermontdevil wrote: post #36

Apple is going to cave. And it’ll set a worse precedent because other governments are going to demand backdoors etc.

If Apple didn't cave to the US government, what makes you think they're going to cave to China?

Re: China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

#49

Post by oceanplexian »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #34
sorenn111 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So I googled and saw that there's 4.8 Million apple employees in China? More than i expected when I started the Google search. With that said, is that enough for China to care at all? a little? a lot? Meaning, I wouldn't be surprised if China would forgo plenty of jobs from Western companies as their economy matures. Especially if China fully boycotted Apple, I doubt many other US Companies would respond at all Many…

> if China fully boycotted Apple They'd seize the factories and continue production, at least for the medium term. It makes no sense economically, but it keeps Xi in power. To Beijing, the factories are valuable for (a) IP and (b) jobs. Apple walking deprives China of (a), but not (b), not in the short term.

This is an interesting thought, because most Apple products are essentially bricked without software activation. And Apple has gone to great lengths to make it impossible to circumvent. Sure, they could produce cheap clones running Android but China already does that.

Re: China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

#50

Post by vuln »

vermontdevil wrote: post #42
ycombonator wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No politician for the past 50 years stood up to China until Trump faced them head on. Credit where it’s due.

He sure isn’t standing up for Hong Kong. Jeez.

What does standing up for Hong Kong mean to you. What could Trump do to help? Generally curious.
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