Apple has always considered the Chinese market important to its success. A huge army of potential consumers and a large factory for assembling devices — all this unites this country. Therefore, it is quite logical that Apple tried to please the Chinese authorities, so that nothing threatens its well-being. There were also those who believed that the company was excessively humiliating itself before the Chinese authorities.
It has recently become clear that Apple's success in China comes at a price, not least because of the favorable climate that was made available to the company not without the involvement of the Chinese authorities. It turned out that five years ago, Tim Cook personally visited China in order to sign a five-year agreement with the government of this country worth 275 billion dollars. This made it possible to put an end to the aggressive actions of Chinese regulators, which could seriously complicate the life of the company in this country.
The fact is that then the Chinese government blocked the operation of iBooks and iTunes Movies in China and the company had problems with the use of the iPhone trademark, sales of Apple devices in this country fell sharply, which turned into a drop of almost 10% in the value of Apple shares.
Apple helped boost China's economy
Under the terms of a bilateral agreement between Apple and the Chinese government, the Cupertino-based company has pledged to help China's economy and technology development. Specifically, the company agreed to help the Chinese create "cutting-edge technology," use more components made in China in its products, invest in Chinese companies, train talented engineers, and collaborate with software developers in China.
Apple has also pledged to help establish research and development centers in China, open retail stores and invest in a renewable energy project. Experts agree that the company has fulfilled its obligations, and its investments have more than paid off.
In separate news, the iPhone assembly line has been shut down for the first time in more than a decade, according to some recent reports, Nikkei reports. "iPhone and iPad assembly has been halted for several days due to supply chain and power restrictions in China," according to multiple sources familiar with the situation.
The Nikkei reports that Apple's production is normally going into overtime this week to meet global demand during the holiday shopping season, but instead of giving workers extra shifts and switching to a 24-hour production schedule, they are getting free time .
