Apple of Discord in China

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by CommonReader

Jobszilla rising from the sea?

I am somewhat torn on this.

On the one hand it doesn't hurt to see Apple being pulled from its high horse and their warranty isn't the best anyway.
On the other hand there seems to be a tendency in China to attack foreign companies that seem to be too successful or just for political reasons. Volkswagen as the market leading car manufacturer was attacked in the state media and Japanese companies became the victims of nationalist agitation in China just for being Japanese.
I believe it is high time to get tougher with China. No more open access to Western markets unless access to China is equally open.

I agree with you -- but I think that ship has sailed. The time for that would have been 10 years ago. Besides, that is exactly why the Chinese keep their old pal next door, in North Korea, alive. He comes in really handy when the West ever threatens to get "tough" on trade or other matters with China. Then buddy Kim will talk the talk and the West suddenly urgently needs China's help... And voila, no more "crazy talk" about equal access for Western companies to the local market.

The Western powers and Japan are much too self absorbed and unable to recognize the long term dangers to be able to present a united front -- which would be the only way to deal with China. Only Japan seems to be waking up. Their economy has been almost swept away and become dependant on China and the military threats are growing.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

-that is exactly why the Chinese keep their old pal next door, in North Korea, alive. He comes in really handy when the West ever threatens to get "tough" on trade or other matters with China. Then buddy Kim will talk the talk and the West suddenly urgently needs China's help... And voila, no more "crazy talk" about equal access for Western companies to the local market.--

This game as been played a long time by many countries.

The major hot spot wild playing cards for China, for Russia, and a few other (more so called friendly) countries are (right now) N Korea, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, the countries around Israel, and a few other hot spots.
The West puts the pressure on, and all of a sudden, a hot spot gets hotter. The pressure eases.

Sometimes as with Egypt and Pakistan right now, the demand is for more aid and let us do our thing. Egypt is critical for Israel, and Pakistan has the bomb and know how.

"Help us and we won't bother you."

[Penforhire]

What China has now, that most of those other countries did not, is our worldwide manufacturing base gripped by the short-hairs. I continue to see an amazing amount of manufacturing and new business moving to China. The Chinese standard of living will hopefully improve and take at least some of the steam out of that movement.

Feels like a complex situation. I know we can't compete right now without joining our competition by doing increasing business in China. I expect in 10 to 20 years the hot spot will be somewhere in Africa but my timescale could be off. It was Thailand, Malaysia, and India before it became China. Though I don't count India out, at least for engineering outsourcing and call centers.

[forsooth]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

What China has now, that most of those other countries did not, is our worldwide manufacturing base gripped by the short-hairs. I continue to see an amazing amount of manufacturing and new business moving to China. The Chinese standard of living will hopefully improve and take at least some of the steam out of that movement.

Feels like a complex situation. I know we can't compete right now without joining our competition by doing increasing business in China. I expect in 10 to 20 years the hot spot will be somewhere in Africa but my timescale could be off. It was Thailand, Malaysia, and India before it became China. Though I don't count India out, at least for engineering outsourcing and call centers.

already moving to
Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, other

[forsooth]

Originally Posted by frahse

This game as been played a long time by many countries.

The major hot spot wild playing cards for China, for Russia, and a few other (more so called friendly) countries are (right now) N Korea, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, the countries around Israel, and a few other hot spots.
The West puts the pressure on, and all of a sudden, a hot spot gets hotter. The pressure eases.

Sometimes as with Egypt and Pakistan right now, the demand is for more aid and let us do our thing. Egypt is critical for Israel, and Pakistan has the bomb and know how.

"Help us and we won't bother you."

or dont bomb us - "we won't bother you"

[archerwoo]

Originally Posted by VaultBoy

*I* assume he was cremated. And with that, I imagine the ashes starting to re-form as the i1000 to come back and start wreaking havoc on things.

[Rizla]

India imposes significant import duties on Chinese goods to protect their local manufacturing. Why don't we do it?

[TGS]

May seem like a dumb, and somewhat tardy, question, but what exactly is an "Apple" of discord? To what, in this sentence, does the noun, "Apple", refer?

[frahse]

Originally Posted by TGS

May seem like a dumb, and somewhat tardy, question, but what exactly is an "Apple" of discord? To what, in this sentence, does the noun, "Apple", refer?

The writer was exercising what is called "poetic license!"

[afv011]

Originally Posted by Rizla

India imposes significant import duties on Chinese goods to protect their local manufacturing. Why don't we do it?

It's a known fact that this kind of tactics simply slows down local innovation and is detrimental in the long run. With no competition from abroad, local manufacturers get lazy as they don't have to out-innovate foreign manufacturers to outsell them.

[BeccaPrice]

Originally Posted by TGS

May seem like a dumb, and somewhat tardy, question, but what exactly is an "Apple" of discord? To what, in this sentence, does the noun, "Apple", refer?

I think it's a reference to Greek mythology, when there was a golden apple labeled To The Fairest that was put in front of (I think) Aphrodite and Diana and maybe one or two other miscellaneous goddesses. The apple was created by the goddess of discord.

My Greek mythology is way rusty; I'll have to look up the story later.

ETA: here it is. This started the events that led up to the Trojan War.

[afv011]

I don't know if this is related to the original news, but goes along the same lines:

It could be sweaty palm time at Cupertino after new research revealed that more than half of China’s loyal fanbois are thinking of switching their iPhones to a Samsung Galaxy S4, according to new data from market watcher TrendForce.

... while 52.4 percent of fanbois said they too were thinking of switching over to Apple’s arch-rival – a figure described by TrendForce as “alarmingly large”.

Source

Note: TheRegister uses the term "fanbois" to refer to iOS users.

[SeaKing]

Originally Posted by afv011

I don't know if this is related to the original news, but goes along the same lines:

Source

Note: TheRegister uses the term "fanbois" to refer to iOS users.

How could they do such a uncivil thing?

"Oh, the (in)humanity!"

[redcat]

Originally Posted by afv011

I don't know if this is related to the original news, but goes along the same lines:

Quote:
It could be sweaty palm time at Cupertino after new research revealed that more than half of China’s loyal fanbois are thinking of switching their iPhones to a Samsung Galaxy S4, according to new data from market watcher TrendForce.
... while 52.4 percent of fanbois said they too were thinking of switching over to Apple’s arch-rival – a figure described by TrendForce as “alarmingly large”.


Source

Note: TheRegister uses the term "fanbois" to refer to iOS users.

Apple had planned on China being a big market for them.
That doesn't sound good.

[david_e]

Originally Posted by redcat

Apple had planned on China being a big market for them.
That doesn't sound good.

Not really, if I am recalling the article correctly, it was a survey of 3,000 people and it was worded in a way that implied the conclusions weren't based on the full results.