Bottom line: Apple’s Tim Cook and other big global CEOs active in China will need to walk a fine line to avoid being forced to take sides in ongoing US-China trade frictions.
Apple CEO Cook talks US-China tensions on latest China trip
Apple(Nasdaq: AAPL) CEO Tim Cook was in China once again this past weekend, in what seems to be becoming his second home. This time around Cook was one of the few corporate chiefs attending the China Development Forum, a major annual conference sponsored by China’s State Council. The event is mostly peopled by academics and government officials, and thus Cook’s attendance is both a feather in Beijing’s cap and also something of a nod to Cook’s own status as a global high-tech titan as he tries to stay in the nation’s good graces.
His major proclamations at the event weren’t all that earth-shattering. But he inevitably felt compelled to comment on the Donald Trump administration’s announcement last week of new punitive tariffs on China for unfair trade practices. He didn’t venture too far into the matter, and mostly urged both sides to stay calm in the face of rising trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Attendance of Google’s CEO at China’s premier Internet event marks a continuation of its slow return to China, while appearances by top Apple, Qualcomm and Microsoft executives are more expected.
Western tech execs hobnob at Internet conference
As we head into the new week, the headlines are filled with the latest words of wisdom on the future of the Internet from some of China’s leading company chiefs, who were all in the scenic city of Wuzhen for a major conference that kicked off over the weekend. But equally interesting were the guest list of foreign big-wigs in attendance, which included top executives from Google(Nasdaq: GOOG), Apple(Nasdaq: AAPL), Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) and Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM), among others.
This is the third year for the show, which I previously pooh-poohed as a show of pageantry without too much substance. But it does appear to be gaining a bit of traction over time, and I suppose I should grudgingly admit that perhaps China should have a greater say in the development of the Internet and that these major players are at least partly right to be attending in high-profile roles. After all, China is easily the world’s largest Internet market with more than 700 million users. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Tim Cook’s latest China trip and his announcement of a new R&D center in Shenzhen are part of a campaign to boost Apple’s profile and should help to stabilize its sliding position in the market.
Apple’s Tim Cook back in China
Apple CEO Tim Cook just can’t seem to get enough of China, with word that he’s back in the world’s largest smartphone market just 2 months after his last visit. But unlike past visits, which were mostly confined to bureaucratic Beijing, Cook was in the far more entrepreneurial city of Shenzhen this time, where he attended an innovation conference and announced Apple would open a new R&D center. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Apple’s decision to keep iPhone 7 prices in China roughly the same as the 6s is aimed at reversing its sliding sales, but won’t have much effect due to lack of major new features and stiff competition from domestic rivals.
Apple holds firm on iPhone 7 prices in China
Despite skidding sales and early bets that its latest smartphone won’t do well in China, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) won’t be giving any bargains to its fans in the world’s biggest smartphone market, according to newly released global prices for the iPhone 7. The move comes as a bit of a surprise, since Apple desperately needs to reverse its recent downward plunge in China, which is now its second biggest global market after only the US. But a number of factors are at play here, including a rapidly devaluing Chinese currency and also Apple’s hesitation to lower its prices into the same realm as some of its fast-rising homegrown Chinese rivals. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Apple’s announcement of its first China R&D center looks like a hastily crafted initiative aimed at generating positive publicity, but is unlikely to halt its recent slide in the market.
Apple announces first China R&D center
Just a day after new data showed just how badly Apple(Nasdaq: AAPL) is stumbling in China, the iPhone maker has finally taken a step it should have made long ago with the announcement that it will build an R&D center in the country. Apple’s hesitation over such a move has been quite embarrassing, especially since China has surged to become its second largest market in the last 3 years. The lack of such investment is also embarrassing for China because India, a much smaller market for Apple, became the first Asian recipient of an R&D center from the US tech giant earlier this year. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Apple’s $1 billion investment in a Chinese car services firm and establishment of an India R&D lab reflect China’s strength as an incubator of strong private companies and India’s as a software development hub.
Apple’s Tim Cook calls on China, India
It’s been an Asia-themed week for Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) CEO Tim Cook, whose tour to China and then India casts a spotlight on 2 massive markets with huge potential for the company. This particular trip has been quite revealing for the gifts that Cook has awarded during the week, reflecting each country’s strengths and also its weaknesses.
China’s biggest gift was a $1 billion investment in local private car services firm Didi Chuxing, and also a smaller gift in the form of a new app to promote local musicians. India, meanwhile, secured a coveted R&D lab, which is one of Apple’s few outside the US and hugely prestigious. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: The latest China trip by Apple’s CEO is designed to spotlight the company’s new mega-investment in Didi Chuxing and show its continued relevance for local app makers, as it seeks positive media coverage to halt a recent series of negative news.
Apple CEO looks for positive news on China trip
Less than 2 weeks after media first reported plans for a new China trip by Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) CEO, Tim Cook has appeared in Beijing for the eighth visit to his company’s second largest market. This particular visit comes at a sensitive time for Apple, which has experienced a number of China setbacks recently, led by a sharp drop in sales during the first 3 months of the year.
Against that backdrop, I previously said that Cook’s new trip looked partly aimed at damage control, though we should also note that he was already a frequent visitor to the country. In keeping with the past, Cook was relatively low key this time and didn’t even announce his arrival in China until he was spotted at a meeting with some of the company’s local app development partners in Beijing. (Chinese article) Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Apple’s new $1 billion investment in Didi Chuxing is a smart way to show its commitment to China and pursue car-based services, while avoiding intellectual property theft that might come if it set up its own R&D facility.
Apple invests in Didi Chuxing
I’ve been saying for years that Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) needs to make a major investment in China to show its commitment to the market, but was quite surprised to read it was finally taking such a step with plans to pump $1 billion into local hired car services giant Didi Chuxing. But after some more thought, I realized this particular investment actually has a certain form of logic that I’ll explain shortly. And it also shows Apple’s commitment to the market.
This particular announcement also comes as Apple experiences a sudden series of setbacks in China, following a good streak that saw it do quite well over the last 2 years. Those setbacks were led by Apple’s disclosure last month that its Greater China sales plunged 26 percent in the first quarter of this year. That bad news was followed by the company’s loss in a local trademark dispute involving the iPhone name, and after its China book and movie services were blocked for unspecified reasons. (previous post) Read Full Post…
Bottom line: An upcoming China trip by Apple’s CEO looks hastily arranged and aimed at damage control after several recent setbacks, but won’t stem the company’s recent sales plunge due to intense competition from domestic brands like Huawei.
Apple CEO books hasty trip to China
As the latest China setback for Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) ripples through the headlines, the global tech giant’s CEO Tim Cook is booking a trip to Beijing to try and halt a growing tide of bad news that has already wiped billions of dollars from his company’s stock. The latest China setback for Apple looks relatively minor, and has local media reporting recent malfunctions and the disappearance of some apps from the company’s China app store.
Those quirks may be an extension of a growing clash between Apple and China’s censors, who a couple of weeks ago shut down the company’s online book and movie services for unspecified violations. (previous post) Since then, Apple has also suffered negative publicity in China after losing a trademark battle involving the iPhone name, and most importantly from a 26 percent plunge in China sales during its latest quarterly report. (previous post) Read Full Post…
It seems that all the goodwill in China garnered by Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) CEO Tim Cook wasn’t enough to prevent the company from hitting a major new roadblock, with word that its book and movie services have been blocked in the country. The move nicely illustrates 2 faces of Beijing that sometimes seem contradictory. On the one hand, Chinese leaders crave the attention they get when global leaders like Cook visit China and pay due respect to the market. But on the other, they have little tolerance for anyone who violates the country’s strict censorship rules.
Buzz is now centering on whether Apple will be able to somehow bring its book and movie services into compliance with new Chinese rules rolled out last month, allowing the services to resume. If this were Google(Nasdaq: GOOG) running into similar problems, I would say the answer would be “no”, since the company has little goodwill with Beijing. But Apple has invested heavily to win the favor of Beijing leaders, meaning it’s likely to get a more sympathetic ear, probably after personal intervention by Cook himself. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Google’s event to promote entrepreneurs in China is its latest effort to curry favor with Beijing, and could help it win permission to open a local version of its Google Play app store by year-end.
Google supports China entrepreneurs
Internet giant Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is quickly joining Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) as one of China’s biggest fans, as it looks to re-enter the world’s largest online market with a launch of its app store and possibly its Nexus smartphones. Less than a month after its AlphaGo computer wowed Chinese audiences by beating a world champion at the ancient board game of Go, Google’s China chief has just wrapped up a major local event aimed at helping the country’s legions of budding entrepreneurs.
Anyhow who lives in China knows that words like “entrepreneur” and “creativity” have become buzzwords from Beijing and local governments, which are desperately trying to boost the private sector to offset numerous problems in the big state-run establishment. Google’s event looks highly designed to play to that campaign and curry favor with central leaders as part of its broader ambitions to re-enter the market. Read Full Post…
