Apple Looking to Establish R&D Center in Beijing?

MacRumors · Jan 15, 2013, 11:23 AM

BrightWire reports on an article from Chinese web portal Tencent claiming that Apple CEO Tim Cook discussed during his visit to China last week the company's plans to establish a research and development center in Beijing. The report includes several other items of information pointing to Apple's continued efforts to strengthen its presence in the rapidly growing Chinese market.

Quote:

- At a meeting with Beijing's acting mayor Wang Anshun on January 8, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company plans to set up an R&D center in Beijing, an unnamed insider source told Tencent Tech today.

- Cook also noted that Apple will move a certain amount of its servers for App Store and iTunes to China in order to improve the downloading speed for users in China.

The report also cites "IT insiders" claiming that Apple is likely to set up its Chinese data center in either Zhangjiakou to the northwest of Beijing or in Inner Mongolia.

Apple's Sanlitun retail store in Beijing

Tim Cook shared some of his thoughts on the Chinese market during his visit to the country, noting that Apple has plans to build more than 25 retail stores in the Greater China region and that it is working hard to speed up the regulatory approval process for its products so that they can launch closer to the first wave of debuts.

Apple has been looking to open research and development centers outside of the United States, seeking to draw upon international expertise for some of its technological advances. The company has already moved forward on a center in Israel, and there had previously been claims that Apple was exploring the possibility of a research center in Russia, although those talks do not appear to have yielded any commitments.

Article Link: Apple Looking to Establish R&D Center in Beijing?

locoboi187 · Jan 15, 2013, 11:28 AM

maybe innovation will start again

Solomani · Jan 15, 2013, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by locoboi187

maybe innovation will start again

Innovation, maybe. Secrets? No.

The Chinese are not capable of keeping Apple secrets.

pacalis · Jan 15, 2013, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solomani

Innovation, maybe. Secrets? No.

The Chinese are not capable of keeping Apple secrets.

If Apple was a global news media company they are absolutely capable. But in consumer products they don't care.

tombright · Jan 15, 2013, 11:28 AM

Today, HMV (the UK's biggest music retailer) went into administration. This is the fault of iTunes. I think Apple should buy out hmv and turn their stores into itunes stores or something. Sorry, I know this is completely unrelated :s

Rot'nApple · Jan 15, 2013, 11:35 AM

One Billion Customers can't be wrong!

I'm just wondering if it will be staffed by all the individuals who pirate and copy/clone new Apple products days after Apple's announcements of their products that has several years of R&D built into it?!

/
/
/

NoMoreSony · Jan 15, 2013, 11:32 AM

New cheap plastic iPhone really needs to be "Designed and manufactured by Apple in China"

Tiger8 · Jan 15, 2013, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoMoreSony

New cheap plastic iPhone really needs to be "Designed and manufactured by Apple in China"

and your fancy expensive iPhone is designed and manufactured in the US? Oh wait...

krravi · Jan 15, 2013, 11:39 AM

These design centers are trojans for chinese industrial espionage...

Apple should be very careful that they don't share their secrets from CA with these centers...

Well the chinese tempt them with a huge market...and end up stealing the technology.

Remember what happened with the bullet trains from Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Siemens.. after the initial agreement to manufacture them, they jettisoned the trademark owners and made their own and claimed it was theirs, whereas it was a blatant copy.

Recently they have been tempting Boeing with their huge market, but there is a catch. Boeing should manufacture their planes in china. Hope Boeing doesn't fall for that.

----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoMoreSony

New cheap plastic iPhone really needs to be "Designed and manufactured by Apple in China"

Give it a rest man. Never use your camera in your iPhone. The sensor is made by Sony!

gkarris · Jan 15, 2013, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krravi

These design centers are trojans for chinese industrial espionage...

That's why China instead of South Korea...

krravi · Jan 15, 2013, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gkarris

That's why China instead of South Korea...

South Korea has ingenuity compared to China. If you are going by Samsung and the lawsuits against it by Apple, remember the OS is supplied by Google and not Samsung.

Hakone · Jan 15, 2013, 11:42 AM

Since a lot of our top university's foreign engineering students end up back in their own countries, Apple's giving them an opportunity to apply their knowledge back to (us).

shoxrz · Jan 21, 2013, 05:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gkarris

That's why China instead of South Korea...

Looked what happened to VW....If they are doing all the copying now...brand names, fake products..what more that they are going to bring the tech right infront of the the dragons den....

coolspot18 · Jan 15, 2013, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krravi

Apple should be very careful that they don't share their secrets from CA with these centers...

Well the chinese tempt them with a huge market...and end up stealing the technology.

Yes, like Apple does not do that too...

Steve Jobs: Good artists copy great artists steal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW0DUg63lqU

All companies do some form of espionage or not.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TallManNY

Already no western business leader should take anything but a loaner electronic device with them to China. Assume that all emails are copied while there. And then hand over all devices to their IT department upon return to be completely erased and reformatted. That is now basically standard practice for many large US companies.

I'm pretty sure this is not standard practice... unfortunately that executive may not be using a Blackberry anymore ;-)

krravi · Jan 15, 2013, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolspot18

Yes, like Apple does not do that too...

Steve Jobs: Good artists copy great artists steal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW0DUg63lqU

All companies do some form of espionage or not.

I'm pretty sure this is not standard practice... unfortunately that executive may not be using a Blackberry anymore ;-)

That was more of a statement than a company policy. Apple has people working in disguise in other companies to steal their technology? Don't think so.

coolspot18 · Jan 15, 2013, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krravi

That was more of a statement than a company policy. Apple has people working in disguise in other companies to steal their technology? Don't think so.

I'm sure they have their eyes on the market and know what the competition is doing.

longofest · Jan 15, 2013, 11:35 AM

I believe Apple actually has started using a good deal of Indians as well.

https://jobs.apple.com/us/search?#bu...JobId=19257442

Quote:

You will primarily work with the domain team including project managers and engineers, as well as a large team of consultants in California and India.

Radio · Jan 15, 2013, 11:37 AM

This must be Tim's plan to move more jobs to the USA

AustinIllini · Jan 15, 2013, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radio

This must be Tim's plan to move more jobs to the USA

You're right. It makes no sense for Apple to build a facility in their largest emerging market

macs4nw · Jan 15, 2013, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacRumors

.....Apple has been looking to open research and development centers outside of the United States, seeking to draw upon international expertise for some of its technological advances......

Article Link: Apple Looking to Establish R&D Center in Beijing?

This is a double-edged sword, that could either help us in the long run, or come back to bite us in the butt.

Rocketman · Jan 15, 2013, 11:48 AM

Due to human capital Russia would be a great place to open an R&D center. The main problem right now is corruption well in excess of even what we see in Mexico. That makes it very hard to do business in those counties, notwithstanding the selective enforcement by the US government for conforming to local customs on kickback payments.

Dwalls90 · Jan 15, 2013, 11:53 AM

Apple is really cozying up to china lately ...

everything-i · Jan 15, 2013, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dwalls90

Apple is really cozying up to china lately ...

To be expected, its one of the few markets not already saturated with smart phones and tablets. In the US and Europe a good portion of the population already have the phone/tablet they need and aren't going to upgrade for a few years. There will be diminishing returns in these markets as we realise that the new version only does things most of us don't care about, more ram, faster processor, better graphics and lots of other things but for what. I can already do all I want on the phone I have and its not even the latest model. Apples kit is very well made and lasts for years if you take care of it so no need to upgrade every couple of years. There are always going to be the 'got to have the latest' brigade but they are a very small minority. To keep sales up new markets have to be found and so Apple are starting to look seriously outside their current markets.

808? · Jan 15, 2013, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dwalls90

Apple is really cozying up to china lately ...

They have the money to spend, so why not?

mali1011 · Jan 18, 2013, 12:56 AM

it's a data center not a r&d center..
none of you ever read the content of that article before reply or u think iphone was developed in a data center?
with such a data center what chinese will be benefited from is the faster downloading apps, nothing more! ok i'm one of them and disappointed

Jan 15, 2013, 11:28 AM	#2
locoboi187 macrumors 6502 Join Date: Oct 2012	maybe innovation will start again __________________ Macbook Pro Retina 15" iPhone 5 iPad 4 TV 3
	2

Jan 15, 2013, 11:28 AM	#5
tombright macrumors newbie Join Date: Jan 2013	In other news Today, HMV (the UK's biggest music retailer) went into administration. This is the fault of iTunes. I think Apple should buy out hmv and turn their stores into itunes stores or something. Sorry, I know this is completely unrelated :s
	1

Jan 15, 2013, 11:48 AM	#21
Rocketman macrumors 601 Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Claremont, CA	Due to human capital Russia would be a great place to open an R&D center. The main problem right now is corruption well in excess of even what we see in Mexico. That makes it very hard to do business in those counties, notwithstanding the selective enforcement by the US government for conforming to local customs on kickback payments. __________________ Think Different-ly! The President campaigned against Congress. D Sen is led by D Sen ML Reid and D VP and Sen Pres Biden, under orders of D Pres Obama. http://www.gop.gov/indepth/jobs/tracker
	0

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Jan 15, 2013, 11:35 AM	#6
Rot'nApple macrumors 65816 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: I DID build that!	One Billion Customers can't be wrong! I'm just wondering if it will be staffed by all the individuals who pirate and copy/clone new Apple products days after Apple's announcements of their products that has several years of R&D built into it?! / / /
	0

Jan 15, 2013, 11:32 AM	#7
NoMoreSony macrumors member Join Date: Apr 2012	New cheap plastic iPhone really needs to be "Designed and manufactured by Apple in China"
	1

Jan 15, 2013, 11:42 AM	#12
Hakone macrumors 6502 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Southern California	Since a lot of our top university's foreign engineering students end up back in their own countries, Apple's giving them an opportunity to apply their knowledge back to (us).
	0

Jan 15, 2013, 11:37 AM	#18
Radio macrumors 65816 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Central California	This must be Tim's plan to move more jobs to the USA
	9

Jan 15, 2013, 11:53 AM	#22
Dwalls90 macrumors 68040 Join Date: Feb 2009	Apple is really cozying up to china lately ...
	1

Jan 18, 2013, 12:56 AM	#25
mali1011 macrumors newbie Join Date: Jan 2010	it's a data center not a r&d center.. none of you ever read the content of that article before reply or u think iphone was developed in a data center? with such a data center what chinese will be benefited from is the faster downloading apps, nothing more! ok i'm one of them and disappointed
	0