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Apple Pulls Hong Kong Protest App From App Store Following Chinese Criticism [Updated]

DevNull0 said:
It's called the tragedy of the commons. If anyone or any 100,000 people did do that, they'd only be hurting themselves a lot more than they hurt Apple and leave Apple with the real laugh.

The fact that someone as pro-Apple as you is making the taunt in such a condescending way shows that you get it on some level.

The correct thing to do here, is to pressure our elected politicians to punish Apple in a meaningful way. That's also a freedom the Chinese people don't have.
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Hardly a taunt. If I felt as strongly as some have expressed here, I’d find another tech manufacturer stat.

The hypocrisy reeks.
 
ouimetnick said:
You would be willing to spend $3000 on a 64GB iPhone 11 Pro?
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If it would cost that much to produce without slave labor and third world country wages, so be it. You think it’s ok tu substitute your western lifestyle with sweat and blood of people of the Chinese communist regime?

if we find a way to produce them in North Korea for half the money because they’d to everything for a corn of rice, should we go for it?
 
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ilikewhey said:
because they have the option not to do it. yes they will lose money and marketshare. but ultimately they can choose to stick to their moral principle and not take the chinese money.

there are alot of protesters are arguing hk is not part of china. they even go far as arguing their passport is different and they have their own independent gov't.

if apple and NBA wants to piss off mainland china, why should mainland china keep doing business with someone who keeps bad mouthing them.
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No, actually they don’t have that option. Corporations exist because they profit. If the profits are jeopardized over some tweet or app, they will always do what’s best in the name of profits. The entire world equates China with profits. So the Chinese dictate exactly what foreign corporations will do. They’ve done that for decades now.

As for the HK protesters, not a single one has claimed that HK is not part of China or that they are not technically Chinese.

I think that’s the common misconception in the West. If you’ve never been to HK or met HK people, then you probably wouldn’t know what it is they want. Look up some of their demands. None of them say they don’t want to be Chinese.

They don’t want to associate with mainland Chinese for the simple fact that the CCP has been eroding their freedoms ever since the handover.

Again, HK protesters are not anti-Chinese. They are anti-CCP. A very clear distinction needs to be made here. Under the one country two systems, HK should have universal suffrage and free elections. But it doesn’t. And while HK does technically have its own government, down under, the entire legislative branch is ran by the CCP.
 
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citysnaps said:
Hardly a taunt. If I felt as strongly as some have expressed here, I’d find another tech manufacturer stat.

The hypocrisy reeks.
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So "the hypocrisy reeks" if you want to condemn Apple but not leave them is not a taunt. Got it.
 
s54 said:
I disagree. It's not about boycotting everything. Like I mentioned before, it's not possible to boycott certain things, like electronics. But if everyone boycotted as much as they could, then little by little, China would feel it.
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If that 64GB iPhone 11 Pro was made mostly in the US, then yes, I would spend $3k on it. No problem. I'm on iPhone 8 now anyway, which means I haven't upgraded in 3 years.
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this is not likely to be true....I used to work for a company (for nearly 40 years) that for the last 10 or so years has systematically endeavoured to move engineering and manufacturing to China. The spreadsheet bandits convince themselves they are saving money in labour and manufacturing costs, but it is largely a myth. it’s mostly because it’s easier in China, less rules, less environmental straight jackets, lower employee rights, no pensions to support etc. (Yea cheaper indirectly, but your average western consumer never sees the benefit). Given that it takes around 40 minutes to assemble an iPhone, would those extra labour $ really impact the sell price of a US assembled phone?
 
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macfacts said:
N

How so? China is trying to change the law in HK but they promised not to change laws for 50 years after the British hand over. And apple is siding with China
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I freely admit that I'm uneducated as to the decision, but I really wish Great Britain didn't return control of Hong Kong to China.
 
Apple, google, facebook, the NBA. More & more China is going to keep exerting it’s financial might over companies. Testing our morals & freedom of speech. South Park had the best answer so far... F*#k China! Lol. Easier said than done. When it comes to profit & shareholder value, Companies tend to defer to money over morals or patriotism. I think this is a healthy test tho. Shines a light on what we already know subconsciously. That corporations may put forth an image of social & environmental justice on social media...but behind the scenes, it’s all about the bottom line. Now China is even testing what companies can say online. This whole thing started with a simple tweet from the General Manager of the Houston Rockets supporting the HK protestors. I am all for athletes & sports teams speaking out about social justice at home. But then they also have to be able to speak out freely on social justice issues abroad too. Otherwise it just seems hypocritical. Same goes for companies, politicians & the government. Walk your talk.
 
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grayskies said:
I freely admit that I'm uneducated as to the decision, but I really wish Great Britain didn't return control of Hong Kong to China.
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it was originally a British colony, but was ultimately governed under British rule by means of a 99-year lease that was agreed in 1898. It was not such a matter that Britain returned rule to China, (in theory, Hong Kong was to remain independent until at least 2047 as part of “two system“ agreement ) in so much as our lease of the territory ended.
 
Do we have US companies or are they all tools of various governments where they manufacture and collect revenue?

It was rhetorical, I know the answer.
 
It's perfect timing that the "AltStore" was released recently. Emulators as a use-case now seem unbelievably trivial. I reached out to HK Live Map devs via Twitter and they have confirmed they are aware of the AltStore. This could become a huge mainstream news story if/when that app is brought back via the AltStore. Interesting times ahead!

If you'd like to do your part to support the app, be sure to tweet both AltStore and the HK Live Map and spread the word about this possibility!
 
Marekul said:
If it would cost that much to produce without slave labor and third world country wages, so be it. You think it’s ok tu substitute your western lifestyle with sweat and blood of people of the Chinese communist regime?

if we find a way to produce them in North Korea for half the money because they’d to everything for a corn of rice, should we go for it?
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Oh, please get off your high horse.

Answers: yes and yes.

Arguments like this seem to completely ignore the alternative that those people have. So let's say your North Korea hypothetical situation: DEFINITELY we should try to make things cheaper there and I would definitely support it. Simply because I have looked into the horrific options and standard of living that people there have and any job at an Apple subcontractor would be a significant improvement for vast majority of the population there. You can argue "slave labor" all you want, but the fact is that people line up to work in those manufacturing plants and therefore are not slaves. No matter how we in the west might not agree that the terms of the deal would look 'fair' to us, the only people who can really be judges of that are the people who choose to apply for work there and then show up every day. Because alternatives are worse.

Another reason why we should do this in North Korea is because that would be a great way for many people there to learn more about what they are missing on, and drive change at home. Not overnight necessarily, but it would be a Good Thing, and I'd have zero issues with it.
 
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ouimetnick said:
You would be willing to spend $3000 on a 64GB iPhone 11 Pro?
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If it costs $2000 while being made by slave labor under a totalitarian regime where people have no rights or freedoms or $3000 to be made in a free country, what would your choice be? You'd choose to use persecuted slave labor to save $1000? Buy the phone for $3000 or don't buy it at all if it's too expensive. Keep your more expensive phone for 3-4-5 years to keep costs down. But insisting on exploiting disadvantaged people so you can save a few bucks is reprehensible.

Your argument is fatally flawed anyway, the cost of actual labor on the iPhone is a minuscule portion of its production cost and even increasing it 10-fold wouldn't cost an extra $1000. You're advocating horrible human rights atrocities so you can personally save a few hundred dollars at most.
 
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atomic.flip said:
Tim Cook, you are a coward and a hypocrite. Period, end of story.
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I think the Board Of Directors should remove Tim Cook. Waze is just fine where it is. Then Apple should get serious about moving manufacturing outside of China. Samsung has already declared it is doing so.
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I'm quite certain Steve Jobs would NOT have kow-towed to the Chinese like this. Tim Apple just folded like a cheap Chinese-made accordion.
 
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Ishayu said:
By editorially curating their app store, Apple has now come into a position where they find themselves on both sides of a war. (Well, it's technically not a war yet, but it will be)

No matter what side they pick, they will lose.

The only answer is liberalism: Remove the monopoly of the app store. Now everybody can download whatever and you can remove the app without guilt.

Let's see if Apple's smart enough to catch on to that. I highly doubt it.
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The only answer is to stop relying on China as the manufacturing base and as a market for your products. Then, you are free to act according to your ethics.
WWPD said:
This has made me seriously think about dumping Apple and moving to Android..

Not they they are probably any better.
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At least they don’t take this self/righteous stand that they are the beacon of freedom.
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neutralguy said:
Great! Now you want the whole HK to move to US? Good job buddy!
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Half of it already moved to Vancouver, BC.
 
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