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Apple Raises Indonesia Investment Offer to $1B Amid iPhone Ban
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It’s called negotiation. When you place an offer on a property that is rejected and follow up with a better offer, it is not “bribery”. 🤣
Apple makes almost $100b a quarter. They had to pay Ireland 13b euro of back taxes. Apple has 12% market share in Indonesia which has a huge population. $1b of investment is very little in that context. I mean it’s not like Apple will give away that money. They’ll probably get Foxconn to set up a factory there.
If Indonesia banned every foreign product they don’t get a subsidy for, I’m guessing the country would be in a pickle.
So these countries are now charging a price for accessing their cheap labor force. Maybe the goal of returning manufacturing to the U.S. might not be the pipe dream it has always been in the past. Maybe the cost of manufacturing will increase enough to make it plausible. In either event, the price of goods and services will rise. What? You think companies like Apple will not pass this $1B offer on to their customers?
Just like there’s a path to citizenship for investment in many countries it’s nice to see countries not letting Apple bully them with Tim’s anticompetitive practices.
Personally I think they should only accept the offer once they invest 1 million into myself.
I get reports when my video player on various sites reports an error... most of the time they come from people trying to access Vimeo from Indonesia, as it's blocked. I wonder how many other services Indonesia block, and will letting way for Apple open it up for others?
No, that is not what this is about. This is about Apple selling products in Indonesia, but instead of having anything physical in Indonesia or investing the profits back into the country, it takes the profits abroad. Indonesia is saying to Apple that for the economy to be good enough for Indonesians to continue to buy Apple products, Apple also has to contribute to this economy by creating jobs, for instance. In their view, Apple is just leaching off money that was generated by others.
Hey this is how Apple does it. Even in my household I was a "no Apple products zone". Then a family member got a job at Apple and voila we now have Apple products. Even when the family member wants to quit, we all remind them how we all get the employee discount so they can't quit.
See how it works at all levels?
See how it works at all levels?
If it's business, and the sales return makes sense, then it's worth it. But Indonesia? I doubt they will get a return. worth it. Apple knows if it is or not, but it sounds doubtful. It's bribery, but you can call it what you want to make you feel better.
Seems fair to me. We expect immigrants to be able to contribute to the economy, why should we not expect the same from foreign business?
They are charging a price for the privilege to sell to their citizens like apple charges a price to sell apps to apple customers.
Yeah, and watch the UK and EU continue to allow Apple free access to their customers while trying to obtain changes.
Only if they’re willing to block the sale of Apple devices. Like China and Indonesia are. If the EU or UK were going to do that, they would have done it long ago. Their problem is that they’d be blocking the sale of devices that are required as a critical part of their tech future. They pretend that they’re the big dog, but they literally need US Tech to even have a tech future.
Knowing Indonesian politics, I would bet a penny to a pound any ‘investment’ will largely line the pockets of the existing elite.
Apple has significantly hiked its investment proposal to Indonesia and is now offering $1 billion in a bid to resolve the ongoing iPhone 16 sales ban in the country, according to the country's investment minister Rosan Roeslani (via Reuters).
Speaking to lawmakers on Tuesday, Roeslani said the government expects to receive a written commitment from Apple within a week. "Whoever benefits from the sales must invest here, create jobs here," he added. The investment is described as a "first phase" of Apple's potential involvement in the country. The offer marks a tenfold increase from Apple's previous proposal earlier this month.
The negotiation stems from Indonesia's October ban on iPhone 16 sales after authorities determined Apple had not met the country's requirement for 40% domestic content in smartphones. The government previously rejected Apple's initial $10 million offer, followed by a $100 million proposal that included plans for research and development facilities and developer academies.
The government is particularly interested in having Apple establish local manufacturing partnerships and source components domestically. Apple has maintained developer academies in Indonesia since 2018, but the country currently hosts no Apple manufacturing facilities. Apple has not responded to requests for comment regarding the latest investment proposal.
Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Article Link: Apple Raises Indonesia Investment Offer to $1B Amid iPhone Ban
I hate these shake downs by foreign governments. That is why they are all in third world status though.
