There is a lot of intrigue taking place between tech companies trying to gain access to the Chinese market and the Chinese government.
The latest parry-and-thrust is between the Chinese government and Apple. First came news Apple products were being banned from procurement by government agencies due to both general security and national security concerns; this story morphed into "not a ban, but a mistake on Apple's part during the bidding process."
The government now claims Apple did not submit the necessary paperwork providing government buyers with energy-saving data for Apple devices, and thus was left out of the evaluation process. No data, no purchase. All that is known right now is that anything is possible, and that's a firm conclusion. It is interesting to note, though, that so far Apple has not commented on the latest twist of the latest turn.
Whether Apple really did screw up we may never know; a pattern has developed where foreign tech companies, not willing to upset the gatekeepers to the largest market in the world, have had to swallow their pride by not fighting back against dubious claims.
It is interesting to note the Chinese government is directing a lot of this business away from foreign suppliers and toward domestic tech companies, which is understandable from an economic and national pride standpoint; it's also a matter of trust, as worldwide paranoia over hacking, cyberespionage, pandemic malware and cybercrime is still on the rise, especially in the wake of the Snowden/NSA revelations.
Recently, China banned Microsoft's Windows 8 in all government desktops, laptops and tablet PCs, citing security concerns related to the shutdown of Windows XP. Security companies Symantec and Kaspersky have also been evicted from the government's approved vendor list, and replaced with five Chinese-crafted antivirus software packages.
Apple lost out on desktop and laptop business to China-based Tsinghua Tongfang Company and Lenovo. There are reports, unconfirmed, that other Apple products, including the iPhone, iPad, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air have been removed from procurement lists due to "security concerns."
There are trade quid pro quo issues at play here, too. U.S. government officials are suspicious of Chinese tech companies setting up shop in the U.S. over similar security concerns. Two Chinese companies with big plans for offering their mobile devices in the U.S. are Huawei and ZTE. So far, they have been denied entrance. Chinese smartphone upstart Xiaomi may face the same hurdles -- in addition to security concerns, companies that offer competent tech products at market-busting prices could wreak economic havoc on the mobile device/wireless market here.
Not to worry for Apple just yet; the Cupertino firm's consumer business in China brought $5.9 billion in revenue with 28 percent year-on-year growth in Apple's fiscal third quarter.
