1) By your logic anywhere Apple doesn't have a store is because the native people hate Apple. Now do you really think that's the case?
2) There have been stories before with Apple working with Taiwanese companies. I think most recently it was about making machines to help make devices. Regardless. what the people may feel about a company's product is usually irrelevant to how businesses feel about making a profit. IOW, if there is a Taiwanese company that can profit off Apple's needs then they will do their best to make that happen even if they prefer their shitty Android phones over iPhones.
1. thought most people already know Taiwan so I did not elaborate. Taiwan is one of the four dragons. The other three all have Apple retail stores. Taiwan is a high tech manufacturing base. Most other nations that do not have an Apple retail lack the criteria Taiwan have.
2. Yes, two Taiwanese companies already assemble products for Apple. But the manufacturing is in China. So anybody advocating Apple move manufacturing to Taiwan is a fool and is purely politically motivated.
Of course they can. Case in point, Americans shut down the government this past week. You can say that's Congress but it's made up of Americans, and those Americans are influenced by other Americans. In this case crazy Americans, but still Americans.
The shutdown is not what is being talked about here. What we are talking about are laws.
On Apple threatening to move production out of China it would likely be an empty threat unless they can 1) get more automation, and/or 2) move to India. The latter I think is the long term plan anyway as China's economy gets more demanding (and rightly so) for higher wages. It may also allow for lower tariffs in India which could allow for lower prices for Indian consumers in the future.
Are you from India? It seems you don't know India. I have read that India even not allowing foreign companiese to own retail stores there. This is why Apple has to sell iPhones through Indian retailers.
The risk isn't big at all: it is forsaking doing business in a country run by a bad regime. It's common practice which is why Apple does no business in North Korea, Syria, Iran, Cuba...
No. Companies don't do business with these nations because it is prohibited by Federal law. The ITAR regulations prohibit the sale of (among other things) devices that include strong cryptography. Apple couldn't sell to these nations without making a stripped-down device lacking all of the prohibited hardware and software, which would probably cost more than it's worth.
But plenty of companies do make stripped-down tech products for sale to these countries. For instance, companies making phone switching equipment (how do you think these countries get phone service? They're not all using 50-year-old equipment.)
In other words, this has nothing to do with morality and everything to do with what is legal.
The US version of this “free” app sells ad removal as an IAP at $1 per month, or $9 per year.
So the developer is mad that Apple isn’t sanctioning it profit from adware draped over readily available VPN firewall-bypass technology, and is positing the story as “Apple censoring!”
A few years ago Google redirected Chinese users to their Hong Kong Google search which wasn't censored and allowed people to search terms like "tiananmen square" and it royally pissed off the Chinese government. The Chinese gov't blocked Google and Google caved. They went back to allowing China to censor search results but Google put a message up to the user saying that the results had been censored. That message was dropped early this year.
These activists are very selfish. Did they try to make an Android version of the app? The iPhone is only #7 in China. The number 1 to number 6 smartphones in China are all running Androids. Why would Apple be utilized by these people? Personally I don't think these activists are good for China. And this is the reason they are banned.
Here we go: another one of the bloggers/internet posters paid by the Chinese government to spread their views and dilute the public opinion. Remember the recent micro-blogging disaster, when "people" were outraged at news before the news actually broke, because they were paid to post pro-government opinions and didn't bother to check if the news had actually happened already?
Who cares what's good for China (read: the Chinese government and it's cronies)? What matters is what's good for the liberty of the Chinese people and the people who are suppressed by the Chinese government, like the autonomous Tibet.
Yes, these activists are "selfish", because the Chinese government is completely "selfless"... Hahahah!
Everyone programs on whatever platform they are comfortable with. I wouldn't program for Windows unless threatened with certain death or being paid at least ten times the going rate, because I hate the API, the tools, etc. If these people are OS X/iOS users, they will not program for Android regardless of how many users of Android there are, because there are enough Android programmers to make an equivalent piece of software for that platform.
Regardless what your political point of view is, your activism will always be applied where your field of competence is.
What does that have to do with the price of tea in China? I guarantee the Taiwanese would bend over backwards if Apple moved their manufacturing out of China and into Taiwan. What are they gonna do, sabotage the thousands of jobs Apple brings to the nation? Besides the point is not where Apple moves their manufacturing, its that they threaten to move them out of China. That is a major bargaining chip.
You do realise Foxconn, Apple's main manufacturer, is Taiwanese, right?
With a huge population and lots of money to be had making the choice to buck the Chinese government isn't good for business.
Can Americans do things againest the US government? I don't think so. So your logic is flawed.
Americans do constantly things against the US government. Heck, even the US government does things against the US government, which is why we currently have a US government shut-down. It's called democracy, civil-disobedience, protest, riots, law-suits, etc. People use all the tools at their disposal, and then some, to make sure government doesn't go beyond it's limits.
If none of that helps, people take up arms, engage in whistle-blowing like Ed Snowden, etc.
So yes, as much as we constantly have to fear an overbearing government, people thankfully DO STAND UP against the government in the USA. That's why it's still a great country, despite all its flaws.
I think you are a fool. Don't you know Apple does not have an Apple retail store in Taiwan? Do you know the reason? Taiwanese hate Apple.
The Taiwanese don't hate Apple. Many of the Taiwanese may not have enough money to afford Apple, but they don't hate it. They do hate, by and large, the mainland Chinese government.
The reason Apple doesn't have retail stores in Taiwan is the same reason they removed the app from the AppStore: so-called "communist" mainland China (which is more like fascist mainland China) does not recognize Taiwan as an independent political entity and considers it a "rogue, secessionist province" and thus Apple having a true Taiwan presence would put it on the shit-list of the Chinese government.
So when faced with selling to a billion people market or a 24 million people market, Apple chose the billion people market.
That's the same reason why Taiwan isn't a member of the United Nations. It's money and power vs. morals and ethics.
What does that have to do with the price of tea in China? I guarantee the Taiwanese would bend over backwards if Apple moved their manufacturing out of China and into Taiwan. What are they gonna do, sabotage the thousands of jobs Apple brings to the nation? Besides the point is not where Apple moves their manufacturing, its that they threaten to move them out of China. That is a major bargaining chip.
You do realise Foxconn, Apple's main manufacturer, is Taiwanese, right?
Yes, but the actual manufacturing happens in mainland China. There is an odd tension-yet-collaboration-yet-hate between the monied and political powerful elites of Taiwan and China. Unless you have at least a cursory familiarity with Chinese culture and history, what's going on between China and Taiwan is hard to understand.
Imagine Yankees vs. Dixie, but with an odd mixture of ethical and cultural merits between both sides and a civil war that ended in a stalemate, then maybe you can somehow appreciate the tension, connection and separation between Taiwan and China.
Yes, but the actual manufacturing happens in mainland China. There is an odd tension-yet-collaboration-yet-hate between the monied and political powerful elites of Taiwan and China. Unless you have at least a cursory familiarity with Chinese culture and history, what's going on between China and Taiwan is hard to understand.
Imagine Yankees vs. Dixie, but with an odd mixture of ethical and cultural merits between both sides and a civil war that ended in a stalemate, then maybe you can somehow appreciate the tension, connection and separation between Taiwan and China.
I'm familiar with Chinese history. Just not sure why anybody would think manufacturing could be moved to Taiwan. Taiwanese companies generally manufacture on the mainland.
As for the lack of an official store. Apple sells in Taiwan, there are authorised sellers there, they work with Taiwanese companies and they're setting up an R&D facility there. I doubt the absence of a retail store has anything to do with politics. It's most likely because Taiwan is relatively small.
I doubt the absence of a retail store has anything to do with politics. It's most likely because Taiwan is relatively small.
I wouldn't be so sure about that. Having an official corporate presence in Taiwan that's distinct from doing business in (mainland) China is a tad too close for comfort to endorsing Taiwan as an entitiy distinct from (mainland) China.
Doing business with a Taiwan-owned manufacturing company that does all the actual manufacturing in (mainland) China is different, because at least in theory, sooner or late Taiwan will be rejoined with (mainland) China anyway (so goes the thinking), and in the mean time there's actual money and work coming to the "real" (mainland) China.
Of course, Taiwan's wage level is much too high, there are no poor rural migrant workers to draw upon. Taiwan has essentially a 1st world economy, with highly educated and comparatively expensive work force.
Manufacturing could however be moved to Vietnam, but that's where the odd love-hate relationship between mainland China and Taiwan comes into play. You rather give business to the brother you hate than to the stranger you don't mind, or something like that.
China and Taiwan are best comprehended in terms of sibling rivalry...
Here we go: another one of the bloggers/internet posters paid by the Chinese government to spread their views and dilute the public opinion. Remember the recent micro-blogging disaster, when "people" were outraged at news before the news actually broke, because they were paid to post pro-government opinions and didn't bother to check if the news had actually happened already?
Who cares what's good for China (read: the Chinese government and it's cronies)? What matters is what's good for the liberty of the Chinese people and the people who are suppressed by the Chinese government, like the autonomous Tibet.
Yes, these activists are "selfish", because the Chinese government is completely "selfless"... Hahahah!
Everyone programs on whatever platform they are comfortable with. I wouldn't program for Windows unless threatened with certain death or being paid at least ten times the going rate, because I hate the API, the tools, etc. If these people are OS X/iOS users, they will not program for Android regardless of how many users of Android there are, because there are enough Android programmers to make an equivalent piece of software for that platform.
Regardless what your political point of view is, your activism will always be applied where your field of competence is.
Your rhetoric is typical of American anti-China propaganda for the last several hundred years. The Chinese cultural values are traditionally disciplinary. This is not originated from communism. This Chinese cultural value is one of the reasons US Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act around 1870 when the word communism does not even exist.
I don't think you know the value of freedom of speech. You think American values are great and can not be challenged. Yet any one try to raise facts that are different from the US media has been brainwah you for the last fifty years, you imagined that they are being paid by the Chinese government to do so.
Why do you religion in China can not be wrong? Especially to those Tibetans that burn themselves? Can you say that these things has never happened in US? Do you want me to teach you the US history about a religious sect in US that killed over of the followers because a US representative is accusing their leader? I think Jesus once said when you want to throw a stone first think if you are innocent by yourself.
Apple is obeying the law- and should. If the Chinese people don't like their laws they should elect officials that will enable laws they like. If they don't like the fact that they *can't* elect their officials, they need to revolt and govern themselves in such a way they can.
The Taiwanese don't hate Apple. Many of the Taiwanese may not have enough money to afford Apple, but they don't hate it. They do hate, by and large, the mainland Chinese government.
The reason Apple doesn't have retail stores in Taiwan is the same reason they removed the app from the AppStore: so-called "communist" mainland China (which is more like fascist mainland China) does not recognize Taiwan as an independent political entity and considers it a "rogue, secessionist province" and thus Apple having a true Taiwan presence would put it on the shit-list of the Chinese government.
So when faced with selling to a billion people market or a 24 million people market, Apple chose the billion people market.
That's the same reason why Taiwan isn't a member of the United Nations. It's money and power vs. morals and ethics.
You are really a political animal. Why would China care if Apple open a retail store in Taiwan? Your arguments are so weak that they don't make sense at all.
Let me tell you the real reason Taiwan is hostile to Apple. Taiwan made a fortune in the last thirty years producing Windows devices. They think Apple is their main obstacle to the fortune. Apple knows how poorly iPhones are sold in Taiwan. Therefore Apple does not open a retail store there.
Personally I feel this Taiwanese hostility toward Apple is stupid.
These activists are very selfish. Did they try to make an Android version of the app? The iPhone is only #7 in China. The number 1 to number 6 smartphones in China are all running Androids. Why would Apple be utilized by these people? Personally I don't think these activists are good for China. And this is the reason they are banned.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rcfa
Here we go: another one of the bloggers/internet posters paid by the Chinese government to spread their views and dilute the public opinion. Remember the recent micro-blogging disaster, when "people" were outraged at news before the news actually broke, because they were paid to post pro-government opinions and didn't bother to check if the news had actually happened already?
Who cares what's good for China (read: the Chinese government and it's cronies)? What matters is what's good for the liberty of the Chinese people and the people who are suppressed by the Chinese government, like the autonomous Tibet.
Yes, these activists are "selfish", because the Chinese government is completely "selfless"... Hahahah!
Everyone programs on whatever platform they are comfortable with. I wouldn't program for Windows unless threatened with certain death or being paid at least ten times the going rate, because I hate the API, the tools, etc. If these people are OS X/iOS users, they will not program for Android regardless of how many users of Android there are, because there are enough Android programmers to make an equivalent piece of software for that platform.
Regardless what your political point of view is, your activism will always be applied where your field of competence is.
Your rhetoric is typical of American anti-China propaganda for the last several hundred years. The Chinese cultural values are traditionally disciplinary. This is not originated from communism. This Chinese cultural value is one of the reasons US Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act around 1870 when the word communism does not even exist.
You try to shift the argument by not quoting what I wrote my reply to. I fixed that issue, by including again the section of your original post that I was referring to.
So let's look at what you wrote:
"These activists are very selfish."
What activists? These are programmers who write software to prevent government snooping. In any reasonable country that's legal. I can encrypt and bypass NSA snooping as much as I want, while they try to break whatever mechanisms I use to protect my privacy. It's a cat and mouse game and even that is very much so stretching the US constitution and human rights. To outlaw communication that's not subject to government intrusion is totalitarian. So then you have the audacity to write this:
"I don't think you know the value of freedom of speech."
Now, let's continue with your original text:
"Did they try to make an Android version of the app? The iPhone is only #7 in China. The number 1 to number 6 smartphones in China are all running Androids. Why would Apple be utilized by these people?"
Why in hell should they write software for a platform they don't use and don't care for? It's like saying: "How dare they swim in warm water, why don't these selfish people go bathing in the Arctic Ocean!" I can tell you why: Because obviously, they are not masochists.
They write the software they have fun writing for, and the people who want to buy it buy it. That's called free market economy. And the government should keep its dirty paws out of it.
Then you continue:
"Personally I don't think these activists are good for China. And this is the reason they are banned."
Exactly how do they harm China? What they do harm is the absolute power and control of a thin elite of princelings at the very top, you know the hundred or so billionaire-communists running China with an iron fist in velvet gloves. (Note the contradiction in terms: billionaire communist, but they do exist...) So what you're saying, the reason these programmers, which you unilaterally declare to be "activists" have the potential to disturb the absolute control and power of a ruling elite by being able to read what the rest of the world writes without government censorship or posting their opinion about what's going on in China without having to fear direct retribution for themselves and their families. And you have the galls to write:
"I don't think you know the value of freedom of speech."
Quote:
I don't think you know the value of freedom of speech. You think American values are great and can not be challenged. Yet any one try to raise facts that are different from the US media has been brainwah you for the last fifty years, you imagined that they are being paid by the Chinese government to do so.
I know the value of freedom of speech well enough to know that freedom of speech is under attack everywhere, including the USA, one just needs to witness the mainstream media witch hunt against Ed Snowden to know where the wind is blowing from. Maybe that's why the US and China get along so well, because the ruling elites are fed up with an uncomfortable, independent and educated middle class, which is why the middle class and a broad education base needs to be destroyed at any price. The goal is to have qualified, but uneducated cheap labor.
American values *were* great, i.e. the values of the founding fathers. The values on display in the US these days suck.
As far as "raising facts that are different": there are facts and then there are lies. There is no such thing as "different facts".
Why do you religion in China can not be wrong? Especially to those Tibetans that burn themselves? Can you say that these things has never happened in US? Do you want me to teach you the US history about a religious sect in US that killed over of the followers because a US representative is accusing their leader? I think Jesus once said when you want to throw a stone first think if you are innocent by yourself.
I'm agnostic. I don't care about religion. But international law has long upheld the principle of the right of self determination of people. If Tibetans don't want to be ruled by Chinese, they have the right to be their own country. Period. The Han can't just simply declare them to be their subjects just because there are valuable mineral deposits somewhere in the mountains.
Also, there's a massive difference between monks that burn *themselves* in protest, and some sect that kills *others*.
Further, I'm not a representative nor a defender of the US government. The US needs to be accused of plenty of war crimes, starting with Dresden in WWII, continuing with the overthrow of democratically elected governments in South America and most recently with conducting an illegal war in Iraq. BUT: one party's wrong doesn't excuse another party's wrong.
I will point the finger and accuse anything, anyone that I notice violating basic human rights and international law.
Anyone who defends a government plainly in violation of international law and of human rights is either a fool or a paid agent of that government. You can take your pick which of these two you want to be called. I thought that considering you a paid agent is less insulting to your intelligence.
Comments
1) By your logic anywhere Apple doesn't have a store is because the native people hate Apple. Now do you really think that's the case?
2) There have been stories before with Apple working with Taiwanese companies. I think most recently it was about making machines to help make devices. Regardless. what the people may feel about a company's product is usually irrelevant to how businesses feel about making a profit. IOW, if there is a Taiwanese company that can profit off Apple's needs then they will do their best to make that happen even if they prefer their shitty Android phones over iPhones.
1. thought most people already know Taiwan so I did not elaborate. Taiwan is one of the four dragons. The other three all have Apple retail stores. Taiwan is a high tech manufacturing base. Most other nations that do not have an Apple retail lack the criteria Taiwan have.
2. Yes, two Taiwanese companies already assemble products for Apple. But the manufacturing is in China. So anybody advocating Apple move manufacturing to Taiwan is a fool and is purely politically motivated.
Of course they can. Case in point, Americans shut down the government this past week. You can say that's Congress but it's made up of Americans, and those Americans are influenced by other Americans. In this case crazy Americans, but still Americans.
The shutdown is not what is being talked about here. What we are talking about are laws.
On Apple threatening to move production out of China it would likely be an empty threat unless they can 1) get more automation, and/or 2) move to India. The latter I think is the long term plan anyway as China's economy gets more demanding (and rightly so) for higher wages. It may also allow for lower tariffs in India which could allow for lower prices for Indian consumers in the future.
Are you from India? It seems you don't know India. I have read that India even not allowing foreign companiese to own retail stores there. This is why Apple has to sell iPhones through Indian retailers.
The risk isn't big at all: it is forsaking doing business in a country run by a bad regime. It's common practice which is why Apple does no business in North Korea, Syria, Iran, Cuba...
No. Companies don't do business with these nations because it is prohibited by Federal law. The ITAR regulations prohibit the sale of (among other things) devices that include strong cryptography. Apple couldn't sell to these nations without making a stripped-down device lacking all of the prohibited hardware and software, which would probably cost more than it's worth.
But plenty of companies do make stripped-down tech products for sale to these countries. For instance, companies making phone switching equipment (how do you think these countries get phone service? They're not all using 50-year-old equipment.)
In other words, this has nothing to do with morality and everything to do with what is legal.
This prior art thing has got to stop!
The US version of this “free” app sells ad removal as an IAP at $1 per month, or $9 per year.
So the developer is mad that Apple isn’t sanctioning it profit from adware draped over readily available VPN firewall-bypass technology, and is positing the story as “Apple censoring!”
Yeah right. Anything for a buck is ok. Good thinking. Wanna buy some crack ?
Want to buy an App that tells you how to make crack and meth, along with links to suppliers for the prerequisites?
So would such an App be withdrawn under American law?
How about an App that shows you how to make bombs?
Laws have to be obeyed in the markets the App store is available in.
Does Android have apps like these available, being "open and less restrictive"?
These activists are very selfish. Did they try to make an Android version of the app? The iPhone is only #7 in China. The number 1 to number 6 smartphones in China are all running Androids. Why would Apple be utilized by these people? Personally I don't think these activists are good for China. And this is the reason they are banned.
Here we go: another one of the bloggers/internet posters paid by the Chinese government to spread their views and dilute the public opinion. Remember the recent micro-blogging disaster, when "people" were outraged at news before the news actually broke, because they were paid to post pro-government opinions and didn't bother to check if the news had actually happened already?
Who cares what's good for China (read: the Chinese government and it's cronies)? What matters is what's good for the liberty of the Chinese people and the people who are suppressed by the Chinese government, like the autonomous Tibet.
Yes, these activists are "selfish", because the Chinese government is completely "selfless"... Hahahah!
Everyone programs on whatever platform they are comfortable with. I wouldn't program for Windows unless threatened with certain death or being paid at least ten times the going rate, because I hate the API, the tools, etc. If these people are OS X/iOS users, they will not program for Android regardless of how many users of Android there are, because there are enough Android programmers to make an equivalent piece of software for that platform.
Regardless what your political point of view is, your activism will always be applied where your field of competence is.
You do realise Foxconn, Apple's main manufacturer, is Taiwanese, right?
When you won't do things the way the Chinese authorities insist this is the result:
http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/traffic/disruptions/#region=CN&expand=ALL
With a huge population and lots of money to be had making the choice to buck the Chinese government isn't good for business.
Can Americans do things againest the US government? I don't think so. So your logic is flawed.
Americans do constantly things against the US government. Heck, even the US government does things against the US government, which is why we currently have a US government shut-down. It's called democracy, civil-disobedience, protest, riots, law-suits, etc. People use all the tools at their disposal, and then some, to make sure government doesn't go beyond it's limits.
If none of that helps, people take up arms, engage in whistle-blowing like Ed Snowden, etc.
So yes, as much as we constantly have to fear an overbearing government, people thankfully DO STAND UP against the government in the USA. That's why it's still a great country, despite all its flaws.
I think you are a fool. Don't you know Apple does not have an Apple retail store in Taiwan? Do you know the reason? Taiwanese hate Apple.
The Taiwanese don't hate Apple. Many of the Taiwanese may not have enough money to afford Apple, but they don't hate it. They do hate, by and large, the mainland Chinese government.
The reason Apple doesn't have retail stores in Taiwan is the same reason they removed the app from the AppStore: so-called "communist" mainland China (which is more like fascist mainland China) does not recognize Taiwan as an independent political entity and considers it a "rogue, secessionist province" and thus Apple having a true Taiwan presence would put it on the shit-list of the Chinese government.
So when faced with selling to a billion people market or a 24 million people market, Apple chose the billion people market.
That's the same reason why Taiwan isn't a member of the United Nations. It's money and power vs. morals and ethics.
For the average American who has no clue, see also here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_status_of_Taiwan
What does that have to do with the price of tea in China? I guarantee the Taiwanese would bend over backwards if Apple moved their manufacturing out of China and into Taiwan. What are they gonna do, sabotage the thousands of jobs Apple brings to the nation? Besides the point is not where Apple moves their manufacturing, its that they threaten to move them out of China. That is a major bargaining chip.
You do realise Foxconn, Apple's main manufacturer, is Taiwanese, right?
Yes, but the actual manufacturing happens in mainland China. There is an odd tension-yet-collaboration-yet-hate between the monied and political powerful elites of Taiwan and China. Unless you have at least a cursory familiarity with Chinese culture and history, what's going on between China and Taiwan is hard to understand.
Imagine Yankees vs. Dixie, but with an odd mixture of ethical and cultural merits between both sides and a civil war that ended in a stalemate, then maybe you can somehow appreciate the tension, connection and separation between Taiwan and China.
I'm familiar with Chinese history. Just not sure why anybody would think manufacturing could be moved to Taiwan. Taiwanese companies generally manufacture on the mainland.
As for the lack of an official store. Apple sells in Taiwan, there are authorised sellers there, they work with Taiwanese companies and they're setting up an R&D facility there. I doubt the absence of a retail store has anything to do with politics. It's most likely because Taiwan is relatively small.
I doubt the absence of a retail store has anything to do with politics. It's most likely because Taiwan is relatively small.
I wouldn't be so sure about that. Having an official corporate presence in Taiwan that's distinct from doing business in (mainland) China is a tad too close for comfort to endorsing Taiwan as an entitiy distinct from (mainland) China.
Doing business with a Taiwan-owned manufacturing company that does all the actual manufacturing in (mainland) China is different, because at least in theory, sooner or late Taiwan will be rejoined with (mainland) China anyway (so goes the thinking), and in the mean time there's actual money and work coming to the "real" (mainland) China.
Just not sure why anybody would think manufacturing could be moved to Taiwan. Taiwanese companies generally manufacture on the mainland.
Of course, Taiwan's wage level is much too high, there are no poor rural migrant workers to draw upon. Taiwan has essentially a 1st world economy, with highly educated and comparatively expensive work force.
Manufacturing could however be moved to Vietnam, but that's where the odd love-hate relationship between mainland China and Taiwan comes into play. You rather give business to the brother you hate than to the stranger you don't mind, or something like that.
China and Taiwan are best comprehended in terms of sibling rivalry...
Agreed!
Here we go: another one of the bloggers/internet posters paid by the Chinese government to spread their views and dilute the public opinion. Remember the recent micro-blogging disaster, when "people" were outraged at news before the news actually broke, because they were paid to post pro-government opinions and didn't bother to check if the news had actually happened already?
Who cares what's good for China (read: the Chinese government and it's cronies)? What matters is what's good for the liberty of the Chinese people and the people who are suppressed by the Chinese government, like the autonomous Tibet.
Yes, these activists are "selfish", because the Chinese government is completely "selfless"... Hahahah!
Everyone programs on whatever platform they are comfortable with. I wouldn't program for Windows unless threatened with certain death or being paid at least ten times the going rate, because I hate the API, the tools, etc. If these people are OS X/iOS users, they will not program for Android regardless of how many users of Android there are, because there are enough Android programmers to make an equivalent piece of software for that platform.
Regardless what your political point of view is, your activism will always be applied where your field of competence is.
Your rhetoric is typical of American anti-China propaganda for the last several hundred years. The Chinese cultural values are traditionally disciplinary. This is not originated from communism. This Chinese cultural value is one of the reasons US Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act around 1870 when the word communism does not even exist.
I don't think you know the value of freedom of speech. You think American values are great and can not be challenged. Yet any one try to raise facts that are different from the US media has been brainwah you for the last fifty years, you imagined that they are being paid by the Chinese government to do so.
Why do you religion in China can not be wrong? Especially to those Tibetans that burn themselves? Can you say that these things has never happened in US? Do you want me to teach you the US history about a religious sect in US that killed over of the followers because a US representative is accusing their leader? I think Jesus once said when you want to throw a stone first think if you are innocent by yourself.
Apple is obeying the law- and should. If the Chinese people don't like their laws they should elect officials that will enable laws they like. If they don't like the fact that they *can't* elect their officials, they need to revolt and govern themselves in such a way they can.
It isn't Apple's job to fix China.
The Taiwanese don't hate Apple. Many of the Taiwanese may not have enough money to afford Apple, but they don't hate it. They do hate, by and large, the mainland Chinese government.
The reason Apple doesn't have retail stores in Taiwan is the same reason they removed the app from the AppStore: so-called "communist" mainland China (which is more like fascist mainland China) does not recognize Taiwan as an independent political entity and considers it a "rogue, secessionist province" and thus Apple having a true Taiwan presence would put it on the shit-list of the Chinese government.
So when faced with selling to a billion people market or a 24 million people market, Apple chose the billion people market.
That's the same reason why Taiwan isn't a member of the United Nations. It's money and power vs. morals and ethics.
For the average American who has no clue, see also here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_status_of_Taiwan
You are really a political animal. Why would China care if Apple open a retail store in Taiwan? Your arguments are so weak that they don't make sense at all.
Let me tell you the real reason Taiwan is hostile to Apple. Taiwan made a fortune in the last thirty years producing Windows devices. They think Apple is their main obstacle to the fortune. Apple knows how poorly iPhones are sold in Taiwan. Therefore Apple does not open a retail store there.
Personally I feel this Taiwanese hostility toward Apple is stupid.
These activists are very selfish. Did they try to make an Android version of the app? The iPhone is only #7 in China. The number 1 to number 6 smartphones in China are all running Androids. Why would Apple be utilized by these people? Personally I don't think these activists are good for China. And this is the reason they are banned.
Here we go: another one of the bloggers/internet posters paid by the Chinese government to spread their views and dilute the public opinion. Remember the recent micro-blogging disaster, when "people" were outraged at news before the news actually broke, because they were paid to post pro-government opinions and didn't bother to check if the news had actually happened already?
Who cares what's good for China (read: the Chinese government and it's cronies)? What matters is what's good for the liberty of the Chinese people and the people who are suppressed by the Chinese government, like the autonomous Tibet.
Yes, these activists are "selfish", because the Chinese government is completely "selfless"... Hahahah!
Everyone programs on whatever platform they are comfortable with. I wouldn't program for Windows unless threatened with certain death or being paid at least ten times the going rate, because I hate the API, the tools, etc. If these people are OS X/iOS users, they will not program for Android regardless of how many users of Android there are, because there are enough Android programmers to make an equivalent piece of software for that platform.
Regardless what your political point of view is, your activism will always be applied where your field of competence is.
Your rhetoric is typical of American anti-China propaganda for the last several hundred years. The Chinese cultural values are traditionally disciplinary. This is not originated from communism. This Chinese cultural value is one of the reasons US Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act around 1870 when the word communism does not even exist.
You try to shift the argument by not quoting what I wrote my reply to. I fixed that issue, by including again the section of your original post that I was referring to.
So let's look at what you wrote:
"These activists are very selfish."
What activists? These are programmers who write software to prevent government snooping. In any reasonable country that's legal. I can encrypt and bypass NSA snooping as much as I want, while they try to break whatever mechanisms I use to protect my privacy. It's a cat and mouse game and even that is very much so stretching the US constitution and human rights. To outlaw communication that's not subject to government intrusion is totalitarian. So then you have the audacity to write this:
"I don't think you know the value of freedom of speech."
Now, let's continue with your original text:
"Did they try to make an Android version of the app? The iPhone is only #7 in China. The number 1 to number 6 smartphones in China are all running Androids. Why would Apple be utilized by these people?"
Why in hell should they write software for a platform they don't use and don't care for? It's like saying: "How dare they swim in warm water, why don't these selfish people go bathing in the Arctic Ocean!" I can tell you why: Because obviously, they are not masochists.
They write the software they have fun writing for, and the people who want to buy it buy it. That's called free market economy. And the government should keep its dirty paws out of it.
Then you continue:
"Personally I don't think these activists are good for China. And this is the reason they are banned."
Exactly how do they harm China? What they do harm is the absolute power and control of a thin elite of princelings at the very top, you know the hundred or so billionaire-communists running China with an iron fist in velvet gloves. (Note the contradiction in terms: billionaire communist, but they do exist...) So what you're saying, the reason these programmers, which you unilaterally declare to be "activists" have the potential to disturb the absolute control and power of a ruling elite by being able to read what the rest of the world writes without government censorship or posting their opinion about what's going on in China without having to fear direct retribution for themselves and their families. And you have the galls to write:
"I don't think you know the value of freedom of speech."
I don't think you know the value of freedom of speech. You think American values are great and can not be challenged. Yet any one try to raise facts that are different from the US media has been brainwah you for the last fifty years, you imagined that they are being paid by the Chinese government to do so.
I know the value of freedom of speech well enough to know that freedom of speech is under attack everywhere, including the USA, one just needs to witness the mainstream media witch hunt against Ed Snowden to know where the wind is blowing from. Maybe that's why the US and China get along so well, because the ruling elites are fed up with an uncomfortable, independent and educated middle class, which is why the middle class and a broad education base needs to be destroyed at any price. The goal is to have qualified, but uneducated cheap labor.
American values *were* great, i.e. the values of the founding fathers. The values on display in the US these days suck.
As far as "raising facts that are different": there are facts and then there are lies. There is no such thing as "different facts".
Why do you religion in China can not be wrong? Especially to those Tibetans that burn themselves? Can you say that these things has never happened in US? Do you want me to teach you the US history about a religious sect in US that killed over of the followers because a US representative is accusing their leader? I think Jesus once said when you want to throw a stone first think if you are innocent by yourself.
I'm agnostic. I don't care about religion. But international law has long upheld the principle of the right of self determination of people. If Tibetans don't want to be ruled by Chinese, they have the right to be their own country. Period. The Han can't just simply declare them to be their subjects just because there are valuable mineral deposits somewhere in the mountains.
Also, there's a massive difference between monks that burn *themselves* in protest, and some sect that kills *others*.
Further, I'm not a representative nor a defender of the US government. The US needs to be accused of plenty of war crimes, starting with Dresden in WWII, continuing with the overthrow of democratically elected governments in South America and most recently with conducting an illegal war in Iraq. BUT: one party's wrong doesn't excuse another party's wrong.
I will point the finger and accuse anything, anyone that I notice violating basic human rights and international law.
Anyone who defends a government plainly in violation of international law and of human rights is either a fool or a paid agent of that government. You can take your pick which of these two you want to be called. I thought that considering you a paid agent is less insulting to your intelligence.