Sam Oliver
Tim Cook's tour of China continues with another interview with local media, this time with the Apple CEO telling users in the country that he had "very open" discussions on privacy and security with the Chinese government, following a series of attacks in the country targeting Apple users.
Cook met with Ma Kai, China's vice premier, earlier this week in Beijing, and the two discussed "protection of users' information" in the wake of hackers' efforts to obtain iCloud user logins. Cook acknowledged those talks — but not the hacks — in an interview with China's Xinhua news agency, and suggested the discussions were productive.
Chinese activist group GreatFire.org has accused its government of being involved in the attacks, which have seen iCloud user data harvested by spoofing the icloud.com website. The "man-in-the-middle" attacks are said to utilize incredibly deep access to the servers of government-owned Chinese providers, which has helped fuel speculation that the Chinese government is cooperating with hackers.
China's government has denied the allegations, and has said it too has been targeted by hackers. The iCloud-focused efforts came to light when users in China began to receive security warnings from Apple's iCloud service.
Similar hacks have been implemented in the past, also targeting American companies with services on the Internet, including Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft Hotmail.
In his interview with Xinhua, Cook also said bringing Apple Pay to China is "on top of the list" of things he wants to do. The CEO called China a "key market," and said that any service Apple provides, he plans to bring to the country.
Apple is rumored to partner with UnionPay to launch Apple Pay on the newly released iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. However, the Cupertino, Calif., company has not yet provided any international launch dates for the currently U.S.-only Apple Pay service.
In another Chinese media interview conducted this week, Cook also said that Apple plans to build 25 new retail stores in China within the next two years. That would bring its total number of locations up from 15 to 40.
On his trip, Cook also stopped by Foxconn's iPhone factory in Zhengzhou, where he met with assembly line workers. The CEO also tweeted out a photo of himself sitting with a Foxconn worker putting the finishing touches on a new iPhone 6 unit.
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12 Comments
Very open privacy talks. Lol.
Sometimes I favor Apple's dialogue approach, sometimes I favor Google cold shoulde approach. Hope Apple's approach would bear more fruit to the company and Chinese people.
[quote name="sully54" url="/t/183033/apple-ceo-tim-cook-says-privacy-talks-with-chinese-government-were-very-open#post_2626418"]Very open privacy talks. Lol.[/quote] Or ... or ... were they privet opency talks...? 'Honorable Mr. Cook, just opency purse strings and we will be most obliging' edit typo
Say the Chinese government was behind it, how it they much different that the US Government collecting information on everyone worldwide.
Also keep in mind that Hackers in the US have hacked into US government computers and networks to use them to attach out systems. The US government does not want to talk about that.
This is what Apple decided to put Chinese users on Chinese servers, verse put them in the US, this way if the China government want to spy on its people they will not have access to US accounts.
Went to an awareness evening dedicated to the disappearance of Du Bin, the dissident filmmaker, last seen in 2013. Speakers related the 'no man's land' situation that persists in China. No one really knows exactly who is doing what to whom and that extends to the government themselves - the various departments are constantly played off against one another. Upshot? Well yes, there is genuine outrage over security concerns and yes, the state controlled media will pick the easy targets like Apple, but from my visits, there is general scepticism too. The media could kick up a storm saying that Apple's iPhone gives you Mad Cow Disease - but nobody would really believe it, not in the well educated sector where Apple's gear is highly prized.