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Apple issues apology following attacks in China

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By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN

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If anything this should show Apple to move manufacturing out of China. Either that or get rid of Cook. So far under him, this is the second apology. I don't think Jobs would have apologized for such a bogus charge. He would also not have allowed an app like maps to be released unfinished. No wonder the stock is down over 40% from the highs.

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How ironic that Apple and China are both like each other: big, arrogant and controlling. Serves 'em both right.

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Apple’s problem began on International Consumers’ Day, when China’s biggest state-run television network, as is its tradition, broadcast an investigative report on how companies operating in China cheat or mistreat consumers. This year, on March 15, one of the targets was Apple. China Central Television criticized the American company’s after-sales iPhone customer service in China because it gave only a one-year warranty, while in China the law is two years. It also said that phone owners had to pay about $90 to replace a faulty back cover.

After weeks of anti-Apple rhetoric from China's state run media outlets complaining about iPhone customer service standards, Apple CEO Tim Cook has not only written a formal apology but even gone so far as to change the Chinese iPhone warranty policy — and it's better than Apple's American policy now. Per the new China policy, when an iPhone breaks, Chinese iPhone 4 and 4S owners will get a brand-new phone with brand-new one-year warranties, instead of the refurbished phones with the same old warranties that had led complaints straight to the top in Beijing. Specifically, Chinese consumers will no longer get refurbished parts, and they also have a longer warranty than before. American consumers, it should be noted, have no such luxuries. For comparison, here's the current U.S. iPhone warranty policy — note our emphasis in yellow on the "refurbished" factor, which China's consumers no longer have to worry about:

-Seems to be a win for the consumer. Who will be getting all these (cheaper) refurb iPhones since every China iPhone will be guaranteed new?

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2011/07/21/china-fake-apple-store-clerk-speaks-out/ (Amazing fake Apple Store) I bet he already offers a 2 yr warranty !!

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The attacks on Apple center on complaints over Apple`s repair policies in China -- specifically its practice of only replacing faulty parts rather than providing new iPhones, as it does in other markets.

In the US and North America, it is clearly implied that warranty replacement phones can be either new or refurbished.

http://images.apple.com/legal/terms/docs/iphone_ars_na_en.pdf

There's a lot of iPhones, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, being returned for various reasons. If you receive a warranty replacement, you will never know if that replacement iPhone is new or refurbished. Usually APPLE will not repair your faulty/defective iPhones upfront and would not return the same iPhone unit back to you. They will give you repaired/refurbished (recycled) iPhones coming from the same clients with the same situation as you. The unit is was coming from someone else which was subsequently repaired by Apple technicians for several days. Rough estimate could be that only 1 out of 5 replacements are real brand-new. 4 could be just recycled/refurbished.

Of course in countries like China, specially after this incident, they will say that all replacements are new. But maybe who knows, it could be true in mainland China only.

An iPhone unit getting out of China's factory has only US$70 value or even less. In Mainland China, 70 dollars maybe less burden for Apple to give as replacement than repairing/refurbishing a broken unit. It does not even matter if the replacement (NEW) phone has another 1 year warranty because 70 dollars is not that expensive either,

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http://www.isuppli.com/Teardowns/News/Pages/iPhone5-Carries-$199-BOM-Virtual-Teardown-Reveals.aspx ($200 for the iPhone)

I would actually rather have my same phone back than some other's phone. =Outside of China you will never get your old phone back. They swap it out and your's sits on a huge stack until they decide to repair a bunch at the same time in China. So the China fix your phone program was unique.

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In a direct confrontation between Apple and the Chinese govermens, the U.S. company will never be a winner, nor will China necessarily do well. However, Apple will suffer the most. The Chinese goverment action might be a payback for Huawei’s problems in the U.S.

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