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March 26, 2012

Tim Cook's Visit to Beijing is a Milestone

By Jack Grauer, TMCnet Contributing Writer

Apple (News - Alert) CEO, Tim Cook, recently met with employees at an Apple Store in Beijing, China, reported the Business Insider, suggesting legal issues with international device use.  



Cook's visit was ostensibly aimed at meeting with China Telecom (News - Alert), the company providing the communications network in China, on which the iPhone 4S will run in the country. He may also have ongoing business to conduct regarding a trademark violation issue with a company called Proview.

While Cook has made several trips to the country since his time in office, Steve Jobs (News - Alert) never once set foot on Chinese soil with an entrepreneurial agenda. Cook's behavior signifies an important shift in business models for the company with heavier emphasis on emerging Asian markets. Latin America and the Middle East can also anticipate an intensification of the Apple invasion.

If Apple is dealing with China Telecom, they are dealing with the Chinese government. If they are dealing with the Chinese government, Apple must now consider the country an attractive enough market to weather an extremely convoluted and strict state of bureaucracy.

Cook does not extend the olive branch alone, however. Mark Zuckerberg (News - Alert) of Facebook also plans to “friend” China, joked the Sydney Morning Herald.

As China continues to awkwardly and slowly mold itself into a capitalist state, a morbidly entertaining trend is the discomfort in the facial expressions Chinese officials wear as they swallow the hard kernels of westernization. Social media devices like iPhones and social networks such as Facebook (News - Alert) played key roles in organizing a ferociously militant youth culture, bringing them out into the streets of the Middle East.

The consequences of the introduction of these networking platforms in China, in conjunction with the country’s softening censorship laws, will undoubtedly spark controversy. The only question is how much.




Edited by Braden Becker
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