In the apology letter signed by cook, apple promised to improve the repair policies for devices such as iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, and comply with China's three guarantees regulations. At the same time, cook also said that Apple's previous lack of communication with the outside world led to the perception that Apple was arrogant, and apple apologized for this.
In the past 17 days, Apple has been pushed to the forefront of public opinion by CCTV, people's daily and other major official media since CCTV's 315 evening party exposed that Apple's maintenance policy was suspected of discriminating against Chinese consumers.
From silence, evasion, tough response to today's public apology, the continuous upgrading of public opinion has played an important catalytic role in the change of Apple's attitude, but it is China's huge market that finally makes Apple change.
The change of Apple's attitude
We have to start with the CCTV 315 party. On the night of March 15, CCTV publicly exposed that Apple's maintenance service policy in China was inconsistent with that of foreign countries, and was suspected of discriminating against Chinese consumers. CCTV's exposure of Apple's unreasonable behavior includes: not replacing the back cover of the mobile phone when replacing the mobile phone for consumers; not complying with the domestic "Three Guarantees" regulations.
That night, apple responded with a simple statement. Apple said it attached great importance to the opinions and suggestions of every consumer, but did not respond positively to the problems exposed by CCTV in its statement. This short statement of less than 200 words has even been called by netizens as' the classic model of official reply to false big empty '.
Now looking back, CCTV 315 party exposure is just the beginning. After the 315 evening party, well-known columns including CCTV news, focus interview and half an hour of economy continued to report and question Apple's after-sales problems. Under the escalation of public opinion, apple issued a second statement.
On the morning of March 23, apple made a strong response in its second statement, saying that the after-sales service standard was high and in line with Chinese regulations. Different from the previous evasive attitude, this time Apple strongly defended itself. However, Apple's tough stance led to heated public opinion. Not only CCTV did not stop questioning apple, but people's daily also made a voice for the first time.
On March 25, the people's daily issued its first article questioning Apple's after-sales service. Within the next five days, people's Daily published a series of articles and editorials, among which the article "beat Apple's incomparable arrogance" pushed the whole public opinion to a climax.
On March 28, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and the General Administration of quality supervision, inspection and Quarantine of the people's Republic of China successively stated that apple must make corrections or be severely punished. The intervention of government agencies makes the whole situation beyond the level of public opinion.
Finally, on the evening of April 1, apple sent out a letter of apology to express its apology to domestic consumers, and made comprehensive corrections to its after-sales policies, so as to fully comply with domestic laws and regulations.
Apple seeks Chinese market
From silence, evasion, tough response to today's public apology, Apple has indeed experienced a series of attitude changes. Even though the exposure of people's daily, CCTV and other media for several days played an important catalytic role, what finally softened Apple's attitude was still China's huge market. In short, Apple's apology is "yielding" to the Chinese market.
Apple in the cook era can no longer be compared with that in the jobs era, and apple, which lacks innovation, has been in a decline.
Since the end of last year, apple is no longer the favorite of the capital market. Its share price has dropped from a high of more than $700 to more than $430. Apple may see its first net profit decline in 10 years in the latest quarter as its market advantage in competing with mobile phone manufacturers such as Samsung has shrunk significantly.
Cook and wall street both understand that in addition to innovation, only the Chinese market can save apple in the future. Cook has a very clear understanding of this.
For apple, China is the second largest market after the United States. Apple's revenue in China rose 67% to $6.8 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2013, the first time the company has reported sales in China alone. During his visit to China in January, Cook said in an exclusive interview with sina technology that he expected China to become Apple's largest market at some time in the future.
Based on various reasons, it is not difficult to understand why cook stressed in his apology that "we always have great respect for China, and Chinese consumers are always the top priority in our hearts. '