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Behind Apple's apology to China, revenue in Greater China was $6.83bn

Over the past 23 years, CCTV's 3 & middot; 15 party has maintained the record of 'exposing all enterprises and apologizing to consumers'. Apple thought it would break the record of' sticking to the end ', but the result is not so.

On the evening of April 1, Beijing time, apple issued an apology letter to review the company's poor external communication, which led to consumers misunderstanding apple. In addition, a new iPhone 4 / 4S maintenance policy was attached to the apology letter.

The U.S. media said: 'given the importance of the Chinese market to apple, it's not surprising that this letter of apology came at all. 'according to Apple's financial report for the first quarter of 2013 released not long ago, the revenue in Greater China was US $6.83billion, up 67% year on year.

The release of Apple's apology coincided with the opening of US stocks. At the end of the day, Apple's share price fell 3.11%, close to its lowest level in 52 weeks. Affected by Apple's share price, a number of 'apple concept' shares fell yesterday, including ultrasonic electronics, Jinfu new material and Changxin technology.

Apple to be modest

At about 9:00 p.m. on April 1, Apple's public relations department in China began to inform major media reporters of the announcement of Cook's apology letter on the official website, and briefly introduced the content. At the other end of the phone, apple is like the 10086 voice station of China Mobile. In the background, the voice of "making a phone call" is everywhere.

In the view of Apple CEO cook, everything is a misunderstanding, and the root cause of this misunderstanding is communication.

'in the past two weeks, we have received a lot of feedback about Apple's repair and warranty policy in China. We not only deeply reflected on these opinions, carefully studied the & lsquo; three guarantees & quot; regulations with relevant departments, but also examined the communication mode of our maintenance policy, and sorted out our management standards for authorized service providers of apple. In a letter to respected Chinese consumers, Cook said that Apple was aware that the lack of external communication in the process led to the perception that Apple was arrogant and didn't care or pay attention to consumers' feedback. We sincerely apologize for any concerns or misunderstandings caused to consumers.

On the evening of March 15, Beijing time, Apple was exposed at the CCTV 3 & middot; 15 party because of the inequality inside and outside the after-sales service. Then, apple issued a brief statement, and a second statement to consumers a few days later, but the content was not an apology, but a restatement of Apple's maintenance policy and views. 'I don't care if I apologize. The key is to solve the problem. 'Mr. Dong from Guangzhou said that after 3 & middot; 15, he had a problem with his iPhone 5 and sent it for repair. The service staff said they would give a reply in three days. However, it was the 10th day when I was interviewed by Nandu reporter, and no reply has been received.

Subsequently, in many CCTV programs, Apple's problems were repeatedly exposed. Finally, cook's apology letter appeared after people's Daily's five-day follow-up report on Apple's after-sales problems.

Because of the timing, people naturally associate cook's apology with media coverage. And think this is apple 'soft' performance. However, there are different views in the industry about this. "The media is indeed a catalyst, but apple is a market-oriented company after all. They always think that they are talking about the matter on its own, so we can see that the statements are all for consumers. Yang Qun, chief analyst of Zhan guoce, a domestic consulting firm, said that consumers should focus on whether the problem can be solved.

Solve the protracted war

Recently, Liu Junhai, a professor at the Law School of Renmin University of China, said in the CCTV program, "I noticed that Apple's log o is missing something. I think what is missing is a deep understanding of China's consumer protection law and a lack of gratitude to Chinese consumers. As a matter of fact, from now on, many people have realized that the public opinion's attack on Apple has begun to enter a stage of "chaos" -- the after-sales problem, repeatedly speaking, does not affect Apple's product maintenance, and the reason for criticizing Apple has become more and more emotional and empty. But Apple has always been silent, and it is really easy to make some consumers feel bad.

As early as last week, in a signed comment by Nandu reporter, the way of Apple's' external communication 'has been put on the table -' tough 'and' no response 'were the main themes of apple in the era before CEO jobs took charge of apple. And jobs' personal style and this practice do not conflict, but form a kind of personality charm. Now, with cook's modest attitude on the stage, Apple has changed its external communication, including cook's several visits to China, visits to senior officials of relevant government departments and 'leaders' of the three major operators, listing China's market data in the financial report, emphasizing the importance of China's market, and so on. But these changes, which originated from cook himself, were still wrapped up in jobs like apple in the past.

"It can be said that cook skillfully bypassed the problem itself exposed by CCTV in his apology letter, and thought that the crux was the way of communication, but he did not rule out that this was what Cook said from the bottom of his heart. 'Yang Qun believes that whether the style of Apple's external communication will change since then, and even affect the company's impression in the eyes of consumers, as well as its future development, is the next most noteworthy part.

Turning to the part of apology, cook's open letter still used more ink to describe the adjustment of maintenance details. 'we can assure you that Apple's commitment and enthusiasm to China are the same as those of other countries. "Since April 2013, Apple has upgraded the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S service packs to replace all devices with new components and a one-year warranty recalculated from the date of replacement," the content said.

The share price fell

Cook's letter of apology can be said to solve the problem of consumer concern. However, on the media side, all kinds of voices are still heard. It is worth noting that, in addition to many domestic media showing a "proud" mood, foreign media also showed great "enthusiasm.".

"Cook is getting into the habit of apologizing," Reuters said in an article yesterday. The most recent one is to apologize to Chinese consumers, which is disgraceful but worthwhile. By admitting its arrogance, the tech giant has won prospective buyers at a low price. Cook's apology can quickly solve China's potential 'boycott of Apple products' crisis. The U.S. cable television network reported that "given the importance of the Chinese market to apple, this letter of apology is not surprising at all. According to Apple's financial report for the first quarter of 2013 released on January 24, the revenue in Greater China was $6.830 billion, up 67% from $4.080 billion in the same period last year.

No one can predict what kind of 'shape' Apple will take in the future, but most of the media, while being 'cynical', still affirm the change of Apple's maintenance regulations and the desire to strengthen communication with the outside world. But on the day of the letter, Apple's share price fell 3.11%.

Before that, Citigroup analysts had published a research report saying that Apple's' neutral 'rating was maintained because of adverse public opinion in China's official media. Richard Gardner, another former senior analyst at Citigroup, also believes that Apple's stock will continue to be weak in the future. He said, "although some investors are still optimistic about Apple, the negative reports Apple has encountered in the Chinese market in recent years will frustrate the opportunity for apple to further cooperate with China Mobile. '

However, no investment bank has commented on the role of Cook's apology letter so far. On the other hand, the decline of Apple's share price also led to the decline of many domestic Apple concept stocks. As of yesterday's close, the overall decline of Apple concept stock was 4.58%, ranking the first. Individual stocks rose less and fell more, led by ultrasonic electronics, Jinfu new material and Changxin technology. Shentianma A and Changying precision fell more than 8%, Gongda electroacoustic and Laibao hi tech fell more than 7%, Geer acoustics and huanxu electronics fell more than 6%, Yushun electronics, Jiuan medical and Desai battery fell more than 5%, and Yunhai metal fell 0.12%, with the least decline; In addition, China Unicom rose 0.28%, BYD rose 0.46%.