Apple Watch's LTE Suspended In China Possibly Due To Government Security Concerns (appleinsider.com)

The Apple Watch Series 3's best new feature has been mysteriously blocked in China. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, China has cut off the Apple Watch's LTE connectivity on Sept. 28 after brief availability from China Unicom. Industry analysts claim that the suspension is probably from governmental concerns about not being able to track and confirm users of the device. AppleInsider reports: Apple issued a brief statement confirming the situation, and referring customers to China Unicom. Neither China Unicom, nor Chinese regulators have made any statement on the matter. The issue may stem from the eSIM in the Apple Watch. Devices like the iPhone have state-owned telecom company-issued SIM cards -- and the eSIM is embedded in the device by Apple. "The eSIM (system) isn't mature enough yet in China," one analyst said. "The government still needs to figure out how they can control the eSIM." The LTE version of the Apple Watch had only a trial certificate to operate on the Chinese LTE network. An analyst who asked not to be identified expects that Ministry of Industry and Information Technology may take months to figure out how the government will deal with the eSIM, and issue a formal certificate for operation.

Comments

Reinstate the Draft

[PopeRatzo]

You old farts needn't worry. Soon we'll have some new wars, and that will make older workers great again.

Re:Reinstate the Draft

[PopeRatzo]

oops, wrong story. I'm so old I can't even keep my Slashdot stories straight.

If only there was a way to sort them on my Apple Watch.

Re: Reinstate the Draft

[Anonymous Coward]

With that stupid crapple watch you look even older.

Re: Reinstate the Draft

[PopeRatzo]

With that stupid crapple watch you look even older.

I wear my Apple Watch on a chain and keep it in my vest pocket.

Re:Reinstate the Draft

[wardrich86]

Heh, I just came from that thread and had to double-check which story I was actually on after seeing your comment.

Here's the story that comment was meant to go on: Almost Half of Tech Workers Worry About Losing Their Jobs Because of Ageism, Says Survey.

Why not ask the U.S. government?

[p51d007]

I'm sure the U.S. government knows how to track via "smart" watches. Hell, people give up their rights to privacy all the time, since the advent of smartphones and beyond.

Re:Why not ask the U.S. government?

[AHuxley]

Communist nations would fear:
The tracking of skilled staff into and out of sensitive mil/gov sites.
The location of experts as they work with, have conversations near other interesting people.
That lets the NSA/GCHQ build up a large database of investing staff, find new sensitive locations by tracking staff locations, durations of stay.
CIA/MI6 then make their approach domestically, when staff go on holiday.
Classic honey traps, casino debts. offer of a better life are then made by CIA/MI6.
To hand over documents to the West for freedoms, no uniform at work, cash, a better lifestyle.
The best way to avoid intrigue that is just to ban networked consumer junk.
No networked device, no nation wide tracking for the Western spy agencies.
The West is reduced to 1990's spy satellites, trying human to human approaches.

Re:Why not ask the U.S. government?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm actually kinda wondering how the Apple Watch 3 with LTE ever got approval from any government.

Let me roll back the clock about 10 years, I was working at eBay and all these shitty GSM+GPS watches were coming out of the woodwork, and I was the one taking down the listings due to some VeRO owner having a shitfit over these things infringing on his patents. Sure he had a case, but think about how much power is required for a wireless device to work, and you are keeping this thing on your wrist 24/7.

If any business or government organization is concerned about how the LTE devices are tracking the user, FFS ban them, and then remember that smartphones have the same features, and ban those. If you want to prevent someone from being tracked, go back to low-end nokia phones from 2006. But of course this is counter-intuitive.

So realistically, in a country like China, you're at risk that you will be tracked a little too closely, I wouldn't risk owning one of these in any country where the government can make the wireless telco sing. But at the same time, if you're caught up in a terrorism, natural disaster, or manmade disaster event, one of these devices might save your life since it would allow pin-pointing your location and if you're still alive. So logically the best people to own these are those who work outdoors.

Re:Why not ask the U.S. government?

[tlhIngan]

It's not tracking that's the problem.

It's that in China, SIM cards are highly controlled. The government basically wants a full blown profile on you from your name and date of birth, to your political leanings, whether you want beef or chicken in your sandwich and whether or not you know what the letters V, P and N could stand for.

Pass that, you get your SIM card and have cellphone service.

Problem is, it's a supply-managed system - the Chinese government controls cellphone access by controlling SIM card availability.

eSIMs or embedded UICCs (Universal Integrated Chip Carriers) are regular SIM cards, however they are provisioned remotely. Instead of physically installing a SIM card, the contents of a SIM card are transferred to the device (and in the case of keys, generated onboard and the other half given out).

Of course, this is a problem - since the government can't deny you a SIM card if you have an eSIM, and who's to say you can't fake your way into getting one if you don't have to present all your papers to get one?

So of course, China bans it

Re: Why not ask the U.S. government?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, not really. Outdoor work? Apple Watch? No need to really get into that, so in conclusion: No one should wear an Apple Watch. Got it. Seems to be the standard, anyways.

Fear

[Anonymous Coward]

They fear the great American hero Dick Tracy, who they call "Wang Lady," and smart watches remind them of the greatest detective ever.

How mysterious

[Anonymous Coward]

The Apple Watch Series 3's best new feature has been mysteriously blocked in China.

Oooh a mystery.

The LTE version of the Apple Watch had only a trial certificate to operate on the Chinese LTE network.

Mystery solved it seems. They only had a trial certificate but went ahead and sold them to consumers. WTF?

Apple tells the customers what they want

[Anonymous Coward]

Everyone knows Apple decides what's best for the consumer. Apple decided that consumers didn't want a watch that worked, but just a trial version with a trial certificate. They didn't bother telling the consumer, because why would they, they're Apple and you are just a customer. Anyway the series 4 will be available soon, pre-order now it's even more shiny.

Bring Back the Woz

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple has totally been caving to China lately, just like they did with the VPN. It stood up to the US government, which was good, but why not stand up to the Chinese government? If Apple will not take a principled stand for all users worldwide, then it just makes it look like they are being difficult in America rather than actually standing for something. But instead of standing up for Chinese users against their government, Tim Cook would rather funnel Apple shareholders money to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Fire Cook and put Steve Wozniak in charge!

Private eyes are watching you

[Anonymous Coward]

Private eyes are watching you. Of all people Hall & Oates with a pop song called it. Yeah so did others but that song got a lot of play time.

SocialWorldBlog

[Anonymous Coward]

Such a great information.Your selection of topic is very good.

Baseband modem.

[DrYak]

The standard modus operandi for most 3G/4G.enabled devices is to use the baseband modem.

With very few exceptions (OMAP-based devices used in things like the Pyra handheld, or the upcoming Librem 5 by Purism), the modem isn't a separate segregated chip, but is part of the main chipset, and sometime even work as a kind of Northbridge, and is directly in charge of sensitive part of the phone like the RAM (Hello Qualcomm, I'm pointing fingers to you).

For obvious radio frequency licensing reasons, this baseband runs proprietary closed blobs (just ask the guys at LineageOS, formely CaynogenMod, what they think of these proprietary bullshit - they can't even bring up such a basic function as the RAM using opensource code, the blobs are mandatory to do anything on these chipsets). Part of the code that is executed by the modem comes from the chipset manufacturer who owns the necessary license, part of the code are instructionx sent over the air by the cell operator (also licensed). Same "proprietary closed blobs" situation also apply on the SIM card itself.

Means that, it's very easy for a government agency that has the proper clearance and access to just remotely access whatever they need simply by sending the corresponding instruction over the air.

In the case of the iPhone, the situation is easier for China, because they are issued only with government approved SIM cards.

In the case of the Apple Watch, the situation is a bit more difficult for China than the US because they do not control the SIM card inside the watch.

Hence, I imagine they probably aren't happy about being "second class spies" compared to the US and that is I think the reason for delaying the authorisation of Apple Watch over there.

how is trial certificate expiry "being cut off"?

[Anonymous Coward]

If your trial certificate expires, you are not being cut off by anyone. You used a temporary resource for testing purposes in a product, and sold it to your customers, without first acquiring a more permanent resource.

China can be blamed for many things, this does not look like one of them.