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ZTE Shuts Down Main Business Operations After US Ban (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: ZTE wasn't kidding around when it suggested that a U.S. Department of Commerce order would "severely impact" its survival. It's hard to image a successful path around the seven-year ban on the sale of U.S. products to the company imposed after it reportedly failed to sufficiently reprimand staff for flouting Iranian sanctions. Earlier today, in fact, the Chinese smartphone/telecom manufacturer announced that it had ceased its main business operations as it attempts to figure out the best way forward. "As a result of the Denial Order, the major operating activities of the company have ceased," the company wrote in an exchange filing spotted by Reuters. "As of now, the company maintains sufficient cash and strictly adheres to its commercial obligations subject in compliance with laws and regulations."
ZTE looks like a huge company with operations all over the world. According to Wikipedia, cell phones only account for roughly 29% of their operations. So being shut out of one market (albeit a major one) in one sector of their business is enough to knock out the entire company? Something doesn't smell right.
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
About a year and a half ago I got each of my kids a ZTE ZMax Pro. I went with these phones because they were both affordable and full-featured.
They were $179 (unsubsidized). Specs were not quite on par with my LG V20, but they were decent.
- 1080p resolution
- 32GB storage, 2GB memory
- Decent cameras
- Only USB 2.0, but Type-C plug. (I got so tired of needing new micro-USB cables every other month for my kids)
- MicroSD slot (hate that so many phones have dumped this in an attempt to force users to utilize cloud storage to increase telecoms data usage profits, I expect since T-Mobile forced everyone into an "unlimited data" war that we will see the slots return as standard on Android phones.)
Google shows the user rating for the ZTE Zmax Pro as 4.3, which is pretty decent for a no-name budget phone. And to be honest, I've had less problems with my kids ZTE ZMax Pros than I did with either my Samsung Note 2/S5 Active.
The fact that any company sold anything to Iran at all under sanctions was basically a "let's see you stop me" move, and they got rightly called on that.
True they didn't have the sophistication to create a cutout company. A Czech company created a non-EU cutout company to sell goods to, who would in turn sell goods to Iran. Different ownership, a friend of a friend owned the cutout. The Czech company got its extra sales at a good price, the cutout got a good markup and basically reshipped unopened boxes. The Iranian buyers paid noticeably more for the goods but it understood the complications and workaround.
Now this was possible since the goods were consumer luxury items. Not tightly controlled and tracked military grade type stuff. YMMV depending on the goods.