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White House Advisor Kudlow Says Apple Technology May Have Been 'Picked Off' by China (cnbc.com)
Fred Imbert, writing for CNBC: Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, said Friday that Apple's technology may have been stolen by the Chinese. "I don't want to surmise too much here, but Apple technology may have been picked off by China and now China is becoming very competitive with Apple. You've got to have rule of law," Kudlow said in an interview with Bloomberg. "There are some indications from China that they're looking at that, but we don't know that yet. There's no enforcement; there's nothing concrete." Kudlow's comments came shortly after China's Commerce Ministry said Chinese and U.S. officials will meet next week to discuss trade. Both countries have been engaged in a trade spat for months that has sent ripples through global markets. John Gruber at DaringFireball comments: I think what he's saying here is that the Chinese stole Apple technology, copied it, and are now flooding the Chinese market with phones based on that stolen tech. I'm 99.8 percent certain that hasn't happened -- if there were Chinese phones built with stolen Apple technology we'd know it because we'd see it.
Apple's phones use screens by Samsung or LG, RAM by SK Hynix, flash storage by Toshiba, cellular modem by Qualcomm, battery charger by TI, WiFi/Bluetooth by Murata, cameras by Sony, etc. The only parts Apple makes are the A10 processor and the software. Everything else is stuff made by other companies which anyone can buy to use in their own products. In that sense, aside from the processor and software, cloning an iPhone is relatively simple and does not require any theft of technology.
Also, the median income in China is 18,371 Yuan, or roughly $2,674 per year. You're kidding yourself if you believe the Chinese would be buying $1000 iPhones if it weren't for the availability of cheap knockoffs.
Android phones were always years ahead of Apple on technology, at least in the last couple of years. So what exactly new technologies are we talking about?
We've been outsourcing US work to China.
This means the greedy US corporations built factories in China, exploited the cheap labor and showed China how to
make product X, Y and Z. Now the greedy US corporations are surprised that China knows our technology.
This concept is best explained by Jib Jab's Big Boxmart video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKv6RcXa2UI
In essence, US corporate greed created their own competitor.
All those things happen in the west as well. And those responsible go out of business eventually, because they get a bad rep. Then they try to start again with a different name, but eventually people caught on.
These days if you want high quality, secure manufacturing in China it's available. You might pay a bit more for it. Up to you, go with the cheapest or go with a reputable manufacturer. Do you think Foxconn has 3rd shifts making iPhones?
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
A Chinese company has to, by their law, have Chinese government employees and Party members as part of the decision making company board. It would be equal to having a DHS/CIA/NSA employee on every US company's board and who has the deciding authority about everything.
If you do a venture on Chinese soil, China has to own 51% of the venture, or you go to prison.
So, where Chinese companies go, so does the Chinese intelligence, Chinese military, and Chinese government.