Tim Cook Defends Removal of Hong Kong Mapping App From App Store in Leaked Memo

[rtomyj]

Of course MR people know exactly how this app was used and can’t fathom some people using it maliciously.

Americans really need to keep their noses out of other countries. The hypocrisy is getting old.You can’t simultaneously want American ideals to spread to places not American and shut the door to those seeking refuge. Instead of being angry about this, contact your party and tell them you want the number of allowed immigrants from China to be increased.

 

[elgrecomac]

In less than 5 days China-influenced censorship has taken effect....first the NBA and now Apple. America, you want low cost products....well here is the true cost.

 

[kofman13]

Yeah, then go and remove Waze which basically has the same thing.

no its not, you can go invisible mode on waze

 

[Scottsdale]

Cook has lost all credibility. He should practice what he preaches or get off the pulpit... resign from Apple would be the best thing for Apple fans and democracy in Hong Kong 🇭🇰! And Google is in Hong Kong as it isn’t guarded by the Great Firewall of China. The whole world should stand up to the bully that is China and all of the rest of the bullies (big or small). Cook should for once forget about his stock options and do the right thing.

 

[Rogifan]

Even Gruber, Apple’s biggest cheerleader, is calling BS on Tim Cook’s memo.

Tim Cook’s Company-Wide Memo on HKmap.live Doesn’t Add Up

Link to: https://twitter.com/Pinboard/status/1182348757360234497

daringfireball.net

I wouldn’t call Gruber Apple’s biggest cheerleader, that would be Daniel Eran Dilger. Gruber will speak out when he thinks Apple is in the wrong.

 

[citysnaps]

Hypocrites do what hypocrites do best ?

Spot on. So many people expressing aggrandized outrage against Apple and its policies while continuing to support the company by opening their wallets and purchasing their products and services.

An astonishing lack of courage.

 

[Rogifan]

Spot on. So many people expressing aggrandized outrage against Apple's policies while continuing to support the company by opening their wallets and purchasing their products.

An astonishing lack of courage.

So people can only criticize companies so long as they don’t own those companies products or shop at their stores? BS. If anyone should be able to criticize Apple policies it’s the people that spend a lot of money on their products.

 

[djlythium]

Tim Cook’s behaviour is a typical example of the far left’s hypocrisy and double standard when it comes to their so-called “social justice”

Be careful you don’t commit the same mistakes as those you rail against. Our challenge here is to not stereotype.

 

[stevie grant]

Lose lose situation for Apple. Whiners will whine.

And sycophants will defend.

 

[kyleh22]

I'm glad I'm not in Tim's shoes...this is a super hard decision with no clear path forward. He's either going to be beat up by Apple users or beat up by investors and China...

 

[indychris]

I trust Apple to do the right thing. The decision is justifiable and what a responsible platform owner should be doing.

I trust Google has done the same thing? If not, it's another knock against Android from me.

You don’t happen to be employed by any particular Chinese Communist Party's flagship newspaper, do you? It would be the utmost irony if you’ve ever spent any time complaining about the privilege of the ‘1%’ Or railing against the injustice of corporate giants.

 

[CE3]

Americans really need to keep their noses out of other countries.

So far the US government is doing a good job of keeping out of the situation in Hong Kong. In fact, the whole world just seems to be watching and doing nothing.

 

[Tech198]

Ok. Tim, i respect this removal, but now you tell me, "Did you give much thought of innocent people using this app to help people "avoid" these situations?"

There goes the freedom level again..

Any help you might have done, there is always a hand hat snatches it away again.

 

[djlythium]

Spot on. So many people expressing aggrandized outrage against Apple and its policies while continuing to support the company by opening their wallets and purchasing their products and services.

An astonishing lack of courage.

I think, by this logic, our wallets should open and we should buy all new stuff to support a company with which we agree, but as soon as they do something we don’t like, we should close our wallets, and immediately sell all our stuff from that company. Doesn’t that sound like an extreme response?

I think the situation is more nuanced. We buy into Apple because they do a lot of good things (e.g., renewable energy, recycling, etc.), and I think because of that trust, we, the consumers, are in a prime position to criticize them when they betray such trust.

Now, to your credit, though, someone who doesn’t own any Apple products, rails against them, then buys something from them, is hypocritical, yes.

 

[citysnaps]

So people can only criticize companies so long as they don’t own those companies products or shop at their stores? BS. If anyone should be able to criticize Apple policies it’s the people that spend a lot of money on their products.

I get it. It's tough to change.

 

[manni]

Of course MR people know exactly how this app was used and can’t fathom some people using it maliciously.

Americans really need to keep their noses out of other countries. The hypocrisy is getting old.You can’t simultaneously want American ideals to spread to places not American and shut the door to those seeking refuge. Instead of being angry about this, contact your party and tell them you want the number of allowed immigrants from China to be increased.

If only you had been around in the 30s and 40s to tell everyone to keep their noses out of Germany and stop being hypocritical about the treatment of Jews. It would have saved everyone so much trouble. Not the Jews of course, just like the Uighurs and Hong Kong people, facing down a brutal tyranny.

And allowing even more immigration into America, a country already with tens of millions of immigrants, would solve the problem how?

China is a brutal military tyranny. There are times in life we have to just keep the peace and try not to start a fight - I get that. Tim Cook though has over and over again said he is all about principles and "doing what's right" and this episode shows he will quite literally take orders from a murderous tyranny if there's enough money on offer. That's all most people here are pointing out - nobody pretends even Apple can single handedly make China a free country. But we are quite within our rights to point out Cook's absurd hypocrisy.

 

[stevie grant]

If you don't think Cook is a SJW or really left of center, you haven't been paying attention.

Why would someone who is as you describe cowtow to a dictatorship in the name of profits? That doesn't sound like something a liberal would do. It sounds like something someone like you would do. Is it possible you and your fellow trump trash have no idea what words mean?

 

[ajguckian]

While I get the optics, he did the right thing by way of Apple, which is his job. He can SJW/Far left all he wants on his own (or however you see him), but Apple shouldn't be compromised by his actions, and they weren't in this case.

I can guarantee that the information was used by criminals, what criminal WOULDN'T use it? All the information is still available on their website, which is still accessible through all of those iphones, so no one was deprived of anything, except maybe some ad revenue if there was any in the app.

 

[citysnaps]

I think, by this logic, our wallets should open and we should buy all new stuff to support a company with which we agree, but as soon as they do something we don’t like, we should close our wallets, and immediately sell all our stuff from that company. Doesn’t that sound like an extreme response?

I think the situation is more nuanced. We buy into Apple because they do a lot of good things (e.g., renewable energy, recycling, etc.), and I think because of that trust, we, the consumers, are in a prime position to criticize them when they betray such trust.

Now, to your credit, though, someone who doesn’t own any Apple products, rails against them, then buys something from them, is hypocritical, yes.

But many people have been expressing extreme outrage against Apple and its social policies for many years. Why would someone continue to support a company who acts in a manner that's so against one's principles. For years and years? There are other tech manufacturers out there.

It seems Apple customers are allowed to comprise their principles, but Apple is not. Smells like hypocrisy to me.

 

[ajguckian]

Why would someone who is as you describe cowtow to a dictatorship in the name of profits? That doesn't sound like something a liberal would do. It sounds like something someone like you would do. Is it possible you and your fellow trump trash have no idea what words mean?

That is exactly what a Liberal would do. It also so happens to be exactly what a Conservative would do. It's what business does on a daily basis.

 

[manni]

I think, by this logic, our wallets should open and we should buy all new stuff to support a company with which we agree, but as soon as they do something we don’t like, we should close our wallets, and immediately sell all our stuff from that company. Doesn’t that sound like an extreme response?

I think the situation is more nuanced. We buy into Apple because they do a lot of good things (e.g., renewable energy, recycling, etc.), and I think because of that trust, we, the consumers, are in a prime position to criticize them when they betray such trust.

Now, to your credit, though, someone who doesn’t own any Apple products, rails against them, then buys something from them, is hypocritical, yes.

A good post but I think you could add another layer of nuance to your last point.

I actually think it's largely fair enough for companies to concentrate on making money. Most - whatever they claim - will do that anyway. Then the government can set standards for recycling or working conditions etc. Of course one would hope some companies go above and beyond. But there are all kinds of reasons someone might buy an Apple product and also feel sincerely disgusted at seeing Apple's CEO literally taking orders from tyrants.

I dislike companies being political as I think much of the time it really is just for show and tends to all be conditional on if they think it will make money. Shoe and clothes manufacturers making products in sweatshops in Asia to sell to woke westerners to support a protest over something political in America? Yes, it is all hypocritical and easy to pull apart.

But like you I really did like the thought that Apple at least tried, I even bought into the idea that they had made some effort to improve working conditions at the Chinese factories but now wonder if that was all just PR. The Chinese government is one of the last big tyrannies on earth and I think so many companies are tangled up it's hard to avoid. Someone might rail against Apple and try to take a principled stand... but what if he then tries to buy a phone with no Chinese parts? Does such a phone exist? I honestly don't know. I'm sure every company that makes phones has some involvement with some Chinese manufacturing, it might even just be the boxes or the shipping containers it is shipped in.

I think the whole discussion now is splitting - few deny that Cook is a hypocrite. The more interesting, and difficult, question is about us consumers. Individually we have a lot less power then Cook - many heads of government have less power - but if we all stopped buying tomorrow Tim would change his tune. It seems, to put it mildly, unlikely though.

 

[M.PaulCezanne]

I hate to say it but in a short-term and strictly business sense Cook probably made the "right" decision. The Chinese government, the day before, in their mouthpiece media, told Cook what to do and he followed orders. Had he not done so then it could have caused huge financial problems for Apple.

Cook was paid $136 million last year. The board pay him that because he keeps similarly large amounts going to them and to the major shareholders. Virtually none of them will care that China is a blood-soaked tyranny. They don't even care that their cleaners don't make enough money to buy a decent house. But if Apple's manufacturing and sales in China were sharply hit? That would cost Apple a fortune and Timmy would be in big trouble.

So from a business point of view it's very easy to see why he bowed down to China. In a personal sense though, for a man who has preened himself about how "progressive" (whatever that means) he is, it's a very bad decision and his reputation is in tatters. He's nothing more than a stinking rich accountant, hypocrite and a man willing to do the bidding of murderous tyrants.

Exactly... a no-win for Cook the man more than Cook the exec (though obviously a sticky wicket for Apple as well). I expect this one made him shake his head when he looked in the mirror last night - at least I hope it did.

 

[Rogifan]

I get it. It's tough to change.

Change to what? You have Apple and Google. There’s plenty of things I don’t like about Google.

That is exactly what a Liberal would do. It also so happens to be exactly what a Conservative would do. It's what business does on a daily basis.

But then be honest about what you’re doing and why. Though I seem to remember a shareholder meeting where Tim Cook got very upset when a shareholder claimed the company was prioritizing environmental policies to the detriment of shareholders.

Tim Cook tells climate change sceptics to ditch Apple shares

BusinessGreen: Chief executive angered by right wing think tank’s questions about the profitability of renewable energy investments

www.theguardian.com

 

[Expos of 1969]

Spot on. So many people expressing aggrandized outrage against Apple and its policies while continuing to support the company by opening their wallets and purchasing their products and services.

An astonishing lack of courage.

You have been repeating this so, while it is none of your business, this is to let you know that today I cancelled my Apple Music and iCloud subscriptions. I have not purchased an Apple product in two years due to the eroding lack of quality control, increasing prices, and the numerous "hiding" problem issues until the groundswell of complaints reached media willing to focus on story. This Hong Kong app removal is just the final straw for me. I have used Apple products since 1998 but it is time to say farewell. Not without some regret but the leadership, interest in quality, and the company ethics are mere shadows of what they were and should be.

An astonishing lack of principle on your part for continuing to zealously support Apple.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Yeah, then go and remove Waze which basically has the same thing.

Waze helps you avoid cops, this was used to find and attack cops. Not at all the same thing.