back to article Apple ejects Dalai Lama from Chinese iTunes

iPhone apps based on the teachings of the Dalai Lama don't exist on the Chinese incarnation of iTunes, it has emerged, demonstrating that even Apple has to bend to do business in China. Given the Chinese government's rejection of the Dalai Lama's authority it's no surprise that his only appearance in the Chinese iTunes store …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Graham Marsden
    Thumb Down

    it's not Apple's fault the Chinese don't like the Dalai Lama.

    No, but it's Apple's greed and hypocrisy that means they'll still do business with China.

    1. jai

      get real

      and understand how the real world works

      EVERYONE in the whole world wants to do business in china because it's the only economy that's currently working at the moment

      even freetards want to capture some of the chinese market

      1. Graham Marsden
        Thumb Down

        Get real?

        Try getting a set of ethics!

        1. Dale Richards
          FAIL

          Business

          Businesses aren't set up to create an ethical utopia where everyone's human rights are respected and no-one has anything to fear from anyone or anything. Like it or not, businesses exist solely to make profit. Despite the "ethical policies" that some companies publish as a PR trick, corporate entities will behave in an ethical way *only* if they see it as profitable.

          China is a huge market, and Apple would no doubt lose a huge chunk of its cash if it withdrew from it. However, continuing to do business in China and respecting the local laws (and therefore being unethical) will likely lose them very little money. A handful of people might boycott Apple in the West because of it, but it's nothing compared to losing the 1.3 billion potential customers in China.

          TL;DR: It's more profitable for Apple to stay in China and obey their laws than it is to be ethical and pull out.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Things

            "Like it or not, businesses exist solely to make profit."

            It's a small point, but not all businesses exist solely to make profit. One might even argue that those whose sole interest is profit are not, ipso facto, interested in producing a good product or service, and are therefore not worth doing business with.

            "Corporate entities will behave in an ethical way *only* if they see it as profitable."

            Here begins Adam Smith's argument against Corporatism.

      2. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
        Troll

        get real ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

        "how the real world works"

        Ooohhh so that makes it OK then, I suppose that's what Hitler said when the he carted over 12 human beings off to the death camps.

        Maybe Stalin said the same when he carted another 20 million human beings for to the gulags.

        Perhaps that is what they are saying in uganda at the moment, where they are proposing to introduce the death sentence for being gay, and long prision terms for not reporting a gay person.

        FOAD jai, or is only OK to say that to foreigners

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    China...

    ...SUCKS.

    It's a nightmare state, and it illustrates all too vividly what Mandelson's "Digital Britain" will be like in a few decades.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Tag censorship

    They should tag anything filtered for a particular country with special tags, so that other people can see what China doesn't want them to see.

    e.g. a Tag convention "CensoredInChina" "CensoredInUK"...

    Maybe with further tags, "CensoredByConroy", "CensoredBySchauble" if there are particular problem leaders.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    In related news, Mein Kampf is also not available on Amazon.de

    Finally, an acknowledgement that companies such as Apple need to follow local laws in order to do business there. This is not kowtowing to pressure, but simply following the law.

    Hardly news at all, really.

  5. Tom 35
    FAIL

    Comparing the Dalai Lama with Al Qaeda might seem insane.

    Yes, it is.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Comparing the Dalai Lama with Al Qaeda might seem insane

      One is an absolute leader of a medieval theocracit state that until recently allowed slavery - the others were brave defenders of their country against soviet aggression we were proud to support and arm.

  6. Sir Runcible Spoon
    Alert

    Sir

    Right, so putting someone to death (for whatever justification) is 'good' and being a peaceable loving kind of guy is 'evil'. Yep, makes perfect sense to me.

    I wish to fuck that I could go out and buy something that wasn't made in fucking China. It's shameful.

    Try it, go on.

  7. SuperTim
    Jobs Horns

    tits and boobies

    I did actually assume it was bird based. I wasnt missold. Silly Apple!

  8. David Simpson 1
    Flame

    Lama obama

    It's wise to remember that no matter how nice the Dalai Lama seems before the Chinese invaded Tibet the ruling Lamas practiced slavery and in fact the common man in Tibet lived with very low standard of life compared to their pacifistic overlords so don't shed a tear for Google bowing to the Chinese authorities all this political nonsense needs to be taken with a large does of reality.

    1. bluest.one
      Grenade

      coulda been worse

      they could have invaded another country, practiced genocide upon the people there and tried to wipe out their culture whilst plundering their land for natural resources, importing their own people to overwhelm the natives at the same time as brutally opressing them and marginalising them in their own land.

      No culture is or was perfect. The idea that because indentured servitude existed in Tibet that somehow justifies the murder of over a million people as well as the destruction of an ancient and essentially peaceful culture and people could only come from someone brainwashed by the Chinese Governent or an idiot.

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

  9. Inachu
    Alert

    lil confused.

    So what about Chinese people not born in China but prefer chinese itunes in USA?

    Would Dali Lama still be banned from Itunes then?

  10. Eduard Coli
    Jobs Horns

    Same old stuff

    Which government, the PLA, the state or the CPC?

    To sell in China large companies need to have a Chinese partner and a party member on the board.

    Multinationals should not have been allowed to do business in China until the CPC was demolished.

    Now you have a mob that extorts a entire nation.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    Market forces

    Surely if China likes market forces so much now they'd be happy to offer their citizens the option of either slavery or freedom? I mean, what's the chances that they'd pick nasty old freedom?

    Yep, Apple sucks, just like all the other bastards queuing up to make deals with the Chinese devil.

  12. M man

    evil is a perspective.

    considering that the tibatians were the only ones who put any sort of resistance under mao EVEN when the dalai lama told them not to.

    that dude effectively persusded 22 million people to allow him to starve them to death.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Christmas No. 1

    I thought for a second there that the Dalai Lama had tried to release a single in China.

  14. John Tserkezis
    Thumb Down

    Are you serious?

    "This is not kowtowing to pressure, but simply following the law. Hardly news at all, really."

    So you can't just go in there and mention that Tiananmen Square in 1989 was something OTHER than just another tourist destination?

    So your defence is "it's not my fault, I was just following orders".

    Bite me.

  15. Winkypop Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    The Dalai Lama is a cool dude

    I might decry religion as 'self-help for the deluded' but my mate the Lama-guy is one cool dude.

    May he continue to laugh long and hard.

    China on the other hand is a living embodiment of a hell on earth.

    I avoid Chinese made as much as is possible these days.

  16. Lars Silver badge
    Happy

    Refusing business

    Refusing business with the Nazi was not common either, not even during the war.

    Refusing business is not common at all.

    To jai

    "it's the only economy that's currently working at the moment",

    so why does it work, is it not because we invest in the country, and accept standards and working conditions that are impossible here.

    And I cannot see your "freetard" point.

    Freetard stuff is adopted and often "stolen", hardly marketed.

    To Sir Runcible Spoon

    "I wish to fuck that I could go out and buy something that wasn't made in fucking China"

    Get glasses and just avoid stuff with the sticker "Made in China".

    On the other hand I remember Dirty Dick, the president, who told his crew, before going to China, not to try to fool them, as they are more intelligent than we are, anyway.

    And well, who is in investing more in Africa than anybody else. Perhaps they are in fact some steps ahead of us.

    (For a free Tibet I would vote yes, of course)

  17. Joe 3
    Thumb Down

    No ethics in capitalism

    IBM sold computers to the Nazis, Ikea had factories in East Germany, 23 South Korean companies have factories in North Korea, and every Western company would sell their own mother to be allowed to do business in China.

    It's wrong, but it's the system that's wrong - there's no ethics in capitalism.

    It's difficult to live an ethical lifestyle here in the democratic West, but it's possible with some effort and adjustment!

    1. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
      FAIL

      Nazis?

      "IBM sold computers to the Nazis"

      Nazis defeated in 1945 (please resist any temptation to make reference to New Labour or more recent political parties)

      IBM sells first electronic computer in 1952 (not unless it was to the nazis who were "working" for the allies at this stage)

      Do enlighten us, please

  18. Arthur Coppock
    Stop

    @coulda been worse # ↑

    "they could have invaded another country, practiced genocide upon the people there and tried to wipe out their culture whilst plundering their land for natural resources, importing their own people to overwhelm the natives at the same time as brutally opressing them and marginalising them in their own land."

    When I read this I assumed bluest.one was talking about the brutal establishment of the USA s a counterpoint to the argument. Seems we forget that the USA was born in almost the same 'evil' fashion.

  19. SimpleUser
    Happy

    @ Sir Rancible Spoon, 15.25 GMT

    Have a pint (and, language please).

  20. Norio

    Apple has joined Big Brother

    During the 1984 US football Super Bowl, Apple released their landmark "1984" Mac television commercial. The advertisement singled out the Mac as a means to combating conformity and asserting originality.

    In his 1983 Apple keynote address, just before a preview of the commercial was shown, Steve Jobs said:

    " It is now 1984. ..Dealers ...are increasingly turning back to Apple as the only force that can ensure their future freedom. IBM wants it all and is aiming its guns on its last obstacle to industry control: Apple. Will Big Blue dominate the entire computer industry? The entire information age? Was George Orwell right?"

    Apparently George Orwell was right. Apple has joined the jackbooted thugs in the 1984 commercial. The business model is more important than individual empowerment in the face of a police state.

  21. Aron
    Go

    I got something to say!

    I got to take my hat off to the Chinese when they execute politicians for being corrupt. Shame we don't have a firing squad for that.

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like