China Bans sale of iphone 6, 6+

[TheForce]

A company in Beijing copied the design of iphone and began sales in Beijing. It is the Shenzhen Baili 100c.
China government is claiming the iphone 6 is too similar to a Chinese knockoff so they ban the original. Welcome to the Communist market rules in China. Apple is set to appeal the ruling but in the meantime these iphone 6 and 6+ sales are banned in Beijing only.

It is believed by many that because Apple has a reputation for settling suits and discrepancies rather than pay the huge litigation costs, that Shenzhen Baili is doing this to shake down Apple for a cash settlement considering the popularity of the iphone in China is higher than the 100c. If Apple gives up and ends it's appeal it could be bad news in the whole country as other cities may use this case as an example.

The Chinese market is huge but the risks are high trying to do business there because the government is so involved in manipulating the markets.

Nearly all of the iphone 6 is manufactured in China as they seem to have the best high tech manufacturing facility in the world. I don't think Apple can pull out of China for it's manufacturing because where would they go to get the quality at the volume they need.

Last month Apple lost a trademark battle in China because China trademarked IPHONE®
Apple also lost to a Mexican company who uses iFONE. and in India iFON.


Whether you're an Apple fan , Blackberry, or South Korean Android Samsung fan, it is obvious, that Apple is having what seems unfair rulings in foreign countries to expand it's market world wide. Meanwhile our free market in the US makes these foreign made knockoffs popular as long as the American consumer can save a buck.

 

[TheForce]

Update- It needs to be noted that the major sales of the iphone 6 and 6+ in China actually halted sales over a month ago when they switched to 6s and 6s+, although some smaller outlets and Apple store still made available the 6 and 6+. Apple stated it has appealed the ruling and under Chinese law, the cease sales order has been stayed. Apple stock was down 1.85% today on this news. Disclosure- I have long positions in Apple in my portfolio.

 

[harshness]

You have to wonder how different phones could be other than the OS at this point.

I'm long on Apple too and I wish I had sold when it hit 130. I just don't see much practical innovation left in them. In a commodity market, paying 2-3x the price for a locked-up ecosystem (both hardware and software) is an awfully tough sell. Of course then I'm reminded that people that regularly can't make rent are buying $600 phones and paying $90/month in service charges and fees.

I should also disclose that I have never owned any Apple gear but I did use an Apple /// (running Apple ][ emulation and Apple Pascal for the hard drive functions) during a summer job.

 

[TheForce]

I wish I had sold when it hit 130.

I sold 200 shares at $125 and then 300 more at $131, only because it was exceeding my diversification rule and needed to reduce some "all in one basket" risk. I like to maintain a very balanced diversified portfolio of about 30 positions. I didn't think it was going to get hammered by the market like it has this past year. Today, I sold a couple hundred more shares because it hit my safety stop out level. Fortunately the shares I sold were long at $76/share so I still made out OK. I bought into more NAT and ORC for some monthly income to pay my obligations. I booked 5 cruises between now and end of 2017 so I want to sock the cash away so any market crash won't leave me needing to scramble to pay for them.

I've never been an Apple fan when I worked but since retirement, I got one Mac for the Kitchen and my wife uses it exclusively. We have ipads, iphones, and Apple watches and love the integration. I don't ever want to return to an Android. I also use a Surface Pro for traveling. Here in the edit room I have 3 PC's I built. One is very high end graphics editor for editing 3D video. No Mac could ever perform what I need in the edit room.