Apple-IBM alliance may hit a speed bump in China
Mainland worries about intrusive US technology could pose a stumbling block to the two companies' new app alliance targeting business users
Security concerns by Beijing could throw a spanner in the works for Apple and International Business Machines in mainland China, after the two technology giants teamed up to bring advanced mobile enterprise applications for the iPhone and iPad to businesses.
Under this landmark collaboration, IBM will sell iPhones and iPads with the industry-specific apps to its business clients. Apple will provide mobile service and support to corporate information-technology departments and individual business users.
"I'm not sure how much traction this partnership will have in China, given the whole geopolitical tensions," said Alberto Moel, a senior analyst at Bernstein Research.
In May, the State Internet Information Office introduced a plan for more stringent checks of information-technology products and services on the mainland. No timetable for implementation was provided.
State media said the vetting would bolster national security by preventing the use of hi-tech products "to illegally control, disrupt or shut down their clients' systems, or to gather, store, process or use their clients' information". The new procedures were announced just days after Washington indicted five Chinese military officers for alleged industrial cyber-theft.
Moel said Apple was already singled out in a report by the mainland's state-owned broadcaster last week, which claimed that the user location-tracking function of the US firm's iOS mobile operating system could be a national security threat. Apple has rebutted that claim.