Apple Inc. adds China Telecom to user data host list, stills security concerns

[Transcendence]

Apple is doing its best to continue its penetration campaign in the Chinese market, but security concerns have become an overriding issue. The Chinese government believes that Apple, as much as it claims to honor user data security, is, unfortunately, an American company aligned with the American government – and the federal government has been accused of spying on international user data in recent weeks and months. The government has come forward in some ways and said that even some USB cables have become a source of spy activity to intercept the activities of international Chinese and Russian “figures of interest,†so it’s easy to see why China is suspicious of Apple’s sales ambitions.

 

It seems that, as of today, Apple’s complying in that it’s trying to ease Chinese fears about the iPhone and iPad. Apple has decided to add China Telecom to its list of user data hosts, meaning that China Telecom will now store Chinese users’ data so that Apple or the federal government can’t touch it.

 

What this means is that Chinese users can now feel as though their data is safe – and the government can rest easy about the American government’s access to its user data. “Apple takes user security and privacy very seriously. We have added China Telecom to our list of data center providers to increase bandwidth and improve performance for our customers in mainland China,†the company said in an email statement.

 

While Apple does care about improving performance and bandwidth, it also cares about its sales, and it knows that suspicious customers are likely to turn elsewhere for their mobile devices. Though profit is the simple motivation here, we’re still glad to see Apple addressing a concern that has made the Chinese government and consumers uneasy in recent weeks.