Apple’s chief executive, Tim Cook, took the unusual step on Monday of apologizing to Chinese customers over the company’s warranty policy and said he would improve customer service in the country, David Barboza and Nick Wingfield report in Tuesday’s New York Times.
The apology was the latest twist in a strange spectacle that has unfolded in recent weeks in China over Apple’s warranty policies and underscored the challenges the company faces as the country becomes an important market for its products.
Apple’s problem began on International Consumers’ Day, when China’s biggest state-run television network, as is its tradition, broadcast an investigative report on how companies operating in China cheat or mistreat consumers. This year, on March 15, one of the targets was Apple.
China Central Television criticized the American company’s after-sales iPhone customer service in China because it gave only a one-year warranty, while in China the law is two years. It also said that phone owners had to pay about $90 to replace a faulty back cover.
Apple did not immediately respond to some of the accusations, but other state media outlets stepped up their criticism over the next two weeks, raising the stakes for Apple in China, which is now the company’s second-biggest market after the United States. Soon after the segment was broadcast, several Chinese celebrities piled on, posting harsh comments on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like service.
Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., issued a statement in Chinese on Monday. “We realize that a lack of communication in this process has led the outside to believe that Apple is arrogant and doesn’t care or value consumers’ feedback,†Mr. Cook wrote in the open letter. “We sincerely apologize for any concern or misunderstanding this has brought to the customers.â€
