Posted by thunderbong 12 hours ago
>The ban stems from Apple’s failure to fulfill its investment commitments in Indonesia. Reports indicate that the tech giant has invested approximately 1.48 trillion Rupiah (around $95 million) of the promised 1.71 trillion Rupiah, resulting in a shortfall of about 230 billion Rupiah ($14.75 million).
So it's a classic shake-down, neat.Also you have generously not included parts of the article that clarifies things.
Indonesia just needs to take a page out of their playbook and make a statement along the lines of:
“Indonesia is committed to fostering a secure and equitable marketplace that upholds the highest standards for consumer protection and quality. By partnering with Apple through a certification program, we support the integrity of Apple’s products and ensure they align with our local regulatory standards, creating a trusted environment for our citizens. In exchange for this certification, their investment enables us to maintain rigorous oversight, build public safety infrastructure, and continue fostering an innovative ecosystem where global tech leaders like Apple can deliver safe, high-quality products to our market.”
No one is gonna want to invest in Indonesia if they keep doing shit like this.
Indonesia will relax real fast if the US imposes some harsh tariffs (which it should.) We let other countries rent seek from our companies way too much.
Dramatic comments require dramatic sources. This is WILD conjecture and I'm almost certain you're relying on a bizarre interpretation of the Ministry's statement on these devices not being certified.
They are prohibiting the use, import, and sale of the product because it is not yet certified. This is exactly the same way it works in the US. If you import a product that is not FCC certified, it is illegal. You will be asked to stop using it, but to say you're subject to arrest is SpongeBob levels of hyperventilation. An arrest is reserved for things like communication jamming of airports, not for someone using an uncertified device.
I also love the contradiction here - Apple fans will say it's OK for Apple to prevent "illegal devices" from its iMessage network, but now here it's not OK for Indonesia's Ministry of Industry to prevent actual statutorily illegal IMEIs from wireless networks.
https://www-cnnindonesia-com.translate.goog/teknologi/202410...
> Do you really think the US is incapable of asserting economic or policy pressure over some random third world country? These countries' economic health is practically completely at our whims. Look at Cuba.
It's quite aggravating you have to resort to a neoimperialist rhetoric, hope you don't feel too bad when other nations start hating your country.
The USA probably needs Indonesia much more than Indonesia needs the US, if you start pushing countries around don't act surprise when they switch allegiance.
Who knows. Maybe Apple refused to pay them after they made the threat. If Apple caves at that point, then they will be seen as giving in.
The context you conveniently left out:
> Earlier this month, the minister had already indicated that the iPhone 16 could not be sold in the country due to the pending TKDN certification, which requires that 40 percent of a product’s content be sourced locally. This certification is crucial for Apple as it is linked to the company’s commitment to establish research and development facilities in Indonesia, known as the Apple Academy
Much more common than an outright ban is simply egregious tariffs. (Which didn't do anything to stave off foreign competition or increase local competition, but it did line our pockets)
It is not like the states are going to block TikTok with a GFW that doesn't exist. Of course, the inability for TikTok to make money in the USA is going to be a huge hit that the company probably can't get out of.
Are they proposing to arrest people who have TikTok on their phone and encouraging you snitch to the police of you see people using tiktok? what Indonesia is doing is on a completely different level.
Different ballgame altogether
The only real exceptions have been chips and electronics from China particularly regarding wireless infrastructure and computing.
TikTok also comes to mind
There’s a limit to how capable the leadership of a military can be without any real world experience aside from harassing the ships and aircraft of other nations with dangerous interception maneuvers.
Before them, Great Powers didn't shy from directly attacking each other !
TSMC can't sell a lot of products to China, neither ASML.
You can't fly to Cuba directly from the US, neither can import their Cigars.
Venezuela, Iran and Russia along other's can't access their international reserves deposited in American Banks.
It is just a different scale and for completely different reasons. If anything, other countries are learning to play by the same playbook for their particular reasons.
The UN secretary-general was recently bowing to Putin at the BRICS get together. Putin has an ICC arrest warrant issued for the invasion of Ukraine. I believe the UN endorses the ICC, at least it used to.
But at the same time, after the US promoted a state coup in Ukraine because its government was not interested on severing ties with Russia, after the US and NATO trained and provided the Ukrainian army and hinted at NATO expansion, after the US admitted that Minsky accords, Russia somehow is not entitled to have their security concerns and they should just accept American encroachment, the subversion of their internal politics via american financed NGOs (just like they do in a fucking lot of countries).
I find it amazing that most people still believe USG bullshit. The same fucking government that had no qualms on fucking their citizens with projects like MK Ultra, the same fucking government that was caught spying on its own citizens and jailed the whistleblower who brought this to their attention. A government that via its think tanks never made a secret of their intentions on regime change in Russia to enable the pillage of its natural resources: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR3063.html
Include there any action against Israel for killing thousands of children and starving millions, and against the US for supplying these weapons. Prosecutors in the international war crimes court asked for Netaniahoo to be arrested for crimes against humanity.
DJI, Chinese electric cars/phones, mass-produced solar and battery tech and firearms manufactured abroad to name a few. All of which are being considered for bans under the pretense that they're not domestic enough to trust and import.
Indonesia is right to take a strong approach here; Apple is a documented tax dodger in the EU and would have likely ignored lesser action.
Consumers can own all these things without fear of being reported. I work with an official DJI reseller and I automate DJI gear for government. What is the leading example of the US banning consumers from owning a product unless you invest?
USG is banning (only passed House) [1] DJI because Chinese law requires DJI to hand over data and USG is not a fan. This may be a bit like calling the kettle black because of various US laws but again it's not an example of the US banning a company for not investing.
[1]: https://www.commercialuavnews.com/us-house-approves-dji-dron...
A few Europeans countries have this, or something like it, if I recall correctly
In the US, if such a thing already is in the country, you can continue to use it as a private citizen or as a company (unless it involves anything government owned). And at least for now, you can buy any DJI drone you want in the US, there's more than enough firearms imports from places such as Germany or Austria [1], no one gives a fuck where your solar panels and batteries come from (other than import duties). Cars just as well, once the car is in the US you can drive utter junk on the streets as long as it is somewhat road legal in the state it is registered in.
This ban in Indonesia however affects everyone, no matter how or when they acquired their iPhones:
> Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, the country’s Industry Minister, declared that any iPhone 16 found in the hands of consumers will be deemed illegal.
[1] https://www.dw.com/en/german-weapons-firms-find-lucrative-ma...
Sidenote: this website is unreadable on a mobile browser due to popups, auto-playing videos, etc.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/iphone-16-allowed-...
> a process that verifies that a mobile device complies with the technical specifications of a particular network operator. This certification is typically required before a device can be used on that network.
Their net operating cash flow is something like 120bn, and they've let their flagship product be banned in a country of 270 million people, and all the negative press, and the public perception of them, all just by not paying out 15m.
I can't believe this is deliberate, so I wonder what really happened?
People of the first world country making $4000/month be like $1500 phone is too expensive.
Looks like Asia Pacific in general is a very small portion of Apple's revenue. https://www.statista.com/statistics/382175/quarterly-revenue...
On a side note, iPhone's seem to last quite a while. I still have a Xr and it runs the latest iOS quite well, so people might be good for a while if they stick with the 15.
About in line for an American to buy a new car.
vivo and similar low-cost Android phones for the Indian market are popular.
People always act shocked when developing countries act just as unscrupulously as the dominant powers. They learned from the best!
The general exception to this are ham (amateur) radios, they usually have exemptions carved into frequency plans so they can run anything from fully original designs over kit builds to ready-to-operate stuff.