China excludes iPads, MacBooks from procurement list: report

PanARMENIAN.Net - China’s government excluded Apple’s iPads and MacBook laptops from the list of products that can be bought with public money because of security concerns, Bloomberg reported, citing government officials familiar with the matter.

Ten Apple products -- including the iPad, iPad Mini, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro -- were omitted from a final government procurement list distributed in July, according to officials who read it and asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The models were on a June version of the list drafted by the National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Finance, the officials said, according to Bloomberg.

Apple is the latest U.S. technology company to be excluded from Chinese government purchases amid escalating tensions between the countries over claims of hacking and cyberspying. China’s procurement agency told departments to stop buying antivirus software from Symantec Corp. and Kaspersky Lab, while Microsoft Corp. was shut out of a government purchase of energy-efficient computers.

Apple depended on Greater China for about 16 percent of its $37.4 billion in revenue last quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. IPad sales in the world’s biggest market increased by 51 percent and Mac sales by 39 percent, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said July 23.

The heightened scrutiny of foreign companies follows Edward Snowden’s revelations last year of a National Security Agency spying program and the May announcement of indictments by U.S. prosecutors of five Chinese military officers for allegedly stealing corporate secrets.