Apple in China by Patrick McGee

Author:Patrick McGee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Published: 2025-05-13T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 25 “THE NAVY SEALS”

John Ford was arriving in Beijing from abroad in the spring of 2011 when his phone started pinging with notifications. Four American contractors working the security line at the Apple Store in Sanlitun had been arrested; their passports had been confiscated while they sat behind bars. Unlike his own arrest a few months earlier, this wasn’t a voluntary gesture. Once again, Ford would have to work his connections. What ensued was a headache but also something of a personal victory.

Cupertino’s concern with the resellers had been escalating. Around-the-block lineups for iPhones in China were a gravy train for Apple. But managing the crowds proved so difficult that they had to stop selling iPhones every afternoon. “We did phones in the morning until about one o’clock. Then we stopped selling phones so you could come in to buy a computer, etcetera, later in the day,” Ford says. “You could view the phones, you could play with them. You just couldn’t buy them.” Ford, with the backing of Ron Johnson, had tried to inform Cupertino that the problem wasn’t cultural. “This is a distribution issue,” the two declared. “The resellers are taking advantage of a distribution challenge that we’ve created.”

Unsure if Ford was part of the problem, Apple flew in “hot teams” from the United States to help manage the issue. Tactically, these security teams were top-notch; it seemed obvious they had military backgrounds. Ford half jokingly calls them “the Navy SEALs.” But it soon became clear they hadn’t spent much time in China. They tried to impose order in a Western way: Set the rules and be firm. Don’t let people break the rules. They implemented a hard approach, restricting who could enter the store, in direct opposition to the soft, relationship-building approach that Ford favored.

But Chinese law didn’t allow that. If a store was open to the public, it was open to everyone. Efforts to exclude people proved disastrous. Trying to impose order, the Navy SEALs turned physically aggressive, a tactical no-no, culturally. “We’re in their country,” says MacKay. “And they’re very sensitive to Westerners telling them what to do and taking advantage of them.” The resellers responded by having their minions flood the store, clogging the sales channels to such a degree that sales would freeze. “They’d all come to the front, where the cash register is, screaming and yelling and holding out money: ‘I want my phones! You’re selling phones! I want my phones!’ ” Ford recounts. The resellers were sending a message: Work with us, or we’re going to shut you down so nothing happens.

Once again, Mr. Du was on the scene. But with Ford on an airplane, out of reach and unable to placate him, he got angry at the disorder. He told the Navy SEALs to follow him to the police station and hand over their passports. Lacking cultural savvy, they did as they were told. Ford, reading updates as he arrived in Beijing from a business trip, called the US embassy looking for MacKay, who’d often dealt with Chinese police and could help sort out the situation.

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