Patrick McGee

And so what happens is these gangsters called Yellow Cows notice this imbalance and they begin paying migrants by the busload to come over to the store and snake around the store six, seven thousand people at times to buy as many iPhones as possible. And then they go to a city like Chongqing, population 32 million, number of Apple stores zero.

And so what happens is these gangsters called Yellow Cows notice this imbalance and they begin paying migrants by the busload to come over to the store and snake around the store six, seven thousand people at times to buy as many iPhones as possible. And then they go to a city like Chongqing, population 32 million, number of Apple stores zero.

And they find ways, legal and illegal, to sell iPhones at more money. They're making more money than Apple per iPhone. So it's absolutely wild. What happens is Apple eventually catches on to this a little bit because they're doing nefarious things. They're buying phones in the US. They're using fake ID.

And they find ways, legal and illegal, to sell iPhones at more money. They're making more money than Apple per iPhone. So it's absolutely wild. What happens is Apple eventually catches on to this a little bit because they're doing nefarious things. They're buying phones in the US. They're using fake ID.

They're buying phones for less than $100 so that they can make even more fat margins on them and stuff. And so they begin actually burning out the CPU of the phone, deliberately breaking it in the process, but rendering it. You can no longer see where it's come from. Right. So they're masking the retail origin.

They're buying phones for less than $100 so that they can make even more fat margins on them and stuff. And so they begin actually burning out the CPU of the phone, deliberately breaking it in the process, but rendering it. You can no longer see where it's come from. Right. So they're masking the retail origin.

OK, so what happens is Apple catches wind of this and they begin refurbishing these deliberately broken units rather than replacing them. Right. By refurbishing it, they're doing something that they're not doing in other countries. Right. So they're actually take that as an insult to China. Yeah, exactly.

OK, so what happens is Apple catches wind of this and they begin refurbishing these deliberately broken units rather than replacing them. Right. By refurbishing it, they're doing something that they're not doing in other countries. Right. So they're actually take that as an insult to China. Yeah, exactly.

So without probably knowing the full story, CCTV, which is like the state sponsored CNN of China, attacks Apple for treating the Chinese in a way that's inferior to the rest of the world. OK. That was 12 years ago, reported by every media outlet. And, like, they never figured out what the story was with the yellow cows and how it came to be. Oh, wow. So that's why it's so significant.

So without probably knowing the full story, CCTV, which is like the state sponsored CNN of China, attacks Apple for treating the Chinese in a way that's inferior to the rest of the world. OK. That was 12 years ago, reported by every media outlet. And, like, they never figured out what the story was with the yellow cows and how it came to be. Oh, wow. So that's why it's so significant.

That's why it's the prologue.

That's why it's the prologue.

I honestly don't remember if shares really fall down. To be honest, the media's, like, eyeballs were not on China at all during this time. Right. I meant in China. But sales in China. Sales in China. Yeah, first they sort of freeze, and then they actually sink. That's right. So Apple's response to that is what? Placate local officials, hire a team of people that call themselves the Gang of Eight.

I honestly don't remember if shares really fall down. To be honest, the media's, like, eyeballs were not on China at all during this time. Right. I meant in China. But sales in China. Sales in China. Yeah, first they sort of freeze, and then they actually sink. That's right. So Apple's response to that is what? Placate local officials, hire a team of people that call themselves the Gang of Eight.

These are the first senior people living in China. What an unfortunate title. And, yeah, so these are sort of eyes and ears of Cupertino living in China. First time they've had senior people that live there. And they basically strategize, like, what's our message to Beijing? Like, why are we in the country? And how do we demonstrate to them we're not this exploitative power?

These are the first senior people living in China. What an unfortunate title. And, yeah, so these are sort of eyes and ears of Cupertino living in China. First time they've had senior people that live there. And they basically strategize, like, what's our message to Beijing? Like, why are we in the country? And how do we demonstrate to them we're not this exploitative power?

Look at how much we're doing for you. They're the ones who come up with, we're investing, like, a nation-building effort in China. Like, get off our back. You have no idea how much we're helping you. And the fruit really is in the pudding. Fruit in the pudding? Whatever. Proof is in the pudding. Proof is in the pudding. The top smartphone makers in the world these days are all Chinese, right?

Look at how much we're doing for you. They're the ones who come up with, we're investing, like, a nation-building effort in China. Like, get off our back. You have no idea how much we're helping you. And the fruit really is in the pudding. Fruit in the pudding? Whatever. Proof is in the pudding. Proof is in the pudding. The top smartphone makers in the world these days are all Chinese, right?

So Oppo, Vivo, Huawei, Xiaomi, they have 55% global market share. And my sort of comment on this is like, we think iPhone killed Nokia. iPhone never had more than 20% global market share. They're not big enough to have killed Nokia. Who killed Nokia? The Chinese competition. Why did the Chinese competition do so well? Because Apple trained all their suppliers.

So Oppo, Vivo, Huawei, Xiaomi, they have 55% global market share. And my sort of comment on this is like, we think iPhone killed Nokia. iPhone never had more than 20% global market share. They're not big enough to have killed Nokia. Who killed Nokia? The Chinese competition. Why did the Chinese competition do so well? Because Apple trained all their suppliers.