Apple CEO Tim Cook has personally apologised, on behalf of the company, to Chinese customers after last week's widespread accusations of "arrogance" concerning its warranty policies.
Complaints included the length of an Apple warranty in China being only one year, when compared to longer offerings from other companies, and that phones replaced inside this warranty could result in refurbished devices with even shorter guarantees.
Further reading
China crisis for Apple Gartner: Huawei up to third place in global smartphone rankings but Apple, Samsung still dominate MWC: New tablets, and their place in the enterprise
Apple's apology took the form of an open letter - written in Chinese and hosted on Apple's China website - to Chinese consumers, which read, "We are aware that owing to insufficient external communication, some consider Apple's attitude to be arrogant, inattentive or indifferent to consumer feedback.
"We express our sincere apologies for causing consumers any misgivings or misunderstanding."
The letter mentions four "major adjustments" to Apple's policy in China. A move to "improve the repair policy" for iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S is backed up with a promise to "provide a concise and clear repair and warranty policy" on Apple's site. Increased supervision and training to "authorised service providers" is also promised, as is the ability for consumers to "easily connect to Apple for feedback" on service and "other related issues".
In the letter, Cook admits that Apple "still [has] a lot to learn on operating and communicating in China," before assuring customers that "the commitment and enthusiasm for China from Apple is no different to any other country".
The politics of mobile devices in China are becoming increasingly more complex.
With a "national" Ubuntu-based operating system apparently in the works and Chinese vendors such as Huawei and ZTE growing in strength - not to mention the Chinese location of huge manufacturing houses such as Foxconn - China's opportunity to dominate the global smartphone market is great.
