Apple Is Out of List of Approved Vendors for State Purchases in China

According to the latest report from Reuters, the Chinese government has recently removed Apple and several other U.S. tech giants from the list of approved vendors for state purchases. Such a step looks quite strange, especially after Apple has been several times accused of spying on users on demand of the Chinese government.

Some insiders believe that the Chinese officials made such a step as Apple products aren’t secured enough to ensure the highest level of data protection. Several other sources, however, think that the removal of foreign vendors from the aforementioned list is caused by the desire to increase the number of Chinese companies capable of producing gadgets good enough for the governmental needs.

Some sources cited by Reuters say that the change may not necessarily have anything to do with security, and may instead be designed to help local companies pick up a larger portion of the government tech market. By cutting off competition from big foreign competitors, the government effectively makes local choices the only choices for many products. The security concerns, among others, could in fact be a smokescreen to cover the Chinese government’s true intentions.

Apart from Apple, the companies excluded from the list of approved vendors include Intel, McAfee, and Cisco Systems. The total number of trusted vendors for state purchases, however, has risen to about 5.000. As you might have guessed, most of the vendors come from China.

[via 9to5Mac]