China-Japan Island Dispute May Hurt iPhone 5, iOS 6 Launch in China

As if the normal import inspection and permit process for mobile devices wasn’t thorny enough already, it now looks like there’s a chance Apple could have to wait even longer before its iPhone 5 officially hits stores in China. In response to unconfirmed rumors that Apple’s new iOS 6 Maps feature lists the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands as belonging to Japan, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has responded that, as usual, the device will need to pass “inspection” before it is released in China. The unspoken next sentence: if the Maps app does not label the islands as part of China, the iPhone 5 will fail inspection.

It is hard to believe that Apple would be stupid enough to label the islands as part of Japan on the mainland Chinese version of the device, especially since selling such a map domestically would be illegal. But picking sides in any of the localized versions of Maps is likely to cause controversy. Chinese users will be angry if anyone’s version of Maps lists the islands as part of Japan, and Japanese users may be annoyed that at least the mainland Chinese version lists the islands as Chinese. If the phone that comes out on Friday in many countries lists the islands as Japanese, it is also quite possible that the Chinese government will delay approval of the iPhone 5’s China release as retribution.

It will be especially interesting to see where Maps lists the islands on Hong Kong phones. Hong Kong is technically a part of China but is administered separately; the iPhone 5 releases there this Friday. Honestly, Apple would probably be wisest not to label the islands at all, and that’s a strategy that wouldn’t be totally unwarranted — they are, after all, basically tiny uninhabited rocks.

But the mere suggestion that Apple might consider the islands part of Japan has been enough to arouse anger on Chinese social media. One weibo user called for others to “resist this product, and despise those who use it!” The calls for an Apple boycott seem to be widespread, although as the reports that Apple has “given” the islands to Japan are as yet unconfirmed, they are also clearly a bit premature.

Allow me to go out on a limb here, though, and suggest that regardless of what iOS 6 does with the islands in China and abroad, Chinese people will buy the iPhone 5 in droves. As I wrote last week, I am convinced at this point that virtually nothing will get between China (or many other countries, for that matter) and its iDevices. If Foxconn employing forced student labor isn’t enough to turn Chinese off buying iPhones, I can’t imagine a few dots on a map are going to tip the scales, no matter how much bluster there may be online.

[People’s Daily Online via Sina Tech]