Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company

 
　　蘋果曾在三大洲努力打造其產品，但最終被中國看似取之不盡的廉價勞動力所吸引。很快地，蘋果開始每年派遣數千名工程師橫越太平洋，前往中國訓練數百萬名工人，並投入數千億美元，建立起全球最先進的供應鏈。這些付出，使蘋果能夠以驚人的產量和龐大的利潤，打造出21世紀最具代表性的產品。
 
　　這一切讓蘋果在中國建立了先進的電子產業，卻也讓蘋果發現其在技術升級方面的鉅額投資，無意間為北京帶來了可被武器化的危險力量。
 
　　在本書，記者派翠克·麥基（Patrick McGee）透過與前蘋果高層與工程師超過兩百次的訪談，並輔以史蒂夫·賈伯斯參與過的未曾曝光的會議紀錄、蘋果高層之間的電子郵件，以及內部備忘錄中有關中國競業威脅的詳盡資料。本書揭示了那些在蘋果崛起過程中扮演關鍵角色，卻鮮為人知的人物，包括在中國建立蘋果直營店的摩門教傳教士、專責安撫北京的「八人幫」高階主管，以及希望能改善工廠工人生活的退伍軍人——他的理想最終卻在蘋果的營運壓力與習近平對社會的打壓下夢碎。
 
　　《蘋果在中國》（Apple in China）是一部令人不安、同時發人深省的作品。它講述了一家曾經直言不諱、讚揚「反叛者」與「麻煩製造者」、鼓勵人們「打破思考框架」的企業，如何逐步淪為一個消極配合強勢政權的角色──而這個政權如今愈發掌控著蘋果的命運。(文/博客來編譯)

For readers of Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs and Chris Miller’s Chip War, a riveting look at how Apple helped build China’s dominance in electronics assembly and manufacturing only to find itself trapped in a relationship with an authoritarian state making ever-increasing demands.

After struggling to build its products on three continents, Apple was lured by China’s seemingly inexhaustible supply of cheap labor. Soon it was sending thousands of engineers across the Pacific, training millions of workers, and spending hundreds of billions of dollars to create the world’s most sophisticated supply chain. These capabilities enabled Apple to build the 21st century’s most iconic products—in staggering volume and for enormous profit.

Without explicitly intending to, Apple built an advanced electronics industry within China, only to discover that its massive investments in technology upgrades had inadvertently given Beijing a power that could be weaponized.

In Apple in China, journalist Patrick McGee draws on more than two hundred interviews with former executives and engineers, supplementing their stories with unreported meetings held by Steve Jobs, emails between top executives, and internal memos regarding threats from Chinese competition. The book highlights the unknown characters who were instrumental in Apple’s ascent and who tried to forge a different path, including the Mormon missionary who established the Apple Store in China; the “Gang of Eight” executives tasked with placating Beijing; and an idealistic veteran whose hopes of improving the lives of factory workers were crushed by both Cupertino’s operational demands and Xi Jinping’s war on civil society.

Apple in China is the sometimes disturbing and always revelatory story of how an outspoken, proud company that once praised “rebels” and “troublemakers”—the company that encouraged us all to “Think Different”—devolved into passively cooperating with a belligerent regime that increasingly controls its fate.

Patrick McGee has been a journalist with the Financial Times since 2013, reporting from Hong Kong, Germany, and California. He led the FT's Apple coverage from 2019 to 2023 and won a San Francisco Press Club Award for his deep dive into Apple's HR problems. Previously, he was a bond reporter at The Wall Street Journal in New York. He has a Master's in Global Diplomacy from SOAS, University of London, and a degree in Religious Studies from the University of Toronto. He resides in the Bay Area with his wife and two daughters.