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Smear Campaign Against Apple (AAPL) in China Goes Awry...to the Benefit of Shareholders

March 18, 2013 2:40 PM EDT
Any news is good news.

An attempt by a Chinese news agency to bash Apple, Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) and its company ethics has gone up in smoke. According to reports out Monday, China Central Television (CCTV) took a post by actor/singer Peter Ho and ran with it. Last Friday, Ho posted a messages to Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo, the Twitter-like microblogging service, which read:

"#315isLive# Wow, Apple has so many tricks in its after-sales services. As an Apple fan, I’m hurt. You think this would be acceptable to Steve Jobs? Or to those young people who sold their kidneys [to buy iPads]? It’s really true that big chains treat customers poorly."

Turns out, Ho was supplied the script from CCTV in a "smear campaign" against Apple. He has since deleted the original post, saying that it wasn't from him and the account might have been hacked.

The CCTV show "315" ran a spot which accused Apple of violating Chinese law, which requires two-year warranties on parts. Instead of replacing an iPhone, the show said, Apple replaces internal parts and the backing, keeping the device under Apple's one-year warranty.

With the bad press for CCTV coming at a time when Apple is still trying to gain a stronger foothold in China's smartphone market, timing could be better for at least one company. Almost makes you wonder if Apple isn't behind the whole thing...

Nah!

Shares of Apple are up 2.9 percent Monday.


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