Beijing denies banning Apple products for government purchase
Mainland agency says firm's products had never been excluded from state purchases
In a surreal turn of events, Chinese authorities have denied reports that Apple devices were taken off a list of products allowed for government purchase.
The Government Management Procurement Office, which comes under the Ministry of Finance, said in a statement yesterday that the Apple products mentioned in reports were never on the list, because the company did not submit the relevant documents for them to qualify as state-sanctioned energy-saving products.
Ten Apple products - including the iPad, the iPad Mini, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro - were omitted from a final government procurement list distributed last month, a Bloomberg report on Wednesday said, citing officials who asked not to be identified.
The report was described as either "speculation or misunderstanding" by the procurement office.
Apple has not released any comment about this new development. It declined to comment on the earlier story. Analysts expected media speculation about the prospects of foreign information technology suppliers on the mainland to continue.
"It will continue until the government lifts the official ban announced on the products of other companies," Sandy Shen, the Shanghai-based analyst at research firm Gartner, told the .
