Ms Sahar Sabet, 19-year-old Iranian student, denied iPad by Apple Store
At least as far as Iranian teens in Georgia are concerned. To be blunt, this is appalling. It could merely be the local store being discriminatory against Ms Sabet, or, if indeed this is a larger corporate policy, it could be Apple attempting to marginalise the Iranian (and Iranian-American) population in order to curry favour with an American government it sees as wanting a war with said country. I have the same reaction as Naj does here; I am greatly ashamed to have supported this company by buying and using its products (just an iPod, in my case, but still)…
Frankly, there is no evidence to show that this was a company-wide policy rather than the racist twist of a local store (in Georgia, I mean c'mon). That is, of course assuming the victim's testimony is true (that they in no way revealed their intent to give to friends/family in Iran). By all of the victims' own admission, they were intending to give the product to other people in Iran, an illegal act according to US policy. The rightness or wrongness of the policy aside, Apple stores have a duty to comply with US laws.
ReplyDeleteI knew all of this the second the story broke, because it was in all the media accounts and testimony. I have also personally visited Apple stores in VA and DC, and concluded* that they know nothing of any such policy. Ire should be directed at that specific store, and pressure ought to be put on Apple to resolve the matter clearly. Anything beyond that (as in Naj's pointless diatribe) is just silly. Demanding an apology from the company for one local manager's racism is neo-radical silliness.
If there is any reason to feel shame in purchasing Apple products, it should be because you disagree with Apple's vision for the future of computing tech. Not because of an incident like this.
*This includes speaking in Farsi, talking about Iran, and directly asking the sales managers.