Apple has a strange and difficult relationship with China. On the one hand, its products are manufactured at (mainly) Foxconn factories there paying minimum wages and facing allegations of illegal and dangerous working practises. And on the other, Apple is desperate to sell its products to high-end Chinese users i.e. not the factory-floor workers employed at Foxconn.
The iPhone 4S has launched in China - identified by Apple as the market with the most potential - and had to be temporarily withdrawn because of huge crowds of buyers outside Apple Stores.
But the big prize for Apple is a deal to sell its products with the China Mobile network. It's not only the biggest mobile network by far in China, it's the biggest in the world.
Analysts believe Apple could sell 40m iPhones in China in 2013.
But Cupertino is also seen as exploiting cheap labour in China and both Apple and Foxconn are desperately trying to clean up their image in the face of calls for a boycott of Apple products.
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