Apple Inc. announced on Friday that is moving some Chinese users' personal data to servers stored in mainland China via China Telecom, the country's third-largest carrier of wireless service.
The storage of such data is symbolic of the company's open mind in creating technological infrastructures in China.
The company thought that transfering the data will enable them to increase the speed and preformance of their iCloud service, according to Reuters. The service allows their users to store email, pictures, messages, and other forms of data. Apple stated that storing the data closer to the users will make their services faster.
"Apple takes user security and privacy very seriously," Apple said in a statement. "We have added China Telecom to our list of data center providers to increase bandwidth and improve performance for our customers in mainland China."
The encryption keys for the stored data were not disclosed to the China wireless provider and will be kept in an offshore location, thus restricting the Chinese government from accessing the data stored in the servers, Apple Insider reported.
Apple has denied allegations that they are working with the Chinese government to develop data back doors. Apple clarified that they have never allowed any third party access to their servers, and they will never disclose such information.
China is becoming a popular market for smartphone manufacturers due to the increase in middle class families. Based on the date obtained by Bloomberg, iPhone and iPad sales from the Chinese region made up 16 percent of Apple's revenue last quarter. iPad and Mac sales increased by 51 percent and 39 percent, respectively.
In 2010, Google moved out of China due to censorship problems with the Chinese government. Microsoft Corp. also does not store any data on servers in China.
