Interesting story from :

In a move that highlights the challenges that western companies face when doing business in China, Apple has started storing its Chinese users’ iCloud data on servers managed by government-run China Telecom.

When you want to sell your device to the carrier’s 760 million subscribers you try to minimize the effect of any obstacle:

While Apple is emphasizing that the change will improve the performance of iCloud for Chinese users, some industry watchers have noted that the change follows recent comments from government-run media outlets in China that suggested Apple was helping the U.S. government to spy on Chinese users.

Apple makes money by selling devices, not by owning customer’s data. That’s why Apple has agreed to this data migration. This move is a win-win for both Apple and the Chinese authorities worried about privacy issues.