Here’s our daily pick of stories about Apple from around the web you shouldn’t miss. Today’s installment: What Apple et al are up to with Nortel’s patent trove, why iPhone subsidies won’t be lowered any time soon, a contract-free iPhone 3GS and Tim Cook’s compensation. Read More »
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A Reuters report says Apple will be using some of its billions to help improve working conditions at some Foxconn plants. It’s an unexpected move for Apple, but one that’s starting to indicate a pattern in CEO Tim Cook’s short time at the company’s helm. Read More »
After debunking Mike Daisey’s lies about the working conditions and policies at Apple’s most important contract manufacturer, Marketplace reporter Rob Schmitz was allowed rare access to a Foxconn factory floor in China. He took video of how an iPad is built. Read More »
Though Foxconn has agreed to bring its working hours policies into line with Chinese law after a high-profile audit, not all of its workers are cheering the news. Some employees say Foxconn’s pledge to reduce hours will reduce their pay, and they’re not happy about it. Read More »
The Fair Labor Association listed excessive overtime, proper compensation, health and safety risks and communication problems as problems uncovered at three Chinese factories that make Apple products. Foxconn has now agreed to build more housing for employees and reduce working hours and overtime. Read More »
Tim Cook is in China, but it’s not just to shake hands with foreign leaders and executives. On Wednesday, Cook took a tour of a new iPhone factory owned by its contract manufacturer Foxconn in Zhengzhou, China, Bloomberg reported Thursday. Apple supplied photos. Read More »
Hoping to attract the attention of Apple fans more interested in how their iPad is made than whether the Retina display is worth the upgrade or not, another coordinated, multi-store protest against working conditions in Apple’s third-party manufacturers’ factories is planned for Friday’s iPad launch. Read More »
Two former iPhone factory workers in China, who were critically injured at Apple supplier Wintek’s plant in 2009, are looking to take advantage of Apple’s yearly meeting on Thursday to attract further attention to the conditions at factories where Apple’s most important products are assembled. Read More »
It’s been less than a week since Apple sent independent auditors to evaluate its third-party factories in China. The auditors have publicly given hints about what they’re finding, but aren’t getting into specifics. On Friday they told Bloomberg they were finding “tons of issues” at Foxconn. Read More »
Following weeks of outrage and some protests regarding the working conditions at the factories of Apple’s third-party suppliers, Apple announced Monday that it is requesting extra audits of the health and safety conditions at factories where its iPhones and iPads are built. Read More »
Representatives from Change.org and SumOfUs.org will deliver petitions to Apple stores in several major cities Thursday with the names of 250,000 people who want the iPhone maker to develop “a worker protection strategy” covering the people who build its devices in China. Read More »
As we approach the one-year anniversary of the iPad 2′s introduction, rumors are heating up around its successor. The iPad 3 is reportedly now in production in preparation for an early March launch, when it will ship with new Sharp displays and a relatively unchanged body. Read More »