If Apple decides to make a television, Foxconn will be ready to build it
Foxconn isn’t looking for ways to reduce its dependence on Apple; it’s really looking for ways to rely less on the iPhone. Read more »
Foxconn nearing new iPhone production, reports point to summer launch
photo: Credit: Bowen Liu/Apple Inc. via Bloomberg
Bloomberg says the hiring began in mid-March at a Zhengzhou factory for work on a new Apple device as well as older model iPhones. The Journal says Foxconn has been hiring 10,000 new workers every week since then. Read more »
Foxconn sales drop could foreshadow Apple earnings
photo: Credit: Bowen Liu/Apple Inc. via Bloomberg
Hon Hai Precision Co. is the parent company of Apple’s biggest manufacturing partner. On Wednesday it reported it saw a 19 percent drop in its sales for the first quarter of 2013. Read more »
Apple stock drops after reports of Foxconn hiring freeze
photo: Credit: Bowen Liu/Apple Inc. via Bloomberg
The FT says Apple’s manufacturing partner isn’t hiring any more workers for a month because of lowered iPhone 5 demand. But Bloomberg got a spokesman to offer a different explanation. Read more »
You’re having trouble finding a new iPhone 5 due to its design
Foxconn is having trouble assembling the iPhone 5 — still. If it’s so complicated that what Apple considers the best contract manufacturer on the planet can’t figure out a way to produce it that keeps up with demand, it’s worth wondering if perhaps Apple designers overreached. Read more »
The Apple Roundup: Images of life as a gadget builder at Foxconn
photo: Credit: Bowen Liu/Apple Inc. via Bloomberg
Here’s our daily pick of stories about Apple from around the web you shouldn’t miss. Today’s installment: rare photos from inside Foxconn, Apple’s forced public apology to Samsung, why Apple would buy Color, more stores coming to China, and a possible iPhone 5 keyboard software glitch. Read more »
The Apple Roundup: Apple supplier Foxconn admits hiring underage workers
Here’s our daily pick of stories about Apple from around the web that you shouldn’t miss. Today’s installment: Apple’s biggest supplier admits breaking China’s underage hiring law, profile of a maps app that’s taking advantage of Apple’s failure, and teardowns of the Lightning connector and iPod nano. Read more »
Stricter iPhone 5 quality standards bring worker strike at Foxconn plant
photo: Flickr user secretlondon123
China Labor Watch, an independent group monitoring working conditions in factories in China, said that “multiple iPhone 5 production lines from various factory buildings” came to a halt at the Zhengzhou factory when quality control inspectors stopped working. Read more »
The Apple Roundup: Verizon, Apple fix iPhone 5 cellular data bug
Here’s our daily pick of stories about Apple from around the web that you shouldn’t miss. Today’s installment: fixing a major Verizon iPhone 5 bug, the enormous task of improving Maps, decrease in work hours for Apple suppliers, App Store changes in iOS 6, and more. Read more »
The Apple Roundup: Apple marketing’s war on language
Here’s our daily pick of stories about Apple from around the web that you shouldn’t miss. Today’s installment: Apple’s copywriters are freaking out linguists; Samsung, Google meet to talk Apple; guilt over buying iPhones made by exploited workers; accessibility features in iOS 6, and more. Read more »
The Apple Roundup: Google Maps for iOS 6 not ready to go after all
Here’s our daily pick of stories about Apple from around the web that you shouldn’t miss. Today’s installment: Google’s standoff with Apple over maps, a potential miscalculation of where iPhone buyers shopped, life in a Foxconn factory, and details on the iPhone 5′s Lightning adapter. Read more »
Riots at factory run by Apple supplier Foxconn bring production to a halt
Factory shutdowns due to worker protest are becoming more common in China. Such an event could pose a serious risk for Apple should these kinds of riots or protests hit a factory producing critical parts for an iPhone 5 or the next iPad. Read more »
Activists: Foxconn iPhone, iPad plant improvements too slow
photo: Credit: Bowen Liu/Apple Inc. via Bloomberg
Months after a third-party investigation into the labor practices at Foxconn, the electronics manufacturer who counts Apple as its most important customer, very little has improved, a Chinese labor rights group said Thursday. Read more »
Apple and Microsoft’s “patent exploitation” pact, plus 4 other Apple stories to read today
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 »
Foxconn: Apple will help pay to make working here better
photo: Credit: Bowen Liu/Apple Inc. via Bloomberg
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 »
A behind-the-scenes look at how an Apple iPad is made
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 »
After audit, some Foxconn workers bristle at fewer hours
photo: Credit: Bowen Liu/Apple Inc. via Bloomberg
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 »
Auditors find “significant issues” at Foxconn factories
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 »
Apple CEO suits up at Foxconn factory
photo: Credit: Bowen Liu/Apple Inc. via Bloomberg
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 »
Apple labor protestors to target new iPad sale Friday
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 »
Injured iPhone workers to petition Apple at shareholder meeting
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 »
Apple supplier auditors send mixed messages about Foxconn
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 »
Foxconn, Apple’s iPhone Supplier, To Undergo Random Audits By Labor Group
One month after Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) joined the Fair Labor Association amid the release of its supplier report and a new wave of discomfort ov… Read more at paidContent »
Result of iPhone factory outrage: Apple sends more inspectors to Foxconn
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 »
Protests against iPhone factory conditions planned Thursday for Apple Stores
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 »
Nokia’s Mexico, Hungary, Finland Phone Assembly Goes To Asia; 4,000 Jobs Go
Today brings news of yet another round of capital-intensive cost-cutting for the challenged mobile phone maker Nokia: the company today anno… Read more at paidContent »
Nokia factories shift to Asia: Did it have any choice?
Embattled Nokia is hoping it can become faster and more competitive by shifting the heart of its manufacturing operations to Asia, a move which will see 4,000 jobs cut in Finland, Hungary and Mexico but will be seen as long overdue. Read more »
Your iPhone Has To Be Made In China, And Apple Can’t Absolve Your Guilt
“For a quarter of a century, Washington and Wall Street have wanted China to become an integral part of the world economy. Their wish has be… Read more at paidContent »
IPad 3 production reportedly under way for March launch
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 »
Chipmakers said to be bidding on Apple iTV contracts
Hot on the heels of a report about Apple’s iTV plans on Tuesday, there are fresh stories about its potential components and supplier partners out on Wednesday morning. DigiTimes cites new supply-chain sources saying that Apple is entertaining chipmaker bids for the iTV’s processor contracts. Read more »
Apple suppliers singled out as cause of environmental damage
A report released Wednesday morning by a group of Chinese watchdog groups criticizes Apple for using suppliers that consistently threaten the environment and the health of their workers. It will be interesting to see if calls for greater transparency are answered, given Apple’s generally secretive tendencies. Read more »
Explosion Reported at Foxconn iPad Production Plant
Multiple news sources are reporting an explosion at a Foxconn Chengdu manufacturing plant primarily responsible for iPad 2 production. So far, six men and one woman have been reported as injured (two seriously) as a result of the blast, according to MICgadget. Read more »
Rumor Has It: Apple’s Tablet Release Plans Delayed Due to Glass
The Apple tablet, which over the holidays has garnered more buzz despite still being a rumor, has already been delayed. Don’t worry, though — if the reports are correct, the delay has already been factored into the rumored January product announcement, so we shouldn’t have to […] Read more »
Rumor Has It: Foxconn Receives Order for Next-Gen iPhone
The inevitable iPhone update is looming ever closer in the distance, and accordingly, the iPhone rumor mill is heating up. Today, news came that frequent Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn, a Taiwanese hardware company, received an order to build the new iPhone, which still won’t arrive in […] Read more »
Rumor Has It: Foxconn Making Tablets for Apple
Taiwanese news and rumors site DigiTimes is stirring up the Apple tablet pot today with reports that regular Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn will be producing the upcoming device. Shipments of the device are said to be set to begin in the first quarter of 2010, which […] Read more »
Free-trade vs. Fair-trade iPod
Umair Haque, writing for Harvard Business Publishing, posits what Apple’s iPods would cost if they were made in the U.S., and it turns out it’s not as much as you might think. According to Haque, “an American made iPod Classic costs just 23 percent more than […] Read more »
Apple Netbook Rumors Gain Momentum Once Again
If sheer consumer will alone could ever put a piece of hardware into production, then the Apple netbook would’ve been made a hundred times over by now, and in some ways it has, thanks to DIY hackintosh machines. Rumors of the real thing are gaining steam […] Read more »
