iPhone/iPad worker factory housing
Summary: Ever been curious where the workers who make your iPhones and iPads live and sleep? Here's your answer -- and it ain't pretty.
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Late last year, Joel Johnson of WIRED and Gizmodo had the opportunity to travel to Shenzen in China to report on Foxconn. Foxconn has revenues of nearly $60 billion a year and makes products under contract for companies including Apple, Amazon, Cisco, HP, Dell, Nintendo, Microsoft, Nokia, and Sony among many others. If you own an iPad, iPhone, or iPod, it was at least partially manufactured at Foxconn.
The images in this gallery are presented to you with Joel's permission. Read his original article on Gizmodo for even more details.
See also: Apple may be poisoning Chinese workers and doesn't seem to care. Should we? and Is Apple’s suicide factory outsourcing to even cheaper Chinese peasants?
This is an outside image of one of the Foxconn factories.
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Talkback
Food For THought
Are they better than these?
no...
... for the vast majority probably worse. foxconn is regarded as a top employer in china.
and how come always apple is singled out for the headline when theses companies produce any single electronic device used on that planet? the usual badmouthing of apple? desperate FUD attempts by the click-who**s paid by zdnet's advertising partners? are there no ethics left in the blogosphere?
how come we don't see those headlines: "zune and xbox factory worker housing" or "wii and playstation factory worker housing". ah, right the advertising partners wouldn't like it. so it comes in handy that apple never advertises on IT doofus sites like this one.
and of course no one would click on that headline. apple should use some of that 60 bn in cash and start to sue the a**es off these unethical bloggers.
RE: iPhone/iPad worker factory housing
And the fact is, this isn't even that bad. There are army dorms much worse than this in the US. Sue??? Oh shut up. I'm more concerned that Apple may be poisoning these people and I'm vastly more concerned about their pay and right to form unions.
RE: iPhone/iPad worker factory housing
Yeah, your concern is so evident.
hypocrisy?
"Apple may be poisoning...?"
that's my point. you aren't concerned about nintendo, microsoft, dell, hp, nokia or sony poisoning these workers though they work in a factory that produces for ALL of these companies. it is only apple, right?
RE: iPhone/iPad worker factory housing
RE: iPhone/iPad worker factory housing
No, not really
This doesn't mean that the work or environment isn't depressing. If you go back in history to the Industrial Revolution, you will find similar patterns of depression and suicide from people who migrated from rural areas to the cities.
I must say that I am sick of the ZDNet bloggers link baiting with iPhone/iPad in every posting that is even remotely connected to Apple. I'm not Apple's biggest fan, for my own reasons, but come on.
Suicide rates at Foxconn are half the national average
RE: iPhone/iPad worker factory housing
"I must say that I am sick of the ZDNet bloggers link baiting with iPhone/iPad in every posting that is even remotely connected to Apple. I'm not Apple's biggest fan, for my own reasons, but come on."
While it's true that most all computer companies use foxconn these days, Apple stands out because they try a lot harder to elude people into believing that somehow their hardware is superior. Superior to what? The Dell on the line 4 feet over? It's all crap, and its time that Americans realized why it's crap.
And for those that want to throw in the "but Apple designed it, so therefore it's better" crap... if the worlds best architect designed a building and let the worlds crappiest contractor build it, it will still be a pile of crap.
In summary, I think all major brands, Apple, Dell, HP, etc... are pure crap. Equally crap. This comes from experience with working on all of them. Percentage wise, just as many Mac's come in needing repair as PCs. ASUS is the one stand out. They seem to really care about quality with their own product, but they lose points in being a pain to deal with if and when one of their's does die off under warranty.
RE: iPhone/iPad worker factory housing
I'm curious. Did anyone force you to read the article?
RE: iPhone/iPad worker factory housing
Also - The vertical wires are there to keep birds from flying in and nesting on the balconies, and going the bathroom all over the place.
RE: iPhone/iPad worker factory housing
These conditions are GREAT. I lived and worked in China for 4 years. I taught college and had my own sales and marketing consulting business. I've visited/consulted with many different factories in China and these dorms are NICE. Many college dorm rooms, even the "new" ones are much worse than these. The construction workers that I met, lived in much much worse conditions.
Stop trying to project your idea of how people should live on to the reality of conditions and economy in a foreign country. These dorms are a VAST improvement to where a lot of these workers came from and they are making TREMENDOUSLY more money than they would be working on the family farm.
RE: iPhone/iPad worker factory housing
Actually, you seem to be projecting more then any comments or the article itself. From what I can tell, noel was asking a simple question. Yes, the conditions shown would be considered appalling by the average US citizen. OTOH, they can see why they can't compete with offshoring. Few (if any) would be willing trade their current situation for this alternative.
RE: iPhone/iPad worker factory housing
What part of "Here's your answer -- and it ain't pretty," did you miss?
RE: iPhone/iPad worker factory housing
Seems great there!
Most of the executives of these big companies in China (are from rich family backgrounds) and most likely spent time abroad in American universities. You think they don't know the line between humane and cruel?
RE: iPhone/iPad worker factory housing
Apple prods, and DELL too
RE: iPhone/iPad worker factory housing