Nickname: Gizza

Review: Very Nice

Date reviewed: Nov 1, 2007 5:25 AM

Nickname: camel

Review: Foxconn is suing the two reporters in China who reported its labor abuses and actually successfuly freeze the two reporters' assets through a local court. See here (Chinese) http://news.sohu.com/20060829/n245049174.shtml and http://news.google.com/nwshp?hl=zh-CN&tab=wn&ncl=http://www.gywb.com.cn/show_asp/news_gao.asp%3Fpz%3D%25E6%2596%25B0%25E9%2597%25BB%25E4%25B8%25AD%25E5%25BF%2583%26id%3D60829110242%26g_gao%3Dnews_gao What thugs! I say boycott them.

Date reviewed: Aug 29, 2006 4:47 AM

Nickname: SZ_mike

Review: Looking forward to Apple's answer and action: 1)The workers in Foxconn are required to overwork for more than 128 extra hours a month (according to government's rules, 36 extra hours a month is the upper limit). Foxconn violates this rule. 2)According to government rules, the overwork time should be double paid, even triple paid. Foxconn does violate this rule.

Date reviewed: Aug 27, 2006 8:49 AM

Nickname: R2

Review: Apple should check into it's own working conditions in Cupertino. The place is a freakin' sweatshop. I've seen workers working right on thru the weekend and thru their own vacations!

Date reviewed: Aug 14, 2006 5:35 PM

Nickname: Daniel

Review: Crash, methinks the labor cost, from PCBA to boxing hovers around a dollar per unit. The article mentions 50-dollar salaries, typical net after dwelling and food are deduced from the pay. Assuming a labor-intensive processes, you're still looking at labor being a smaller fraction of a conversion cost anywhere between $5 to $10. Non-recurring expenses amortization would be dimes per unit (MP). Materials, licensing costs are secrets, conservatively in the $40 to $45 range with color TFT, and good IPR clearance. Putting acts together, owning factory, tripling the floor net salaries, applying proper code of conduct all way down to third-tier suppliers, they'd face a $20 street-price hike, still manageable for a strong brand with 80% of market and communication skills. Now being more than creative (pun), having GE Plastics come up with hemp inclusions or whatever, and taking bands on factory tours, they'd start build a legend there. Plus they'd certainly love it on the floors.

Date reviewed: Jul 8, 2006 8:09 AM

Nickname: crash

Review: To Luca - to greenfield a robotic factory that could cut out a portion of the labor in an iPod would be cost prohibitive. You would have to amortize the new robotic factory costs over the iPod's cost and that would be significant. It also wouldn't eliminate all of the hand-touch labor, like final assembly and pack out. Plus, if you build the factory and then the iPod that the particular factory was built for becomes obsolete, then the factory would have to be retooled for another product or sit idle -- both losing propositions -- especially if Apple were to announce they were laying off 3000 workers in a U.S. plant. To get efficiencies, you have to build all these little gadgets in the same place, using the same assets that you do a Motorola cell phone.

Date reviewed: Jul 5, 2006 2:33 PM

Nickname: Daniel

Review: Craze: powerful logics of reduced capital expenditure, time to market, and race to the bottom. Works fine thanks. Sean mentions consumers right on the money. Wouldn't it be rather ironic for those who spent extra on a glossy black-painted U2 series to learn about the conditions in which hazmat is handled and disposed of in some places? You may tirelessly point to the un-engaging pictograms on them barrels, try coercing the boys' supervisors, doesn't change nit. Why is this a job for Apple to fix? Because despite having gone global long time ago, it's still an iconic American company being watched, and the glue of that one society as you know is shared principles based on universal values. Not consumerism, capitalism, imperialism or mere pragmatism. At the end of the day, you get to pick up a fight for what you are standing for. Remember those Apple ads with that colorful angel shattering that gray and grim uniform representation of our world? So utterly appropriate and accurate now.

Date reviewed: Jul 5, 2006 8:40 AM

Nickname: OctoberPrince

Review: I'm in the electronics manufacturing industry and it's sad to say but most of my business is in Asia. Although I'm doing business with U.S. companies they always direct me to their EMS in Asia. Since being in this industry for over 3 years I have come to realize that the U.S. is killing itself. Profiting their US business without the realization if the U.S. economy has no income flowing in then the U.S. companies have no business to sell. Also current EMS news of India being the next "cheap" labor country for tremendous companies. Did I also mention companies are outsourcing customer services to India? Try calling Dell at night and you will get answers like "Thank you for calling Dell customer service, please come again soon."

Date reviewed: Jul 5, 2006 3:55 AM

Nickname: China Law Blog

Review: You are right to call on Apple to go into China directly and for citing Motorola. Many companies much smaller than Apple have set up their own facilities in China as doing so continues to get easier. www.chinalawblog.com

Date reviewed: Jul 4, 2006 5:37 PM

Nickname: Sean

Review: Typical. Typical Americans criticizing their own for greed and capitalism. It is so easy to say something on the computer about it, built from foreign constructed parts, on your "great deal 17-inch LCD" that only cost $250!(China made) Sitting in the Taiwan produced chairs, wearing Vietnam/Macau produced clothing, complaining that more jobs should be on American soil-- all the while demanding stagnant prices. And you criticize the corporations for greed. The American mantra is "more for less," and you seem surprised these sweatshops exist? The bottom line is this: The market is the way it is because of the masses in capitalism. Don't criticize the corporations for the way things are. If Apple were to actually take the blame, I would respect them more because they would at least have the nobility to admit they were at fault--something nobody else really wants to do. Sadly, the criticizing consumer has shaped the market they are so ashamed of.

Date reviewed: Jul 4, 2006 4:11 PM