Sadly that's most likely true. I was reading last fall where people were camping out in front of Best Buy to get whatever latest gadget was being released at the time. I live near a small city and drove into town a couple of days later to find people camped out in front of the Best Buy there. I just don't get the mentality of people who think they have to grab the latest gadget as soon as it hits the market.
@inplainview I like your sarcastic comment about his comment, in which you make no logical arguments, and do not point out what you think is actually wrong with his premise or reasoning.
As far as I can tell, he's got a rather valid point. Apple is unlikely to make any changes when there is no financial incentive to do so. If people don't care enough about their business practices to stop buying their products, why would they change anything? The prime motivating factor for any business is cash-flow, plain and simple. Make an impact on that, and you'll make an impact on how they do business.
The comment that was actually unintelligent was yours, not the one you were replying to, as that comment made a valid point, and yours made no points at all.
What I suspect, but cannot prove, is that you're an Apple fanboy who got upset that he called apple products "I-Crap". If so, get over it. Not everyone likes Apple products. If not, make an argument. Even a terrible argument would be an improvement over the smug, empty sarcasm of your last comment.
@Vegemighty You write "FANBOYS" "I-CRAP" in your comment. Very classy might I say. Does using these terms, and your response in general, try to show a greater intelligence than the person you are trying to insult here? So what are you a droidboy or microsoftboy? I am a woman, and I use an Apple product, so does that make me a fanwoman? Is this supposed to be an insult, and what would you call me or anyone who uses both or more than one company's devices? Why do you feel the need to hate someone or insult them because of a device? It's a DEVICE, each to his own... The hating, and insults remove any point you are trying to make about anything. Perhaps you would rather just call people names.
Why are these women smiling so much in these pictures? You would think that they would look a bit more serious, but instead, it seems like they're really enjoying the attention.
Anyone that wants to protest the conditions of Foxconn can do so for any of the companies that use Foxconn Foxconn manufactures products for companies Here are a few from Wikipedia including: (country of headquarters in parentheses)
Acer Inc. (Taiwan)[32] Amazon.com (United States)[33] Apple Inc. (United States)[34] Cisco (United States)[35] Dell (United States)[36] Hewlett-Packard (United States)[37] Intel (United States)[38] Microsoft (United States)[39] Motorola Mobility (United States)[36] Nintendo (Japan)[40] Nokia (Finland)[34] Samsung Electronics (South Korea)[41] Sony (Japan)[42] Toshiba (Japan) [43] Vizio (United States)[44]
it's so ironic that it is the chinese who bought the most iPhones. just watch the line up for iPhone 4s first day sale in beijing, that's even crowded than super ball.
Sure we can make all of our products in an environment where everyone is happy and skips around, just preorder a bunch of them at 3 times what you pay now and we'll get on it. Stuff is made in China because it is CHEAP! The iPhone wouldn't be where it's at if it was more expensive. Yes the iPhone revolutionized the phone market, but if people had to pay MacBook prices for them, the sales would be much lower.
Don't these people have jobs? Well probably not, most likely they are part of our great College institutions. Surprised I don't see signs saying "save the whales" or " save the spotted owls".
So ridiculous that people are protesting Apple thinking that some how they are going to change a country's way of doing things. Especially one that has 1.3 billion non voting people.
These people are just about protesting. They are always in search of a "cause". And if it isn't Apple, it will be something else that they will have zero effect on. Just go back to school children and take classes in basic economics and also wouldn't hurt to take some classes on world history while your at it.
The way I see it, they feel the need to at least TRY to make a change in the world. Whether they succeed or not, or whether or not you agree with their message or methods, at least they got off their butts to do something.
I'm a little disheartened at all the negative posts. Why can't we just say "Good on them for standing up for something." Even if you think it's ridiculous.
Just a bunch of idiots that want to have their 2 minutes of fame. Do they know that every tech company in the word do the same? Samsung, Sony, HTC, Motorola just to name a few.
this petition is not going to change anything period . everyone reed the artical or knows about it in some way or another and most do not care caus deep down they already knew what was happinging. apple sales are not going to drop because of it. apple could try to change it... it would not amount to anything except higher cost to end user and in the end a different vendor would be doing the exact same thing. with the amount/demand that apple needs it would not take long before apple lost control of the situation again. in my opinion it is the mentality of the country that they are producing in not apple itself. step away from apple for a second and no matter what electronic device you buy the ARMchip,that pcb board,the LCD screen,the RAM its all coming from a vendor that has the exact same work-conditions or worse than those produced by apple. And everyone that signed that petition is guilty of have a device like this in there pocket or at home it may even be apples. apple got exposed because they have such a huge closed and secretive environment once inside its easy to oversee the production and pin point the wrong doings. when i read the article i realized it was reported in a time line over a course of years some of the problems already fixed and some in the process of and others with solutions a bit on he odd side like nets(really still cant wrap my head round it) in my opinion there is alot that needs fixing but its not going to happen sadly.as for china and what they do... if i had 100000$ i would have to worry about what to do and where to invest it, if i had 1000000000$ i don't think i would worry about those 100000 to much maybe not at all if they want better work conditions impose a law or its not going to happen! I think apple is going to sell just as many products as before no questions asked, i also think apple only has a few more years without Steve Jobs(no pun intended)before apple looks and sells like every other device out there or worse. (by the way i am not an apple fan-boy i have all of one device an ipod(not pad->POD) i like Samsung and Motorola, Japanese and German cars and live in the usa.i do see things that apple could easily improve and hope they do and believe they will however i would like to see things improve company(FC) and country(CHI/TWN) wide not just apples section of the pie. this is just my 2cents) thank you for reading feel free for critics and comments. :/
You forgot to note that over half of the electronics sold are made by Foxconn and sold through other companies. Foxconn manufactures products for many companies Wikipedia or the Foxconn site list many others, (country of headquarters in parentheses) Acer Inc. (Taiwan)[32] Amazon.com (United States)[33] Apple Inc. (United States)[34] Cisco (United States)[35] Dell (United States)[36] Hewlett-Packard (United States)[37] Intel (United States)[38] Microsoft (United States)[39] Motorola Mobility (United States)[36] Nintendo (Japan)[40] Nokia (Finland)[34] Samsung Electronics (South Korea)[41] Sony (Japan)[42] Toshiba (Japan) [43] Vizio (United States)[44] to name a few
First of all, to the "get a job" crowd: not everyone works 12-hour days 7 days a week. Some of us also have nice jobs where we can take a "day off". Presumably, if you felt strongly about something, you'd devote some of your free time to it.
Second, it seems like a silly gesture. While Foxconn conditions are crappy by American standards, they aren't nearly as awful by Chinese standards - so they are, no doubt puzzled by all of this. We complain about suicides at the plant, and they correctly point out that the suicide rate among their workers is less than half the rate observed in the general Chinese population. For Foxconn, Apple's a big account, but not the majority of their business. They make stuff for HTC, Dell, HP, IBM, Nintendo, Asus, Sony, etc. Apple doesn't have nearly as much leverage with Foxconn as these people seem to think. If Apple dropped Foxconn altogether today (which they can't for lack of another contract manufacturer ready to pick up the slack), what would happen? There would be layoffs and those same people would have no or lower-wage jobs, less safe work conditions, and would be committing suicide at a higher rate -- albeit, the petitioners wouldn't be treated to coverage of that in the news.
Rather than single-out Apple, just stop purchasing things from China. Swear off electronics entirely.
I don't think it's the photo we should be focusing upon anyway ... they're delivering a petition that many of us signed. Activism is intentionally "showy" and I don't begrudge the sensational aspect if it gets the point across. I wouldn't have signed the petition had there not been something like this to catch my attention. Apple may be a soulless corporation (Romney may disagree with that) ... but I feel better having signed a petition rather than sit back, criticize, and do nothing at all.
"She spends those hours inhaling n-hexane, a potent neurotoxin used to clean iPhone glass, because it dries a few seconds faster than a safe alternative. After just a few years on the line, she will be fired because the neurological damage from the n-hexane and the repetitive stress injuries to her wrists and hands make her unable to continue performing up to standard."
What a load of BS FUD. 2 minutes of research would tell you this poisoning occurred between May 2008 and August 2009 and was resolved then. The company was WinTek not Foxconn and N-Hexane is no longer used, Alcohol is used instead. No further poisoning has occurred.
Rest assured there is not going to be a little chinese girl being poisoned while cleaning the screen of your iPhone 5.
As for suicides at Foxconn, they have dropped from 14 in 2010 to 4 in 2011.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn_suicides
Although 4 is still too many, it is a vast improvement on 14. Is the reason because of improved conditions or the nets around the building? I think it is a combination of both.
And just to put the Foxconn suicides in perspective, between January 2008 and April 2011, more than 60 France Telecom employees committed suicide. (See link at bottom of wikipedia page above)
These protestors say Apple is the richest company in the world, they can fix the problems just like that. What a lot of idealistic BS. These Chinese factories don't want to change. They want their workers oppressed, they want them working 80 hours a week, they want them to be ignorant to their rights. Foxconn knows that they are the only supplier that can fulfill the huge volume of Apple products and that Apple is blowing smoke if they threaten to go elsewhere.
Apple is already using their influence to change the labour practices in Chinese factories. They have tried to limit working hours, workers have gotten pay rises and they have educated workers on their rights.
Yet, Apple continually finds more core safety violations, underage workers and workers doing gross amounts of overtime that have led to accidents and deaths. This tells you one thing. Even intense pressure from the biggest company in the world won't change a thing in China.
So assemble it in America, all the idealists cry. How many will buy an ethical iPhone for twice the price? The idealistic petition signees say they will, but when it comes to parting with the money, they will just buy an Android or WP7/8 phone because it was cheaper. They will then kid themselves that they are being ethical, because the media hasn't exposed the other phone manufacturers and only focused on Apple. Bunch of hypocrites.
This idealistic BS by idiots from occupy whatever, is a total waste of time. Their socialist views and demands for ethical iPhones and other such nonsense is total fantasy and completely unrealistic.
Why not name all of the companies that use Foxconn, check Foxconn.com or Wikipedia, search, a few beingFoxconn manufactures products for companies including:(country of headquarters in parentheses) Acer Inc. (Taiwan)[32] Amazon.com (United States)[33] Apple Inc. (United States)[34] Cisco (United States)[35] Dell (United States)[36] Hewlett-Packard (United States)[37] Intel (United States)[38] Microsoft (United States)[39] Motorola Mobility (United States)[36] Nintendo (Japan)[40] Nokia (Finland)[34] Samsung Electronics (South Korea)[41] Sony (Japan)[42] Toshiba (Japan) [43] Vizio (United States)[44]
Hit enter sorry, I meant to say why don't they the protesters, list more or all of the companies that use Foxconn and other manufacturers... Thank You.
She isn't even dressed up as an iPhone. All she's wearing is a flat cardboard thingy, lol. Btw guys, anyone know when the <a href="http://www.iphone5pedia.com">iPhone 5</a> will be released?
Yeah there is some great info at www.iphone5hut.com on the realease date and also some really good videos like how to find the golden eggs on angry birds! Hope you enjoy
I wonder how long it will take before the Apple employees discreetly dump that box of signatures in the trash.
As far as I can tell, he's got a rather valid point. Apple is unlikely to make any changes when there is no financial incentive to do so. If people don't care enough about their business practices to stop buying their products, why would they change anything? The prime motivating factor for any business is cash-flow, plain and simple. Make an impact on that, and you'll make an impact on how they do business.
The comment that was actually unintelligent was yours, not the one you were replying to, as that comment made a valid point, and yours made no points at all.
What I suspect, but cannot prove, is that you're an Apple fanboy who got upset that he called apple products "I-Crap". If so, get over it. Not everyone likes Apple products. If not, make an argument. Even a terrible argument would be an improvement over the smug, empty sarcasm of your last comment.
Does using these terms, and your response in general, try to show a greater intelligence than the person you are trying to insult here? So what are you a droidboy or microsoftboy? I am a woman, and I use an Apple product, so does that make me a fanwoman? Is this supposed to be an insult, and what would you call me or anyone who uses both or more than one company's devices? Why do you feel the need to hate someone or insult them because of a device? It's a DEVICE, each to his own... The hating, and insults remove any point you are trying to make about anything. Perhaps you would rather just call people names.
Just want the attention. Same thing with all your products, designed with a shiny body to show off.
(country of headquarters in parentheses)
Acer Inc. (Taiwan)[32]
Amazon.com (United States)[33]
Apple Inc. (United States)[34]
Cisco (United States)[35]
Dell (United States)[36]
Hewlett-Packard (United States)[37]
Intel (United States)[38]
Microsoft (United States)[39]
Motorola Mobility (United States)[36]
Nintendo (Japan)[40]
Nokia (Finland)[34]
Samsung Electronics (South Korea)[41]
Sony (Japan)[42]
Toshiba (Japan) [43]
Vizio (United States)[44]
So ridiculous that people are protesting Apple thinking that some how they are going to change a country's way of doing things. Especially one that has 1.3 billion non voting people.
These people are just about protesting. They are always in search of a "cause". And if it isn't Apple, it will be something else that they will have zero effect on. Just go back to school children and take classes in basic economics and also wouldn't hurt to take some classes on world history while your at it.
The way I see it, they feel the need to at least TRY to make a change in the world. Whether they succeed or not, or whether or not you agree with their message or methods, at least they got off their butts to do something.
I'm a little disheartened at all the negative posts. Why can't we just say "Good on them for standing up for something." Even if you think it's ridiculous.
Do they know that every tech company in the word do the same? Samsung, Sony, HTC, Motorola just to name a few.
I think apple is going to sell just as many products as before no questions asked, i also think apple only has a few more years without Steve Jobs(no pun intended)before apple looks and sells like every other device out there or worse. (by the way i am not an apple fan-boy i have all of one device an ipod(not pad->POD) i like Samsung and Motorola, Japanese and German cars and live in the usa.i do see things that apple could easily improve and hope they do and believe they will however i would like to see things improve company(FC) and country(CHI/TWN) wide not just apples section of the pie. this is just my 2cents) thank you for reading feel free for critics and comments. :/
Wikipedia or the Foxconn site list many others,
(country of headquarters in parentheses)
Acer Inc. (Taiwan)[32]
Amazon.com (United States)[33]
Apple Inc. (United States)[34]
Cisco (United States)[35]
Dell (United States)[36]
Hewlett-Packard (United States)[37]
Intel (United States)[38]
Microsoft (United States)[39]
Motorola Mobility (United States)[36]
Nintendo (Japan)[40]
Nokia (Finland)[34]
Samsung Electronics (South Korea)[41]
Sony (Japan)[42]
Toshiba (Japan) [43]
Vizio (United States)[44]
to name a few
Second, it seems like a silly gesture. While Foxconn conditions are crappy by American standards, they aren't nearly as awful by Chinese standards - so they are, no doubt puzzled by all of this. We complain about suicides at the plant, and they correctly point out that the suicide rate among their workers is less than half the rate observed in the general Chinese population. For Foxconn, Apple's a big account, but not the majority of their business. They make stuff for HTC, Dell, HP, IBM, Nintendo, Asus, Sony, etc. Apple doesn't have nearly as much leverage with Foxconn as these people seem to think. If Apple dropped Foxconn altogether today (which they can't for lack of another contract manufacturer ready to pick up the slack), what would happen? There would be layoffs and those same people would have no or lower-wage jobs, less safe work conditions, and would be committing suicide at a higher rate -- albeit, the petitioners wouldn't be treated to coverage of that in the news.
Rather than single-out Apple, just stop purchasing things from China. Swear off electronics entirely.
"She spends those hours inhaling n-hexane, a potent neurotoxin used to clean iPhone glass, because it dries a few seconds faster than a safe alternative. After just a few years on the line, she will be fired because the neurological damage from the n-hexane and the repetitive stress injuries to her wrists and hands make her unable to continue performing up to standard."
What a load of BS FUD. 2 minutes of research would tell you this poisoning occurred between May 2008 and August 2009 and was resolved then. The company was WinTek not Foxconn and N-Hexane is no longer used, Alcohol is used instead. No further poisoning has occurred.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/22/wintek-workers-still-experience-effects-from-n-hexane-exposure/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/22/chinese-workers-apple-nhexane-poisoning
However, 137 workers were hospitalized and were said to have all recovered according to Wintek and Apple.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-20032074-247.html
The poisoned workers report otherwise though, some of them have recurring symptoms and need ongoing treatment. These workers are suing Wintek.
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/05/wintek-employees-sue/.
Rest assured there is not going to be a little chinese girl being poisoned while cleaning the screen of your iPhone 5.
As for suicides at Foxconn, they have dropped from 14 in 2010 to 4 in 2011.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn_suicides
Although 4 is still too many, it is a vast improvement on 14.
Is the reason because of improved conditions or the nets around the building? I think it is a combination of both.
And just to put the Foxconn suicides in perspective, between January 2008 and April 2011, more than 60 France Telecom employees committed suicide.
(See link at bottom of wikipedia page above)
These protestors say Apple is the richest company in the world, they can fix the problems just like that. What a lot of idealistic BS. These Chinese factories don't want to change. They want their workers oppressed, they want them working 80 hours a week, they want them to be ignorant to their rights. Foxconn knows that they are the only supplier that can fulfill the huge volume of Apple products and that Apple is blowing smoke if they threaten to go elsewhere.
Apple is already using their influence to change the labour practices in Chinese factories. They have tried to limit working hours, workers have gotten pay rises and they have educated workers on their rights.
Yet, Apple continually finds more core safety violations, underage workers and workers doing gross amounts of overtime that have led to accidents and deaths.
This tells you one thing. Even intense pressure from the biggest company in the world won't change a thing in China.
So assemble it in America, all the idealists cry. How many will buy an ethical iPhone for twice the price?
The idealistic petition signees say they will, but when it comes to parting with the money, they will just buy an Android or WP7/8 phone because it was cheaper.
They will then kid themselves that they are being ethical, because the media hasn't exposed the other phone manufacturers and only focused on Apple. Bunch of hypocrites.
This idealistic BS by idiots from occupy whatever, is a total waste of time. Their socialist views and demands for ethical iPhones and other such nonsense is total fantasy and completely unrealistic.
Acer Inc. (Taiwan)[32]
Amazon.com (United States)[33]
Apple Inc. (United States)[34]
Cisco (United States)[35]
Dell (United States)[36]
Hewlett-Packard (United States)[37]
Intel (United States)[38]
Microsoft (United States)[39]
Motorola Mobility (United States)[36]
Nintendo (Japan)[40]
Nokia (Finland)[34]
Samsung Electronics (South Korea)[41]
Sony (Japan)[42]
Toshiba (Japan) [43]
Vizio (United States)[44]