Apple Grants ABC's 'Nightline' Access to Foxconn Factories in China

I'll never see an Apple product the same way again" said Weir

Because only Apple stuff is made in China right? :roll eyes:

Gimme a break.

Pays well above local average doesn't mean **** if you're stuck living in conditions that are, arguably, more overpopulated than sardines in a can.

And yet thousands of people line up whenever they're hiring. Because they can't make wages like that anywhere else in their country.

This is a brilliant move by Apple if they can expose Foxconn for what it is.

A large Taiwanese owned employer that pays well above the average local wage, houses, feeds, clothes and educates their staff?

I wonder if Apple is hoping ABC will shed light on HP and other manufactures who use Foxconn.

It isn't just Apple, yet every article seems to slate Apple to bits over it. This might show it is an industry wide problem and Apple isn't alone.

Apple "grants" access to the facilities of an independent company. That phrase alone calls for extreme cynicism: I wonder if this was a similar setup like the Red Cross visits to certain Ghettos in the late 1930s in certain Easter European regions. The Red Cross wanted to be fooled and only got to see what they wanted to see: Happy faces on a nicely prepared stage. Nothing was real, but nobody cared.

But maybe there are still some journalists with the necessary ethics left in this world who are willing to look beyond the stage and report the inconvenient truth that they find.

The whole Foxconn thing has been so publicly reported, and in comparison to your mention of the Red Cross visit to the Ghettos in the 1930s, is in a different world from then due to the internet. I think if ABC gave a biased report, the truth would come out via the internet anyway, and ABC would look bad. I'm sure ABC will be very in-depth and not take a blind eye to anything.

Now we know how Apple treats bad press (New York Times) how can anybody believe this Bill Weir guy.
Like Poetin, Berlusconi etc. Apple want's to control the media. It's like a bad James Bond movie.

The New York Times article specifically pointed out the iPad and Apple, making the average Joe think Apple is the sole company using Foxconn and the cause of bad worker conditions.

It is an industry problem, and while Apple is part of that, it is bad journalism to just point the finger at one company when other companies are in the same situation.

And if you're referring to how Apple treated the New York Times in regard to the preview of Mountain Lion, their reporter said he had had it for a week, so Apple did not shunt out The New York Times like originally thought.

As a matter of fact I'm fairly certain working conditions in lesser factories with less attention are likely worse.

Exactly.

Foxconn is a dream employer for many 100s of 1000s of mainland Chinese and Brazilians who have been lifted out of rural poverty.

It's a shame that Tim Cook has to take the heat for a scenario orchestrated by Steve Jobs.

Yet that said, the report may be spin doctored in Apples favor.

Actually the production line is something that has been built and turned into a well oiled machine by Tim Cook. So no he's not taking the heat for Steve Jobs.

If you want to be fair about it he's taking the heat for a problem China has created, and China alone can fix. The country has created these working conditions and if it wasn't Foxconn it would be someone else. As a matter of fact I'm fairly certain working conditions in lesser factories with less attention are likely worse.

Were Foxconn employees making Microsoft's XBOX threatening to jump from the roof a few weeks back? Strange that went unreported.

Stupid. Does no none get how many thousands of dirt floor factories employing millions of workers there are throughout mainland China???

They work in 40c plus heat, for no wages other than food and board, in fact their dream is to be able to get a job at a factory like Foxconn.

Yes, I do know, our factory is just a few kilometers away from Foxconn. And, yes, our workers are VERY happy and well cared for, in fact I bonus them with money, iPhone4S's and iPads for good jobs done.

It's not that hard folks, I'm just a tiny tiny fish in the sea, owning a small business designing manufacturing consumer products with sales reaching near 10 million annually.

The amount of ******** written on the topic here and by the press such as the New York Times is beyond pathetic, proving the ignorance of a lot of people and the buying public.

If you're looking to find out about horrid working conditions look at companies that supply the Wal-marts of the world with textile products, or companies who do mold work for the auto industry, the freaking workers stand right in the molds!!! Bare skinned, toxic fumes they're burned all over their body and have a very short life expectancy because of their extreme exposure to toxins. When they make mistakes they're often disgraced in front of everyone and sadly also sometimes beaten.

So when you read about Apple and Foxconn, forget it, and if you have concerns for Chinese workers do a hell of a lot more research and you will be sickened by what you learn.

How the press isn't capable of finding this out is beyond beleif. Oh, but wait, finding out and uncovering the real truth of what workers endure in China doesn't matter. This campaign is designed to sell Newspapers and pick on the incredibly popular and succesful Apple.

Anyone else with manufacturing experience in China care to chime in? In another thread there was a good number of people who had experience there and helped set the record straight.

What a misleading world we live in.

Smart move by Apple. They need to get this out of the way and get control of the message. Otherwise it could turn into a significant issue down the road.

Second this is more on Cook than Jobs. Cooks was the operations mastermind and should have been on top of this.

Frankly with Apple making the profits they are, this issue never should have happened. Regardless of what competitors are doing, Apple is making obscene amounts of money. Take care of your employees (and subs).