iPhone Owners Protesting at Apple HQ Over Foxconn

[del35]

They should also be protesting against having been defrauded and locked-down in the drm infested el-cheapo hardware that iCrap manufactures. Maybe Sprint should also join in the protest given that after selling so many iPhones they could not even make a profit. Some one is benefiting over at iCrap and clearly it isn't the people, but the company. Green Peace should also join the protest, as Apple with its practice of manufacturing products in locked-down metal boxes that are not user serviceable undermines the earth's balance.

 

[DjEaZy]

... apple should buy the part of the factory,,, rebrand it to iFactory... and enforce human dignifying policy for the workers... the price may go a bit up, but you have better karma...

 

[firmsoil]

"They work women like men and men like animals" - A cry from a modern day "Cosette" (Chen) from inside an Apple-FoxConn-Military-Industrial-Prison

iAppleInc + iCommunistDictatorship = iSlaveWorkproducts

 

[andy_newton]

[citation][nom]zachusaman[/nom]they USE A DIFFERENT PART!!!these issues with suicides and terrible conditions are specific to the factories that APPLE USES ONLY!!perhaps the other factories arent exactly great work either, but apples got the worst of the worst here.[/citation]

Can you prove it?

 

[phishy714]

I hope all these isheep who start to question their master are willing to pay an extra premium for the icraps once Apple actually does something about work conditions..

Apple Exe:
"You wan't us to make better work conditions for Foxconn? Sure! Here, you can even pay for it through even more overpriced icrap products!"

 

[Guest]

If they really cared they would not buy any electronics. Or better yet, protest the Chinese government who is responsible for this situation. They just want to be seen on the news as a cool caring hipster that wont stand for conditions they don't even understand.

 

[Vladislaus]

[citation][nom]DjEaZy[/nom]... here are the list of other companies, that use foxconn... apple is just the successful one... i think, all of the listed companies need to improve the conditions of the workers at foxconn... don't blame just apple, blame all in the list... apple is the only one on the list, that seams to care a bit, because the reputation is on the line... line all up you kindle users, xbox users, lumia users and so on...Acer Inc. (Taiwan)Amazon.com (United States)Apple Inc. (United States)ASRock (Taiwan)Asus (Taiwan)Barnes & Noble (United States)Cisco (United States)Dell (United States)EVGA Corporation (United States)Hewlett-Packard (United States)Intel (United States)IBM (United States)Lenovo (China)Microsoft (United States)MSI (Taiwan)Motorola (United States)Netgear (United States)Nintendo (Japan)Nokia (Finland)Panasonic (Japan)Samsung (South Korea)Sharp (Japan)Sony (Japan)Sony Ericsson (Japan/Sweden)Vizio (United States)[/citation]
And that is just a small list of companies that subcontract foxconn to build technology. This gets even worse if we include motherboard connectors and other stuff made by foxconn that other companies buy to include on their products even if they're not manufactured at foxconn.

 

[billybobser]

Well done those Apple users for taking a stance, I await Apple's response.

(I note Gigabyte isn't on the old foxconn list, nices!)

 

[lamorpa]

Well at least now it will be possible to get a definitive picture to put next to the word 'hypocrite' in the dictionary. How could it be possible to be any more of a hypocrite than protesting Apple's manufacturing practices while being an Apple product purchaser? Are people actualy that non-introspective? What's next? Holding an eat-in at McDonalds to protest against high fat foods?

 

[back_by_demand]

Face it, the world economy spins on one part of the world having cheaper labour costs than somewhere else, but at the same time the cost of living in that country is lower too
...
The protests would stop very quickly if the Chinese workers were given American wages & benefits, which would make them rich people by local standards, and the cost of an iPad quadrupled to over $2000 each

 

[cyprod]

[citation][nom]ojas[/nom]Executables in Mac OS have a *.app extension, which is where this word comes from. Sadly even Microsoft uses it.[/citation]
???

App is short for application, and has been in use since....at least the 1970s. I want to say the term "app" pre-dates apple, but the first use I know of was "the killer app" visicalc on the apple IIe. But I can't believe that was the first time "app" was ever used. Apple didn't invent the paraphrase "app" for application. And contrary to popular belief, they also didn't popularize it, as it was in wide spread use long before jobs calling iphone programs "apps".

 

[Guest]

I want to know how many of them are using their iPhones to Tweet/Facebook about the protests.

 

[watcha]

[citation][nom]The greater Good[/nom]I love this excuse. "B-B-But other people do it too!" Yeah, some parts of the world still allow slavery. Since they're doing it, EVERYONE SHOULD! That's the argument you're making. Silly, ain't it?[/citation]

Is that the argument he's making? Not at all..

He's NOT saying that the poor factory conditions are acceptable. He's saying that it's unacceptable for EVERYONE who does it, not just Apple. Big difference.

To use your analogy, you are saying that country X should stop slavery. He is saying that ALL countries should stop slavery.

 

[watcha]

[citation][nom]becherovka[/nom]Its true all these company's use foxcon and all have some roll to play in fixing the current situation. The reason apple gets "picked on" is because they put more pressure on foxcon to produce higher volumes for less than other company's. And they have dedicated factory's for apple products and apple has the highest margin on their products so they have to ability to do something about it.[/citation]

Where's your evidence that Apple put any more pressure on Foxconn than other manufacturers? Where's your evidence that this results in a lessening of factory conditions for Apple products specifically?

Rich companies who have nothing to do with Foxconn also have the 'ability' to do something about it - it doesn't mean they should. Similarly, companies who do use Foxconn but less successfully have every bit as much obligation to help sort out the conditions. You can't impose a policy where only the successful companies have to deal with the worlds problems, and therefore hand all of the blame to them. Your argument about margin is just as flawed. Does this mean that if a company makes less margin, it's absolutely fine for them to employ people in such bad conditions? You've got to have the same rules for all companies - the fact that Apple makes more profit does not mean they are obliged to do anything that a less profitable company isn't - it's punishing Apple for creating better products - not the way a free market works.

The combined custom of the other manufacturers is actually greater than Apples anyway, they can collectively exert far more pressure if they weren't being let 'off the hook' by Apple taking all the blame.

 

[ajkritch]

Putting aside all of the usual infantile 'iHate iCrap' comments that I've come to so reliably expect from the Tomshardware audience, I don't see how this petition is going to help.

Apple may be the company perceived to be causing this problem but realistically there are hundreds of corporations using Foxconn to supply components at knock-down mass-production prices in exactly the same way. It takes a very naive individual to truly believe that Apple are the root cause of this problem.

The issue is not with the the top-level customer (Apple), it's with the supplier and, more importantly, the government for allowing such p***-poor working conditions to exist in the first place.

Take chicken eggs as a cogent paradigm. Chickens are treated pretty terribly in factory-caged egg production facilities, often dying in their own excrement in order to save the top level consumer a couple of cents. Free-range production is the right way to go, but I'm not exactly in a position to stand in the supermarket aisles protesting against customers that opt for caged eggs rather than free range ones. It's simply not their fault. If the choice wasn't allowed to exist, they would all purchase free-range.

 

[tramit]

[citation][nom]watcha[/nom]Where's your evidence that Apple put any more pressure on Foxconn than other manufacturers? Where's your evidence that this results in a lessening of factory conditions for Apple products specifically?Rich companies who have nothing to do with Foxconn also have the 'ability' to do something about it - it doesn't mean they should. Similarly, companies who do use Foxconn but less successfully have every bit as much obligation to help sort out the conditions. You can't impose a policy where only the successful companies have to deal with the worlds problems, and therefore hand all of the blame to them. Your argument about margin is just as flawed. Does this mean that if a company makes less margin, it's absolutely fine for them to employ people in such bad conditions? You've got to have the same rules for all companies - the fact that Apple makes more profit does not mean they are obliged to do anything that a less profitable company isn't - it's punishing Apple for creating better products - not the way a free market works.The combined custom of the other manufacturers is actually greater than Apples anyway, they can collectively exert far more pressure if they weren't being let 'off the hook' by Apple taking all the blame.[/citation]

Finally someone that makes some sense. What is with so many people (not all) suggesting because of Apple's popularity that they should take all the blame.

Maybe not the best anology but that doesn't mean people on welfare should continue staying on welfare because the money is coming from more successful people. They have to get up and do their part as well. Detroit is full of 3rd/4th generation welfare families that seem to never move anywhere in society. The community as a whole would be a lot better off with more people contributing back into it. Everyone is responsible.

 

[Guest]

So you don't like sweatshops but you can't live without your precious iphones and ipads?
If you want to get your message across do it with your wallet and don't buy apple products.
"I use an iPhone myself. I love it, but I don’t love having to support sweatshops, and neither do millions of other Apple consumers,"
LOL
You don't have to support the sweatshop, you can choose to NOT BUY FROM APPLE!
But I see, you don't want to inconvenience yourself, you'll just make some useless protest and then go buy then iphone 6 when it's released.

 

[guruofchem]

I love the irony inherent in this situation; people who forked over boatloads of money for the products that encouraged the bad corporate behavior in the first place are now protesting by writing their names on a piece of paper - wow, what strength of conviction. Maybe they should consider doing something useful, like, maybe, not buying iPhones, or returning the ones they bought. Oh, and I'm sure the media coverage the protesters are giving Apple hurts their bottom line as well, since there is no such thing as bad publicity. Only thing more ironic would be someone writing an iOS app that allowed people to protest Apple - then there really would be an app for that...

 

[emperorsheepy]

I like how the Apple fanboys are willing to do pretty much anything but boycott Apple products. If the vast majority of their fanbase (i.e. hipsters) did a boycott then they'd be bound to listen. If they just walk into a shop or some HQ building then all Apple will do is get security on their asses.

 

[emperorsheepy]

I like how the Apple fanboys are willing to do pretty much anything but boycott Apple products. If the vast majority of their fanbase (i.e. hipsters) did a boycott then they'd be bound to listen. If they just walk into a shop or some HQ building then all Apple will do is get security on their asses.