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'Outraged' Apple CEO Deems N.Y. Times' Exposé 'Offensive'

T

tydas

Golden Member
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/27/idUS366543082620120127

Does he think that people don't know what goes on in China? The bottom line is that compared to working conditions in western countries China is abysmal and everyone knows that..

but...I vote with my wallet and I support Apple and other companies who produce there...its up to the Chinese workers, government etc. to improve thier lot, if they feel the need...

he just struck me as a little pompous and I think his best approach would have been silence instead of claming he 'cares' about Chinese workers...
 
gevorg said:
once you're vested $100 million, you'll say and do anything
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46 billion in revenue this quarter.

I think 100 million is a joke at this scale.

All thru out history we have seen the usage of slave labor. It is nothing new. If china removes it some other country will pick it up.

Buy American made goods as much as you can. It costs more but we can afford it.
 
JSt0rm said:
46 billion in revenue this quarter.

I think 100 million is a joke at this scale.

All thru out history we have seen the usage of slave labor. It is nothing new. If china removes it some other country will pick it up.

Buy American made goods as much as you can. It costs more but we can afford it.
Click to expand...

I think he's referring to Cook's stock options.
 
JSt0rm said:
46 billion in revenue this quarter.

I think 100 million is a joke at this scale.

All thru out history we have seen the usage of slave labor. It is nothing new. If china removes it some other country will pick it up.

Buy American made goods as much as you can. It costs more but we can afford it.
Click to expand...

We couldn't afford electronics made entirely in America.

What needs to happen is these companies need to FORCE the Chinese suppliers to improve conditions. Apple does reports, but doesn't publish which factories the reports are from, and apparently don't put enough pressure on the factories because people still work 16 hour shifts.
 
If Apple is using cheap labor now (when it wasn't before), why does it still command such a premium on its products? The hardware isn't more advanced or powerful than the competition....

Are they only trying to make MORE money?
 
Ninjahedge said:
If Apple is using cheap labor now (when it wasn't before), why does it still command such a premium on its products? The hardware isn't more advanced or powerful than the competition....

Are they only trying to make MORE money?
Click to expand...

That's the thing that bothers me, personally. If you buy cheap crap from a place like Walmart or a manufacturer like Huawei then certainly no one (buyer or seller) has any expectations that the consideration is anything other than price. OTOH, when you buy a premium product like an Audi A7, local food or direct trade coffee, then you certainly expect the front-line workers not to be treated like crap.

Apple is breaking this social convention and is trying to have it both ways, so I certainly hope they get reamed for it.
 
Ninjahedge said:
If Apple is using cheap labor now (when it wasn't before), why does it still command such a premium on its products? The hardware isn't more advanced or powerful than the competition....

Are they only trying to make MORE money?
Click to expand...

Yes. People will pay it so they charge it.
 
tydas said:
I support Apple and other companies who produce there...its up to the Chinese workers, government etc. to improve thier lot, if they feel the need...
Click to expand...

You do realize that the chinese government throws people in prison for little or no reason, right?

If the workers speak up too loud, they might find themselves in a 4X8 prison cell for the rest of their lives.

china is not going to do anything to improve human rights, because china wants as many factories as it can get. Once china has bumped the US out of the way as a world leader, then and only then will the chinese government "consider" improving workers rights.
 
Ninjahedge said:
If Apple is using cheap labor now (when it wasn't before), why does it still command such a premium on its products? The hardware isn't more advanced or powerful than the competition....

Are they only trying to make MORE money?
Click to expand...

Apple products are luxury, designer items. It's like asking why someone pays so much more for a Louis Vuitton bag when they don't cost that much more to make. Utilitarians will never understand why people buy those high end items, and the style conscious will never understand why people buy anything else.
 
What I don't get is why Apple is pretty much the only company singled out for this? All those shitty products from Asus and Samsung are made just down the street and cost the same, but I don't see people bringing them up.
Now, I'm not saying Apple shouldn't improve working conditions at the factories, they are probably the only company that could to be honest. Why they don't is a mystery that probably only has a shitty answer.
 
CitizenKain said:
What I don't get is why Apple is pretty much the only company singled out for this? All those shitty products from Asus and Samsung are made just down the street and cost the same, but I don't see people bringing them up.
Now, I'm not saying Apple shouldn't improve working conditions at the factories, they are probably the only company that could to be honest. Why they don't is a mystery that probably only has a shitty answer.
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There's this illusion we have that the high-end items of the world today are either a) Hand-made by skilled craftsmen or b) fabricated by ultra high-tech robots. We expect that the cheapest items are made in sweatshops, but there's a sense of moral superiority that goes with owning an iPad where we assume that it is different than all those other brands. It's not the realization that electronics are made in sketchy conditions, but that even Apple electronics are guilty of all of these crimes.

In fairness, though, Apple never said that they were "fair trade" or anything like that (though you do wonder if fair trade electronics will become popular among liberals the same way fair trade coffee has).
 
Throckmorton said:
We couldn't afford electronics made entirely in America.

What needs to happen is these companies need to FORCE the Chinese suppliers to improve conditions. Apple does reports, but doesn't publish which factories the reports are from, and apparently don't put enough pressure on the factories because people still work 16 hour shifts.
Click to expand...

There is some electronics made in america and more so assembled here if you look but you are right it is inescapable that we consume products from china.
 
Throckmorton said:
We couldn't afford electronics made entirely in America.

What needs to happen is these companies need to FORCE the Chinese suppliers to improve conditions. Apple does reports, but doesn't publish which factories the reports are from, and apparently don't put enough pressure on the factories because people still work 16 hour shifts.
Click to expand...

I'm never convinced about this.

Those big Chinese production lines are just assembling pre made parts. I've torn down and re built quite a few smart phones and they take very little labour/time to put together.

I'd imagine that the actual chip/PCB parts are pretty automated.

So given that they are very expensive gadgets that arent very hard to assemble I dont see why they couldnt do that in the west.
 
WelshBloke said:
I'm never convinced about this.

Those big Chinese production lines are just assembling pre made parts. I've torn down and re built quite a few smart phones and they take very little labour/time to put together.

I'd imagine that the actual chip/PCB parts are pretty automated.

So given that they are very expensive gadgets that arent very hard to assemble I dont see why they couldnt do that in the west.
Click to expand...

I agree, it isn't just cheap labor that keeps companies in China it is the tax breaks and flexible laws that keep them there. China pretty much turns a blind eye on large facilities.
 
GoPackGo said:
Steve Jobs was a greedy bastard who wanted his money for himself...he very well knew that his iPads and iMacs and iPhones were built with virtual slave labor but pressed forward anyway.

Link about his lack of generosity:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...philanthropy/2011/10/06/gIQA3YKKRL_story.html
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Lack of generosity? Because he didn't publicly announce giving to charity?

How can you sit there and make that judgement on his generosity, when you don't even know the man? This article only proves there's nothing on the public record.

People read WAY too much into philanthropy/lack of philanthropy and frankly, I'm really tired of it.

Asshole.
 
janas19 said:
Lack of generosity? Because he didn't publicly announce giving to charity?

How can you sit there and make that judgement on his generosity, when you don't even know the man? This article only proves there's nothing on the public record.

People read WAY too much into philanthropy/lack of philanthropy and frankly, I'm really tired of it.

Asshole.
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And that he shut down all corporate donations.

If you don't care that he was a mean minded control freak that didn't give a shit about anyone else that's fair enough but there's really no evidence that he was anything else.

Edit: And yes he was an Arsehole.
 
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