[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Originally Posted by Analog6

The workers are so lowly paid they suicide reglarly (see links here or go to www.smh.com.au and type 'Foxconn' in the search box at the top) - wouldn't you indulge in a little industrial espionage if you got the chance?

That's a bit of early sensationalist journalism, so be careful with this. It has also been said that most workers took advantage of the fact that there was a suicide compensation package and exercised it for the sake of their families - their decision. It's why the package has been discontinued. It in itself was motive for suicide. None of us here are sufficiently endowed with first-hand knowledge to make proper comment on this as we are not involved. I gather the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Foxconn is a huge company, and it is more responsible for its problems than Apple, Sony Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Company, Amazon.com, Nokia Corporation, Motorola, Inc., Nintendo Co., Ltd , Microsoft Corporation, Dell Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. The customers are not to blame, so please stop levelling blame on Apple and the others. The Chinese government is finally getting off its own couch over the past couple of days, and there's a new article here on that:

http://www.digitaleastasia.com/2010/...n-on-suicides/

Much of the early reporting on the deaths were attributed to the difficult working conditions at Foxconn which employs over 800,000 people across mainland China. While working conditions may be very strict, structured and isolating for the young workers, the vice minister’s comments show a willingness to exonerate Foxconn from complete responsibility.

It seems like that tipping point was reached back in late May when Foxconn’s CEO, Terry Gou, who felt that growing pressure was beginning to spook customers like Apple, decided to address the issue during a visit to one of the facilities in question. Unfortunately his visit and his announcement of an across-the-board wage increase did nothing to stop another suicide from occurring within 12 hours of his statements.

Since the last suicide on May 27th the government has offered another wage incentive to workers and has installed netting around buildings to make successful suicides more difficult. Nevertheless, despite the steps the company is taking the Chinese government and a number of Foxconn customers are concerned that the scandal will continue to be attributed to poor working conditions, high pressure production schedules and restrictive worker policies that cause some to become despondent.

Not what you thought, huh. It's a fast way to make a buck.

Originally Posted by Analog6

The iPed probably has exactly the same technology inside as the real thing!

Ah... no. Not by a long shot. It has been cobbled together and is a terrible thing to use - unlike the real thing. Don't be taken in by a notion that the copies are "as good" as the real thing because they're plainly not. They're junk.