

IEmpire: Apple's Sordid Business Practices Are Even Worse Than You Think - jteo
http://www.alternet.org/story/154043/iempire:_apple%27s_sordid_business_practices_are_even_worse_than_you_think/?page=entire

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yabai
I own several Apple products and reading this article makes me feel awful that
I'm supporting such practices in China. Unfortunately Apple is not the only
hardware company that is guilty.

Perhaps the next movement will be in "Fair Trade Computing." Fair wage and
labor practices for workers. While I am a cheapskate, I would support buying
products that followed this ethos.

Much like our food, Americans (and maybe the world?) need to worry more about
where things come from and the true cost of the goods we consume.

~~~
warmfuzzykitten
The Chinese conscript students into internship at their electronics factories?
Not nice. Not Apple's fault.

How come this blistering expose of Chinese labor practices didn't blame
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Asus, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Intel, I.B.M., Lenovo,
Microsoft, Motorola, Netgear, Nintendo, Nokia, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Sony
or Vizio? It's so attention-grabbing to blame Apple, even though, as far as I
know, Apple is the only one among these companies to have even expressed
concern about these issues.

Here's the real problem: The Chinese government is determined to dominate
electronics manufacture and, as the article illustrates, is willing to go to
what we would consider outlandish lengths to succeed. Don't fool yourself that
low labor costs is the only reason companies source from China. Chinese
companies, Foxconn included, are second to none in electronics expertise and
manufacturing quality. That's why virtually every well-known brand is built
there. Fix that and maybe consumers would pay a little more for more expensive
labor. Maybe not. Don't fix that and there's really no question: no consumer
will pay more for crappy products.

