foxconn

Apple CEO Tim Cook has visited a Foxconn factory in China where iPhones are manufactured as the company grapples with criticism over its handling of working conditions in its supply chain.

Cook inspected a newly constructed facility in Zhengzhou, China, that employs 120,000 people, Apple spokesperson Carolyn Wu told Bloomberg. Wu declined to discuss what Cook has planned for the remainder of his visit or how much longer he's expected to be in the country.

Earlier this week, Apple's chief executive was spotted in the Joy City Apple Store in Beijing, looking over his company's products … Read more

The newest in the long line of Apple TV set rumors is that indeed the device is on the way but most likely not until 2013.

"We continue to view Apple TV hardware as a 2013 event," an Asian research group CLSA said in a note today, according to the news site Business Insider.

The note goes on to note that Foxconn, which manufactures Apple products, has decided to invest in Sharp electronics, giving more credibility to the notion that an Apple TV set is in the works. According to Business Insider, Sharp will provide the panels for … Read more

Stung by huge losses and dwindling sales, Sharp Electronics is selling a chunk of itself to Hon Hai in a bid to raise cash and expand its LCD TV production.

Hon Hai will purchase about 11 percent of Sharp and 46.5 percent of the company's LCD TV factory in Sakai, Japan. Once the deal is done, the factory will be 46.5 percent owned by Sharp, the same amount by Hon Hai, and 7 percent owned by Sony. In return, Sharp will issue about $800 million in stock to Hon Hai, according to a New York Times report.… Read more

A petition circulated on Change.org in January that targeted Apple -- demanding that it do more to protect workers in China who help build iPads -- was based on discredited claims and should be recalled, says a new petition.

More than 255,000 people signed the original petition posted to Change.org in early January by Mark Shields following a report about the human cost of Apple's labor practices on the radio show This American Life. The report has since been retracted by the show's producers.

Shields' petition, which called for Apple to create "a worker … Read more

Mike Daisey, the actor and Apple critic, claims that some of the material used during his interview with radio show "This American Life" was taken out of context.

On his blog, Daisey today wrote: "Four hours of grilling edited down to fifteen minutes. I thought the dead air was a nice touch, and finishing the episode with audio pulled out of context from my performance was masterful."

A spokeswoman for This American Life declined to comment.

On Friday, the Chicago-based show said it could no longer vouch for a January episode in which it used excerpts … Read more

Despite the undercutting of Mike Daisey's claims against working conditions at Foxconn, the company hasn't been fully exonerated.

Speaking to Reuters in an interview published today, a fund manager at Polaris Financial Group with investments in Foxconn parent company Hon Hai Precision said that he and other investors will be keeping a close eye on what's discovered about working conditions at Foxconn's factories.

"The retraction has somewhat cleared Foxconn's name, but not all the way," Simon Liu told Reuters. "The press and stock investors will continue to watch how Foxconn treats its … Read more

NEW YORK--Even with his credibility in tatters, actor and Apple critic Mike Daisey received a standing ovation today following the final New York appearance of his one-man show, "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs."

"He was really, really good," said Jane Glucksman, 50, at the conclusion of today's matinee at The Public Theater. "I came here sort of skeptical after reading about what was going on, but his show made me want to re-examine everything I've heard about Apple."

Many of the people interviewed by CNET as they left the … Read more

The makers of the popular public radio program "This American Life" are now retracting a January episode that contained a damning monologue on Apple and its manufacturing practices in China.

That monologue came from actor Mike Daisey, who penned his one-man play, "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," after traveling to Shenzhen, China, to visit a handful of factories. That trip included Foxconn, where most of Apple's hardware is manufactured.

"Daisey lied to me and to This American Life producer Brian Reed during the fact checking we did on the story, before … Read more

Workers injured in a December blast at a Chinese factory say that Apple inspectors toured the facility hours before the accident.

NPR spoke with 25 injured workers who criticized safety conditions at the plant and said they were instructed not to speak with the Apple contingent.

One of the injured employees, Zhang Qing, told NPR that workers were not informed about a similar blast seven months earlier at a factory in Chengdu, China, which was tied to a buildup of aluminum dust.

Another worker hurt in the explosion, Liu Hengchao, said he watched as inspectors wearing white gloves checked for … Read more