Aaron Sorkin Blasts Tim Cook for Calling Steve Jobs Films 'Opportunistic'

[RuffyYoshi]

Apply cold water to burned area.

 

[Davey84jones]

"Third, if you've got a factory full of children in China assembling phones for 17 cents an hour you've got a lot of nerve calling someone else opportunistic."

Ouch... that hurts !

Tim Cook via Apple pays his employees zip (retail "face of Apple") and reaps huge salary and stock options. Talk about opportunistic!!!

 

[jayisblessed]

Do folks really make 17 cents an hour in China? Wow!!!

So I know that's cheap and all... but that's what it is in China, and that meets minimum wage right?

Just because it's not 10 bucks an hour ... it doesn't mean Apple is ripping off people. Apple actually creates millions of jobs in China... I don't think it's right for the that guy to attack Cook in that way.

Well, I can tell you a reliable fact. Sorkin is both childish and ignorant. I live in China and Foxconn is the factory that I wanted to go in. But I failed. Because I failed the entrance test. Foxconn averagely pays 4000RMB a month, which is 627USD. And normal work hours is 8 hours/day. And you work 5 days a week. So for one day, you get 4000/20days=200RMB/day. And 200RMB/8hours=25RMB/hours, which is 3.9USD/hours. In China we consider it is good pay already. And the best part is most people proactively ask for more and more extra work. Because if you work one additional hour you get twice as much as your regular salary! And Foxconn has movie theater and ball rooms and swimming pools and libraries and lots of good stuff for its employees! Come on, Americans! Chinese controlled media and news agencies basically hate America over your attitude toward Taiwan an Japan. So they try as hard as they could to black mouth American companies and if Sorkin's words are true, it will be all over the Chinese media and Apple will face serious lawsuit in China. Today, in China most people except for famers are well paid. Sorkin doesn't have the slightest idea about China, yet he make unfounded claims not based on facts. Only Americans he can fool!

 

[graywolf323]

Wow, what a childish response.

Also, the people who make these sorts of accusations at Apple are absurd. Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony manufacture the Playstation 4, Wii U, and XBox One at the same Foxconn factories. Dell and HP also manufacture their computers there.

Apple is the only one who publishes regular worker safety reports and does inspections and forces Foxconn to improve working conditions. They're by far the most responsible of every company in this list, so singling them out is ridiculous. It's an industry-wide issue that needs to be solved, not something Apple is doing.

The fact that this is Aaron Sorkin's view of the Foxconn situation makes it seem very unlikely to me that this will be an accurate film, if he buys in to media storylines like "the Apple factories".

not surprising really given The Social Network was apparently not very accurate either, Sorkin writes a good story but isn't bothered by the facts even if it's supposed to be a biography

 

[Michael Goff]

yeah.. basically.

sticks&stones.. big deal, you know?.. it's funny
if it's not funny to you then move on.. def not worth getting upset over (imo)

I'm just tired of these same old childish arguments. Then we give them time as if their words have some value.

Tim and Sorkin are both correct.

They are both opportunists

Yes, they are. But right now Sorkin just made himself look like a petulant child.

 

[Chazz08]

When you know they are right, you attack back. haha.

 

[dec.]

Tim Cook via Apple pays his employees zip (retail "face of Apple") and reaps huge salary and stock options. Talk about opportunistic!!!

Oh, right, Sorkin is in a business where everyone is being paid equally.

 

[dec.]

When you know they are right, you attack back. haha.

That doesn't make any sense at all unless you're into the "let's shut down any criticism altogether" thing, which isn't really too smart.

 

[sully54]

Unless Sorkin has an American made first gen Moto X in his pocket, then he is both a hypocrite and opportunistic.

 

[unplugme71]

I'm willing to bet they make more than 17c an hour. Samsung on the other hand probably pays them 17c per 1000 phones made

 

[unplugme71]

Also, any movie on SJ will never be any good unless SJ was in it as himself.

 

[dec.]

I'm willing to bet they make more than 17c an hour. Samsung on the other hand probably pays them 17c per 1000 phones made

I assume you have similar evidence for your "17c per 1000 phones made" as for "they make more than 17c an hour"?

(or to rephrase: fanboy stuff like that doesn't really help in the discussion)

 

[iLilana]

ok iSteve was the best movie because it made a statement about the movies and how they would all get everything wrong. the next two were moot. It was more about the movie industry than it was about steve or apple.

 

[thasan]

"Third, if you've got a factory full of children in China assembling phones for 17 cents an hour you've got a lot of nerve calling someone else opportunistic."

Ouch... that hurts !

But that is a very poor response. Apple is one of the few companies working to improve this. Clearly shows he loves hyperbole and twisting the truth. Perhaps thats why his movie will also be inaccurate and since he is making money (im sure he is not taking 17 cents an hour), i would also call him opportunistic.

 

[thasan]

Hypocrite!

 

[jdillings]

Hypocrite!

BUSTED!

 

[69Mustang]

Hypocrite!

I'm confused. How is Sorkin's use of Apple products hypocritical? Saying Apple is opportunistic has nothing to do with using an iPhone or Mac. He didn't say Apple products are crappy or he hates Apple. The connection you're trying to make doesn't exist. It's possible to like Apple products and be critical of Apple. It's not an all or nothing proposition.

 

[dec.]

Unless Sorkin has an American made first gen Moto X in his pocket, then he is both a hypocrite and opportunistic.

Actually, AFAIR the first gen Moto X was not "Made in America" (and they weren't able to sustain it, according to several reports), it was "Assembled in USA". So even then Sorkin would have been relying on "Chinese Child labor" ;-) .

 

[HEK]

Pointless to respond, removed.

 

[akbarali.ch]

Do folks really make 17 cents an hour in China? Wow!!!

So I know that's cheap and all... but that's what it is in China, and that meets minimum wage right?

Just because it's not 10 bucks an hour ... it doesn't mean Apple is ripping off people. Apple actually creates millions of jobs in China... I don't think it's right for the that guy to attack Cook in that way.

and also, its not Apple responsibility anyway, its happens in China, under Chinese government laws, if anything is wrong there, its their fault. Also cost of living is different in different places. I think Aaron got it wrong. And also, for Tim, i think he should not comment such blatantly, as the iPhone is twice as expensive and half the hardware than competetion, cos there's only one company making an iPhone, Who is opportunistic here ?

 

[akbarali.ch]

The fact that this is Aaron Sorkin's view of the Foxconn situation makes it seem very unlikely to me that this will be an accurate film, if he buys in to media storylines like "the Apple factories".

Actually a good point there.

 

[gavroche]

Wow, what a childish response.

Also, the people who make these sorts of accusations at Apple are absurd. Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony manufacture the Playstation 4, Wii U, and XBox One at the same Foxconn factories. Dell and HP also manufacture their computers there.

Apple is the only one who publishes regular worker safety reports and does inspections and forces Foxconn to improve working conditions. They're by far the most responsible of every company in this list, so singling them out is ridiculous. It's an industry-wide issue that needs to be solved, not something Apple is doing.

The fact that this is Aaron Sorkin's view of the Foxconn situation makes it seem very unlikely to me that this will be an accurate film, if he buys in to media storylines like "the Apple factories".

I think you summed it up perfectly. Couldn't agree more...

 

[dec.]

The desperate Apple fanboy attempts to deflect this is hilarious, as if Sorkin's point isn't any less completely true because he might be exaggerating. The wages are pitifully sad in the Apple factories and suggesting they're doing anything to improve conditions with how obscene their profit margins are is flat out dishonest. They're on track to make $20b this year, even if the hourly wage is as high as $3/h instead of 17 cents, that should still be considered utterly unforgivable for a company as wealthy as Apple. If anyone has the power to change things, it's them. And before anyone calls hypocrisy that anyone who owns an iPhone or Android can't complain: you're wrong. There are practically zero other alternatives to using products made through slave labor and someone making a middle class income does not have the power or choice that Apple does.

Apple doesn't own any factories in Asia. Once you accept that fact, you might be able to move ahead, mentally.

 

[SHNXX]

Well, I can tell you a reliable fact. Sorkin is both childish and ignorant. I live in China and Foxconn is the factory that I wanted to go in. But I failed. Because I failed the entrance test. Foxconn averagely pays 4000RMB a month, which is 627USD. And normal work hours is 8 hours/day. And you work 5 days a week. So for one day, you get 4000/20days=200RMB/day. And 200RMB/8hours=25RMB/hours, which is 3.9USD/hours. In China we consider it is good pay already. And the best part is most people proactively ask for more and more extra work. Because if you work one additional hour you get twice as much as your regular salary! And Foxconn has movie theater and ball rooms and swimming pools and libraries and lots of good stuff for its employees! Come on, Americans! Chinese controlled media and news agencies basically hate America over your attitude toward Taiwan an Japan. So they try as hard as they could to black mouth American companies and if Sorkin's words are true, it will be all over the Chinese media and Apple will face serious lawsuit in China. Today, in China most people except for famers are well paid. Sorkin doesn't have the slightest idea about China, yet he make unfounded claims not based on facts. Only Americans he can fool!

Nice post.
Any source for the salary numbers you got? (Not that I'm doubting it, but was just curious).

 

[tubomac]

I love Apple products and I own a lot of them but you know what?
Sometimes I hate Tim Cook hypocrisy. He wants to look like the best human being in the world bud indeed his life is dedicated to a company who makes unbelievable profits and I really don't believe the tale about he treats everyone in a fair way unless some day what happens inside will become totally transparent.
About the fact of being only a company man, don't get me wrong, there is nothing bad about gaining a lot of money in change of something else, it's a matter of personal choices...I just hate the hypocrisy that wants us to believe : "The good guy has fallen from the sky to help us all ".
Just that.
I hate that fake warmth when he greets everybody at the keynotes.
I don't know much about Steve but I can only say that I considered fair the fact that we didn't want to look like a nice man but only a good CEO committed to the products he wanted us to buy.