Apple Makes $1.6 Million Donation to Support Chinese Earthquake Relief Efforts

[mtneer]

Ha, pathetic. Because of Apple's manufacturing ties within China they immediately donate. Had an identical earthquake hit neighboring countries who don't produce any of their products such as Mongolia and Afghanistan, Apple wouldn't provide any support.

Caring based on affinity is as old as human kind. There are lots of people who need help in this world. Everyone cannot help everyone else who is in need - even omnipotent governments such as the US administration or corporations such as Apple. Even at an individual basis, one is more likely to go out of the way to help a parent, sibling or an uncle when disaster strikes - rather than care for everyone who faces an unfortunate situation.

 

[MH01]

And if they donated 10.6M someone would say it should be 100.6M. How much have you donated?

16 or 160 actually

 

[Solomani]

Let's see if Samsung copies, er matches, Apple's donation.

Samsung can't copy class.

 

[dead.cell]

Is this a back handed way of appeasing the Chinese government? I haven't seen Apple publically donate towards other disasters in countries that aren't key markets or is that just me being way too synical.

As Apple is an investor and therefore a suppoter of the Israeli regime reeking so much death and destruction right now, I would suggest that Apple also donates a substantial sum to the emergency fund for Gaza at http://www.dec.org.uk/

It's easy to come to that conclusion, after the Chinese government just comes out to say they they aren't actually banning Apple devices within the government.

 

[gnasher729]

I'm not sure how that's "nuff said," considering it's not even a valid English sentence.

I have no idea who this nuff guy is, but I've seen him quoted quite often, and he seems to talk a lot of nonsense and doesn't want to listen to anyone engaging his brain.

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sure it does......and it keeps your country strong and free......
Whats wrong with patriotism?

There's nothing wrong with patriotism. The problem is that lots of people do or suggest lots of stupid and/or nasty things and claim the reason is patriotism. For example, I've often heard the idiotic opinion that criticising your own government (in order to improve the situation of your country) would be unpatriotic.

 

[bigpics]

First post in and already a cynical comment. Sigh.

There's also a place for realism. I believe this donation is both a generous and genuine humanitarian act and another case where Apple is acting in its self-interest, i.e., this also creates good will in China and the world press.

There's been no complete ban of Apple products in China as some have posted, still, China's clearly been appliing pressure against American tech companies, with various recent rumblings, feints and "calls to the woodshed" directed against Apple, MS and Google - on fairly transparently partly fabricated grounds - and with the clear goal of advancing their own home-grown tech companies at the expense of the American leaders.

And I have no problem with Apple's approach here given all of that. Just I as I've no problem with their efforts to go somewhat green. As even if their eco-consciousness mostly didn't start to develop until they were targeted by Greenpeace in a way that brought bad PR, their programs now have genuinely become part of their "corporate DNA" - and they've also been sensitized to workers' issues in their overseas ops. All to the good, wherever the impulse begins.

Note: Samsung is also in Beijing's sights. Not looking it up, but I believe Huawei's just displaced Sammy's phone market share if I recall right.

...before anyone makes a smart ass remark about how 1.6 million is just a drop in Apple bucket, consider how much are you donating.

Too late but this guy's indefatigable even after being called on the carpet...

Ha.

I wouldn't compare myself to a mega rich corporation.

OK. You're not compared. Now... ....how much did you - mister tsk-tsker wagging your finger at one - donate?

Put up or shut up.

Smart move with the recent rumblings in China. Who says these guys haven't got the right stuff.

Lest we forget, China's government is not exactly poor...

We really have no idea about that - much of the Chinese gov't does in terms of their currency, money supply, exchange rate manipulation and more is far from transparent.

And their growth rates have exceeded what's normally considered sustainable in large economies for many years - leading to fears that their "economic miracle" (miracle is always a dangerous word when it's consistently used to describe unusual amounts of growth and prosperity) could implode or lead to an outbreak of inflation that wouldn't be contained in their country, or at least slow (or halt) economic growth around the world.

In any case, no time to look up supporting links, but most objective economists would, I believe, agree that there's at least a significant amount of smoke and mirrors here. About which none of us should be sanguine...

 

[thekev]

First post in and already a cynical comment. Sigh.

I agree with you for once. I wish people would stop conflating things like that.

 

[jolux]

I agree with you for once. I wish people would stop conflating things like that.

I think there are a few things to be said here that haven't yet been said.

1. Apple so far appears to be doing the most to help this situation, I'm not sure that any manufacturers have done the same.

2. That being said, Apple is the largest tech company in the world. No one's going to like what I'm about to write, but it needs to be said. Why not $16 million or $160 million? Why don't they assess the situation and figure out how much money needs to be put in to resolve it in the least time possible? There's no way it could ever match their $150 billion might, not even close. They can easily donate far more than $1.6 million, and think of the PR they would get for it. There are people in my town who donate more than that each year to charity. Surely the largest tech company in the world could do a little better?

 

[\-V-/]

Maybe they are counting on others to follow their example but $1.6 million does not seem like a lot...

How much have you donated?

 

[jolux]

How much have you donated?

That's fallacious reasoning. And plus, proportionately speaking, I'd have to donate around $5 to equal their donation. If you link me to a charity operating in the area I'd gladly do that right now.

 

[\-V-/]

That's fallacious reasoning. And plus, proportionately speaking, I'd have to donate around $5 to equal their donation. If you link me to a charity operating in the area I'd gladly do that right now.

The problem is complaining that someone didn't donate enough because they have so much money. The point is, they donated. And if you donate 5 dollars, that's a lot better than 0, which is again the point. His unnecessary negativity is the issue here, nothing more.

 

[Solomani]

That's fallacious reasoning.

No it's not.

Hypocrites are typically the ones that throw the first stones.

Those of you that accuse donors (like Apple) of being tightwad, how much did YOU donate relative to your annual earnings/income? Or maybe you had not donated at all. In which case you are indeed guilty of hypocrisy…. with a touch of self-righteousness.

Myself? I donated nothing to China. I have absolutely no incentive or motive to do so. Then again, I do not criticize Apple here, and it would not have bothered me had the company refrained from donating at all. Therefore I'm not guilty of hypocrisy.

 

[alphaod]

Give money, but move manufacturing jobs back to America.

Oh and become besieged with unions and lazy workers? I'd pass.

 

[s2mikey]

Oh and become besieged with unions and lazy workers? I'd pass.

Right, because it's better to have miserable, overworked slave labor that you pay a pittance too. Unions are terrible.... No argument there but some decent paying manufacturing jobs would be GREAT for the USA.

And despite what all the "how much did you donate" whiners, the amount apple donated is literally about .00000000000000004% of their daily rake on just a few app downloads as far as actual cash is concerned. Yeah, it's something but let's be realistic here: it's a PUNY amount of money when put in perspective. Totally a Chinese "butt kiss" move here. Can't lose access to all those slaves and cheap labor. Those are the facts.

 

[jolux]

No it's not.

Hypocrites are typically the ones that throw the first stones.

Those of you that accuse donors (like Apple) of being tightwad, how much did YOU donate relative to your annual earnings/income? Or maybe you had not donated at all. In which case you are indeed guilty of hypocrisy…. with a touch of self-righteousness.

Myself? I donated nothing to China. I have absolutely no incentive or motive to do so. Then again, I do not criticize Apple here, and it would not have bothered me had the company refrained from donating at all. Therefore I'm not guilty of hypocrisy.

I'd gladly donate $1000, which is, oh, around 200 times proportionately speaking what Apple did.

Of course, it's better than nothing, but that doesn't make it better than minimal.

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Right, because it's better to have miserable, overworked slave labor that you pay a pittance too. Unions are terrible.... No argument there but some decent paying manufacturing jobs would be GREAT for the USA.

And despite what all the "how much did you donate" whiners, the amount apple donated is literally about .00000000000000004% of their daily rake on just a few app downloads as far as actual cash is concerned. Yeah, it's something but let's be realistic here: it's a PUNY amount of money when put in perspective. Totally a Chinese "butt kiss" move here. Can't lose access to all those slaves and cheap labor. Those are the facts.

Unions are necessary. Without them, corporations turn their workers into slaves. It's so ironic that you speak of why unions are bad and then shame China for having "slave labor." How do you think they got to that point? If your answer was unions, you're wrong.

 

[SmileyBlast!]

how much have you donated?

$600

 

[JAT]

2. That being said, Apple is the largest tech company in the world. No one's going to like what I'm about to write, but it needs to be said. Why not $16 million or $160 million? Why don't they assess the situation and figure out how much money needs to be put in to resolve it in the least time possible?

You are asking them to be the actual workers fixing things? Building houses, fixing roads, etc? That will never happen, and shouldn't.

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Unions are necessary. Without them, corporations turn their workers into slaves. It's so ironic that you speak of why unions are bad and then shame China for having "slave labor." How do you think they got to that point? If your answer was unions, you're wrong.

Yep. In 1900. Most unions today in the USA have actually gone over to the other side and are the ones ripping off workers. Meanwhile, Federal law now mandates most of the fair treatment you are worried about, the unions are often superfluous. And their actions tend to hurt the consumers more than the companies these days.

 

[jolux]

You are asking them to be the actual workers fixing things? Building houses, fixing roads, etc? That will never happen, and shouldn't.

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Yep. In 1900. Most unions today in the USA have actually gone over to the other side and are the ones ripping off workers. Meanwhile, Federal law now mandates most of the fair treatment you are worried about, the unions are often superfluous. And their actions tend to hurt the consumers more than the companies these days.

Talking about fair treatment shows that you have no idea why unions exist, or why most labor laws do. I don't want to derail this thread, PM me if you're serious about this.

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Oh and become besieged with unions and lazy workers? I'd pass.

Clearly unions and lazy workers did not stop them from manufacturing the Mac Pro here, as well as their sapphire...hmmm...perhaps the unions aren't as evil and the workers not as lazy as you thought they would be.

 

[TechGod]

My friend, please mind your own business. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Why are you so offended? Do you have some sort of personal affection towards Apple?

I apologize if I've hurt your feelings, but please understand I never asked for your input. I guess people like you think being non-cynical makes them look cool as well.

This is a public forum, the moment you post here, you are open to scrutiny. You do not decide who responds to you and how. Simply put, the bolded part is so laughably inaccurate that I'm shocked you think that way.

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Your unwanted opinion on my warped perspective is more mind-boggling than this entire topic. Frightening.

Again what gives you the right to decide what responses you get on a public forum? Talk about ignorance.

 

[Apple's]

Proud of Apple!

 

[thiagoah]

This is a public forum, the moment you post here, you are open to scrutiny. You do not decide who responds to you and how. Simply put, the bolded part is so laughably inaccurate that I'm shocked you think that way.

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Again what gives you the right to decide what responses you get on a public forum? Talk about ignorance.

Again who asked for your opinion?

 

[Trystan]

Couldn't they add a zero after the one? 1.6 Million is like petty cash for Apple. They probably make that back in a minute.

The point is they have made the donation, don't see other company's doing the same,

 

[\-V-/]

I'd gladly donate $1000, which is, oh, around 200 times proportionately speaking what Apple did.

Of course, it's better than nothing, but that doesn't make it better than minimal.

Proportionately? Seriously? No, that'd still be more than 1000 times less than what Apple gave. This kind of logic is severely flawed and cynical. It's like damned if you do, damned if you don't.

$600

I highly doubt that.

 

[Trapezoid]

Proportionately? Seriously? No, that'd still be more than 1000 times less than what Apple gave. This kind of logic is severely flawed and cynical. It's like damned if you do, damned if you don't.



I highly doubt that.

Yeah I'm not sure who decided that donations need to be given in proportions, but apparently that's what the apple haters are running with today lol.

 

[jolux]

Proportionately? Seriously? No, that'd still be more than 1000 times less than what Apple gave. This kind of logic is severely flawed and cynical. It's like damned if you do, damned if you don't.

But they could have easily given more, and considering how important China is to them, it would make a lot of sense.

I admire their donation, it's a huge step up from Jobs' austerity policy. But it seems like barely a pittance for their troubles when they could have so easily donated more. I'm not even saying they're a bad company because of it, and they've certainly done more than anyone else has. They have the opportunity to do so much more, and I just wish they had. They're still my favorite company and I still admire them greatly for it, because it shows they care at the very least.