It's a shame. But it makes me wonder; why would a company like Foxconn let regular employees take the prototypes into their possession? It seems like a higher-up would keep them in a secured place at all times...
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Foxconn Employee Reportedly Commits Suicide Over Lost iPhone Prototype
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Whereas, I am of a mind that Apple's lock-tight secrecy of all its products all the time is the very root of the problem. One man is dead because of what? An iSight camera on the front of a smart phone?
That's fine. Some people base their opinions on the facts of the situation, and some people base it on speculation and supposition without looking for the facts to confirm it. Everyone is still entitled their opinion.
Completely agree. There's a lot involving culture that we can't overlook in thinking about this sad story.
I agree, but still; Apple (and other companies) are aware of the socio-economic situation in China and still chose to partner with them. Ultimately, does Apple benefit from working with a partner that treats its employees poorly and pays them badly?
That is ********* - Completely driven by Foxconn? No, it was completely driven by Apple's managment to have an unrealistic and overzealous control of the supply chain to the extent that the vendors' workers are subjected to nearly nonhuman standards where the device has infinitely more value placed on it than those who are assembling it.
Apple just needs to let it go. I understand controlling your supply chain to the extent to protect your trade secrets, but this is ridiculous and it is unfortunate that it had to come to this in order to demonstrate just how silly this is.
I certainly respect your opinion, but I would have to say I disagree; although, normally, I think you would be absolutely correct. Many companies hold their secrets close but none compares to that of Apple.
While I only worked at Apple for a couple years, the secrets I did learn always made me feel uncomfortable (and none of them were "big secrets"). In fact, it was intimidating whenever something unreleased was presented to us. Even when it became normal, the "talk" was always given beforehand. While I was never, ever, in fear of my life or personal safety, it was still uncomfortable. If it is that way in California, I can see a vendor threatening unscrupulous consequences to their employees as a result of the implications Apple has laid out for violation of their secretive policies.
What happened is truly sad.
I'm not in anyway downplaying the value of this person's life - the loss of life very tragic and we should all know it never just affects that person, but family, friends, and even you who read the original article and share a moment of grief for that person, their family and friends.
But you can't downplay the fact that "it's just a phone" either. Imagine if an original iPhone prototype was stolen before Jobs announced in back in January 2007. It very well might have cost the company billions of dollars and hundreds of jobs, affected the turn and evolution of the mobile device industry, not to mention the after-effects of the App Store where it had turned around the lives of some lucky programmers, to now building and restructuring of companies and divisions to make way for the new platform.
You'll be surprised how one incident changes a lot.
But you can't downplay the fact that "it's just a phone" either. Imagine if an original iPhone prototype was stolen before Jobs announced in back in January 2007. It very well might have cost the company billions of dollars and hundreds of jobs, affected the turn and evolution of the mobile device industry, not to mention the after-effects of the App Store where it had turned around the lives of some lucky programmers, to now building and restructuring of companies and divisions to make way for the new platform.
You'll be surprised how one incident changes a lot.
Yes, for the same reason every other company does: Cheap labor and manufacturing = higher profit margins.
The cost is that the people at the factories are exploited, but Apple (nor any other manufacturer) doesn't have to eat that cost.
Every once in a while when I complain about how expensive a computer is, it hits me that the only reason I can afford it in the first place is because of our relationship with China.
Absolutely irresponsible statement for MacRumors
"The event is casting a fresh light on Apple's secretive nature and the immense pressure felt by its manufacturing partners to maintain that secrecy at all costs in order to preserve their working relationships with Apple."
This is total horsecrap. Casting light on Apple's secretive nature? No, sorry. Someone in China violates an industry trade secret. Non-story. This has ZERO to do with Apple. Nothing. Every company that sends things that are trade secrets to China has to deal with this. China is still the "Wild West", but it's also the cheapest place in the world to make things. All this is true.
But every company that has ever wanted to turn over a prototype and keep it secret should then be investigated. It's pathetic that anything is getting tied to Apple at all.
"The event is casting a fresh light on Apple's secretive nature and the immense pressure felt by its manufacturing partners to maintain that secrecy at all costs in order to preserve their working relationships with Apple."
This is total horsecrap. Casting light on Apple's secretive nature? No, sorry. Someone in China violates an industry trade secret. Non-story. This has ZERO to do with Apple. Nothing. Every company that sends things that are trade secrets to China has to deal with this. China is still the "Wild West", but it's also the cheapest place in the world to make things. All this is true.
But every company that has ever wanted to turn over a prototype and keep it secret should then be investigated. It's pathetic that anything is getting tied to Apple at all.
Unless you know something about this situation the rest of us don't, your statements are waaay out of line. Apple's control of the supply chain subjects the workers to nearly inhuman standards and places more value on the device than the people assembling it? Proof?
Prototype units have been lost before, on many an occasion. (I remember a shipment from Cupertino to Cork somehow ending up in Alaska!) It's sad that in this case it became such a big issue.
You know "western thinking" is work in china. no matter if it is the apple's phone, or other company's product, i can say that the company in china will do the exact same thing to the employee. Because thats the working culture in China, I just alway see such as things in china, a labor get no protected. You know that guy is really unlucky, RIP.
I don't know about China, but people say that in Japan it is (apparently) an honorful thing to commit suicide if you did a major error in your job that makes your company look bad.
This makes me sad. Apple probably instructed Foxconn to keep everything secret, no matter what. Foxconn was afraid that a prototype got out and investigated. Things got out of hand and the search "team" went too far. Still, it's hard to blame someone for someone else's suicide if you didn't witness it all in person.
About the protoype from the factory: It's usually necessary to make some working samples with the actual manufacturing process to check if everything works as intended and fine-tune the machines. Apple fanboys love to complain about "Revision A" products, these prototypes are even earlier revisions.
This makes me sad. Apple probably instructed Foxconn to keep everything secret, no matter what. Foxconn was afraid that a prototype got out and investigated. Things got out of hand and the search "team" went too far. Still, it's hard to blame someone for someone else's suicide if you didn't witness it all in person.
About the protoype from the factory: It's usually necessary to make some working samples with the actual manufacturing process to check if everything works as intended and fine-tune the machines. Apple fanboys love to complain about "Revision A" products, these prototypes are even earlier revisions.
Your proof is one dead Foxconn employee. Do you think would have played out in the same way if this was Nokia? Motorola? RIM? No.
So if you weren't in fear for your life or safety, you were in fear for... your job? My job gives me access to lots of major companies' confidential information, and if I were to abuse that responsibility I'd be out of a job in a heartbeat. That doesn't make me uncomfortable - it's just a reality of working in a business where information is worth a lot. I guess I don't see your point.
Very true.
But, to play devil's advocate: with every deal a Western company makes with China, that's a little more leverage the West has to influence the situation in China and improve the situation there. Even if the workers are poorly treated relative to Western workers, it's entirely possible they're doing well relative to other employees or the unemployed. That is an important factor too.
Agree. In Asia, to save face is everything - even if it includes your death. In my home country, high schoolers will commit suicide because of bad scores on their college entrance exams. We know two families that lost their children this way. This extends to the work life as well, in my opinion.
To add to that, in the context of cultural values being VERY different to what we in Europe/Americas ascribe to, take a look at this story from earlier this year....
Awful thing to happen, but think it says more about the blame culture and cultural differences present (the loss of face/shame that drove Foxconn Security to push this guy over the edge - figuratively not literally - and his own shame at having lost the prototype and potentially his job) than any Machiavellian plot and Apple-sanctioned ninja operatives.
Shame there's no mention of what the prototype featured. Ok ok, just joking.
http://majimbokenya.com/home/2009/05/06/kenyan-arsenal-fan-commits-suicide/
Was it UEFA's fault for stirring up the importance and the stakes attributed to the match?
I don't know why anyone thinks the man who died was not an executive. My first thought would be that he jumped because of a very real fear that he had just lost his very good job, presumably combined with pressure from physically intimidating (and possibly physically abusive) security guards. I'd guess the question of just what the guards did is the first thing Foxconn will investigate.
You know most company dont know the vendor is underpay or sth else, because they only focusing on the audit report most of time(audit report is from audit company in china). So do u get the picture now?
No, see, that's not proof. That's drawing an extremely broad conclusion on the basis of a correlation (apple's tangential involvement) in an isolated incident. You, sir, have absolutely no proof of anything and no frickin' idea whether it would have played out the same way with another company in apple's place.