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Quoted to show you all an example of a thing someone might say, had they not read the quoted article.

Honestly mate, giving people the opportunity to charge mobile phones and free use of wifi isn't much to brag about. In situations like this its start but since Apple has presence in Japan its not nearly enough.
 
Quoted to show you all an example of a thing someone might say, had they not read the quoted article.

Article was read.
Apple to help the families of employees.
Apple Store let people use their wifi.
Donations through iTunes.

Am I missing something?
I'm quite impressed by the local Apple teams handling of the situation. Turning it into a communications hub; very smart. It seems you didn't quite see what my post was aimed at.
 
Honestly mate, giving people the opportunity to charge mobile phones and free use of wifi isn't much to brag about. In situations like this its start but since Apple has presence in Japan its not nearly enough.

You didn't read the entire article. Payment for transportation for their employees, and a room in a hotel if they needed it, some apple store employees stayed outside after closing to provide some assistance even when they were closed. Point is, Apple didn't close down during the earthquake just to be on the safe side. They stayed open. Many stores did close down, but apple stores did not, and I'm sure everyone who was able to contact their loved ones to let them know they were okay were very thankful of that fact.
If you try to measure the value of good deeds, you start to lose sight of the fact that the deed was good. A good deed goes a long way, no matter how large, or how small. As long as the deed is good, in the end, that's all that matters.
 
i have no doubt that they already have (and have probably donated more than everyone on MacRumors combined), but seriously, it's none of your business, or anyone else's here.

btw how many companies out there would go out of their way to help during a natural disaster? very very few.

:rolleyes:

I highly doubt Apple Inc. has donated anything. Since for corporations the objective of these donations is always the long term profitability of the company a donation without media coverage isn't in their favor. Regarding donations by other companies you are mistaken. Many corporations that have presence in Japan have already made donations.
 
Great story. Not too many "corporations" would do something like this for their employees. Usually they just create funds by which people can make donations and such. Talk about putting your money where your mouth is.
 
On the flipside of (non-technology) retail, here's a message sent to employees of Bloomingdale's (whose parent company is Macy's Inc.), sent out on 3/15/2011:

To The Bloomingdale’s Family,

Over the past several days we have all watched in disbelief the devastating series of events affecting Japan. We have many associates in the Bloomingdale’s family who have been personally affected by this recent disaster. Our thoughts and prayers are with them at this difficult time.

Many associates have asked what Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s Inc. are doing to help those currently suffering unimaginable hardship in the wake of last week’s earthquake and tsunami. Macy’s Inc. and Bloomingdale’s are carefully evaluating the situation to determine the best use of our support. Once the needs become clearer, beyond large-scale rescue efforts provided by governments, it is likely our corporation will make a donation in the name of Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s employees.

Through this period, the Macy’s Foundation www.employeeconnection.net/matchinggifts
will match employee contributions of $25.00 or more to any US based charity devoted to Japan earthquake and tsunami relief efforts. Please check www.charitynavigator.org/ for information on organizations that apply.

Our hearts go out to those affected by this terrible disaster and we thank you for your interest in helping those in need.

Warmest regards,


Mike Gould, Chairman & COO Tony Spring, President & COO
 
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Nice... I'd like to see micro$oft do something like this.... c'mon billie!:cool:

the B&G Foundation is moving toward one of the largest in the world, I'm quite sure they are all over this even knowing their primary goals are more focused in the developing world too.
 
What is happening in Japan is a terrible disaster, and our thoughts and prayers are with all those who are affected.

Any act of kindness, generosity or support for those people, however small or large shouldn't be met with cynicism by anyone because every single act helps.

Those who are keen to criticise would do well to redirect that energy into doing something constructive to help those in need.

Show some humanity and compassion people, please.
 
If you try to measure the value of good deeds, you start to lose sight of the fact that the deed was good. A good deed goes a long way, no matter how large, or how small. As long as the deed is good, in the end, that's all that matters.

I'm posting that at job for the thought of the day.
 
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Am I missing something? Are there actually people on here criticizing Apple for trying to help their employees?

Apple is NOT a charity. Apple has NO obligation to aid in a disaster. If my house burned down because of a lightning strike I would NOT expect Apple to head the relief effort on my house.

What apple is doing is great. They are doing what they can to help out who they can help directly useing the resources that they have. It does not even make sense that Apple would help people with no relation to the company. It would be amazing if they did..but they have no expectation or onligation.

A company paying for transportation and $1000 hotel rooms so that their employees can LEAVE work to see their families is almost unheard of in ANY industry.

Also offering WiFi and chargers to the public is a huge deal when communication is out as well as power in many places (many stores have generators which give them power while residents do not). This is appreciated by people trying to contact family who they don't know to even still be ALIVE.

Also I'm glad to see apple taking a direct approach, it's easy to donate large sums of money to a third party organization and bask in your "goodheartedness", but truth be told, much of that money won't see relief efforts fOr quite some time. What apple is doing takes more effort. Yes it does effect a smaller group of people, but it's a group of people that are associated with apple and it says a great deal about how Apple treats it's employees abd customers.

I cant say weather apple executives have made private donations to the relief effort. I would like to think and imagine that they have. However, I do not think that making donations to charity is the job of large company. I thinly that a company is compelled to assist those effected within their own organization. Large monetary donations are the jobs of individuals and I'm sure that apple (and Microsoft and google and whoever else) executives have given money.

In a time like this, don't criticize a company for going beyond the call of duty to do right by their employees and customers. I'm more interested in why other companies can't offer similar services to their employees. If they did then maybe things would go better and Apple would not be criticized for not rescuing the ENTIRE country of Japan.
 
You didn't read the entire article. Payment for transportation for their employees, and a room in a hotel if they needed it, some apple store employees stayed outside after closing to provide some assistance even when they were closed. Point is, Apple didn't close down during the earthquake just to be on the safe side. They stayed open. Many stores did close down, but apple stores did not, and I'm sure everyone who was able to contact their loved ones to let them know they were okay were very thankful of that fact.
If you try to measure the value of good deeds, you start to lose sight of the fact that the deed was good. A good deed goes a long way, no matter how large, or how small. As long as the deed is good, in the end, that's all that matters.

Coverage of transportation, hotel rooms etc. for employees is normal HR management in crisis situation. Vast majority of corporations have similar strategies. Many even relocate employees and their families in crisis situations.

I'm not denying the value of the good deeds but I'm making a point that since Apple has presence in Japan more should be done. For corporations this is an opportunity to help.
 
To those of you who are arguing about which company has done more in terms of charity and helping out mankind- get a grip and grow up. You should all be ashamed. Any fanboy who uses this disaster and apples response to it to again further suggest that apple is so much superior to Microsoft in everyday makes me sick to my core. People are dying, and your top concern is making sure that apple is yet again proven to be the better of the two companies.
Amazing how te fanboys always seem to have something to prove.
 
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To those of you who are arguing about which company has done more in terms of charity and helping out mankind- get a grip and grow up. You should all be ashamed. Any fanboy who uses this disaster and apples response to it to again further suggest that apple is so much superior to Microsoft in everyday makes me sick to my core. People are dying, and your top concern is making sure that apple is yet again proven to be the better of the two companies.
Amazing how the fanboys always seem to have something to prove.
 
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Am I missing something? Are there actually people on here criticizing Apple for trying to help their employees?

Apple is NOT a charity. Apple has NO obligation to aid in a disaster. If my house burned down because of a lightning strike I would NOT expect Apple to head the relief effort on my house.

What apple is doing is great. They are doing what they can to help out who they can help directly useing the resources that they have. It does not even make sense that Apple would help people with no relation to the company. It would be amazing if they did..but they have no expectation or onligation.

A company paying for transportation and $1000 hotel rooms so that their employees can LEAVE work to see their families is almost unheard of in ANY industry.

Also offering WiFi and chargers to the public is a huge deal when communication is out as well as power in many places (many stores have generators which give them power while residents do not). This is appreciated by people trying to contact family who they don't know to even still be ALIVE.

Sorry mate but you have lot to learn about the corporate strategy of philanthropy. Regarding Apple paying for transportation and accommodation etc. are very basics in corporate crisis management. Many have even evacuated / relocated their employees and their families.
 
A good move, if you're an Apple employee. However I'm willing to bet most people affected by this earthquake aren't. Reminds me of those Christian groups who only help Christians in these kind of events.

Well, not to turn this into a religious debate, but authentic Christians should be willing to help out anyone, regardless of who they are. I sure would. I would even go so far as to say that any Christian who only helps out other Christians, well, isn't. Jesus himself spent his life teaching, healing, serving and hanging out with society's "undesirables" and commands Christians to love and serve others. Not just your fellow brother-believers. Anyone. Everyone.

I can also speak from the perspective of a board member of a (small) company: you cannot simply cut a donation cheque without first getting approvals from the board, finance committee, etc. I'm sure many Apple employees have individually donated, and maybe the company did donate something, but we can't judge either way.
 
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Bottomline: whatever help Apple is offering employees, and for whatever motivation, it's more than the law or a union contract requires it to do. I suppose to those complaining, Apple's assistance doesn't fit the template of how a "greedy big-biz corporation" should act in these situations so they must find ulterior motivations to diminish the company's efforts.
 
When I first heard about Apples program for allowing folks to use wifi etc for contacting family...I was a tad disappointed, if that was the end of their generosity. Steves email seems to speak otherwise. Bravo to them for showing such openness and support. God bless
 
This is good for their employees and even better for publicity. However, unlike Microsoft, Apple didn't make the list of the most ethical companies. I can already see the fanboys claiming I'm some Microsoft shill but nothing could be farther from the truth.

I thought the list was interesting so I read up on the selection process a little. The VERY first thing I saw that stood out :
Over the course of the year, companies across the world submitted their applications to become 2011 World’s Most Ethical Companies. Based on these applications, as well as information Ethisphere gathered throughout the year, a list of semi-finalists was created.

What this means, is that a company has to go out of their way to fill out paperwork just to be considered. So, you have the most ethical company in the world; but if you don't submit an application you will NEVER make the list.

Now, we have no idea if Apple submitted an application or not; we also don't know how many companies did submit an application. First, if you know that there are some unethical things in your background, why would you bother? Second since there are so many categories, being the only one in that category may automatically make you the most ethical; we don't know.

TL;DR : The list is really a list of companies who are willing to spend money to prove to the world they are ethical.
 
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Nuvi said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)

Am I missing something? Are there actually people on here criticizing Apple for trying to help their employees?

Apple is NOT a charity. Apple has NO obligation to aid in a disaster. If my house burned down because of a lightning strike I would NOT expect Apple to head the relief effort on my house.

What apple is doing is great. They are doing what they can to help out who they can help directly useing the resources that they have. It does not even make sense that Apple would help people with no relation to the company. It would be amazing if they did..but they have no expectation or onligation.

A company paying for transportation and $1000 hotel rooms so that their employees can LEAVE work to see their families is almost unheard of in ANY industry.

Also offering WiFi and chargers to the public is a huge deal when communication is out as well as power in many places (many stores have generators which give them power while residents do not). This is appreciated by people trying to contact family who they don't know to even still be ALIVE.

Sorry mate but you have lot to learn about the corporate strategy of philanthropy. Regarding Apple paying for transportation and accommodation etc. are very basics in corporate crisis management. Many have even evacuated / relocated their employees and their families.

Your statement is a flawed response to my underlying argument. To your own account you make reference to the "corporate strategy of Philanthropy". While it has been commonplace for large corporations to help their employees in times of need, it does not negate the fact that said companies are going beyond the call of duty.



The reference that you made seems to imply an obligation based on upholding an image (referent being "corporate strategy"). It is a kind gesture for any organization to do, and the fact that it has become common does not make it less noble.

In a world that likes to villanuze large corporations it is important to realize how much good they do in times like this. Also, it seems that companies still get villianized if another company one ups them in a recovery effort. Remember for a second that these are private profit based organizations and not governess or non governmental organizations.

To those making the assertion that companies are obligated to do more because they have a presence. Where is your reasoning? What logic did you use to get that? I'm sorry but implying an obligation to be philanthropic only serves to insult a true effort that has been made to assist in a time of crisis.

And those who ate arguing over which companies are best/worst and villanizing others should be ashamed. No amount of charity, no matter how little is bad. All efforts help, and it is insane to criticize ANY company that is helping out in a Natural Disaster.
 
This is good for their employees and even better for publicity. However, unlike Microsoft, Apple didn't make the list of the most ethical companies. I can already see the fanboys claiming I'm some Microsoft shill but nothing could be farther from the truth.

I thought the list was interesting so I read up on the selection process a little. The VERY first thing I saw that stood out :
Over the course of the year, companies across the world submitted their applications to become 2011 World’s Most Ethical Companies. Based on these applications, as well as information Ethisphere gathered throughout the year, a list of semi-finalists was created.

What this means, is that a company has to go out of their way to fill out paperwork just to be considered. So, you have the most ethical company in the world; but if you don't submit an application you will NEVER make the list.

Next is how they came to their result :
Ethisphere then conducted data analysis on hundreds of companies based on their responses to the survey, as well as documents and information researched and requested by Ethisphere to confirm survey responses. Every company was then given an EQ score based on the results of the survey and measured against seven distinct categories.

Ok, what we learn from this paragraph; there are HUNDREDS of companies involved. This means across all of the world less then 1000 companies applied. Seems like a very small percentage. I get the feeling that the number is much closer to 100 then to 1000, but it is just a feeling, and not necessarily true.

Second thing we learned; is that after submitting an application, they fill out a questionnaire and the answers that they give result in if they are ethical or not. So instead of doing investigation to find out if the claims are true or not, or researching the news for reports, they rely on the company for information. Thought, wouldn't an unethical company feel it is OK to lie on the questionnaire? Thought #2, Even not intentionally padding the answers, often marketing people will make everything look positive.

Now, we have no idea if Apple submitted an application or not; we also don't know how many companies did submit an application. First, if you know that there are some unethical things in your background, why would you bother? Second since there are so many categories, being the only one in that category may automatically make you the most ethical; we don't know.

TL;DR : The list is really a list of companies who are willing to spend money to prove to the world they are ethical. The list is created by asking the company how ethical they have been.:rolleyes:
 
This is a short but interesting read that pertains to the subject. It really changed my thoughts on Microsoft and Bill Gates and Apple.

In general, Bill has done more (that we know about) for the world then Steve. But there are differences as well. 1) Bill is retired, Steve is not. 2) Bill has a heck of a lot more to work with then Steve. 3) Steve is in bad health, while Bill seems fine.

I'm not saying that Bill or Steve are any better; or that they don't do a lot. All I am saying is that Bill has done a lot, that is publicly known. I give him a lot of props for that.

As for the corporations, Apple & MS, I've heard both are generous and do a lot for their employees.
 
Bravo Steve!!!

Now if some of the banksters like Goldman Sachs would donate part of their multi-billion dollar bonus pools (for doing such a great job you know)....:mad:
 
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