Foxconn’s workers in context

The working conditions at Foxconn has been the subject of much discussion and outrage over the last few days following the New York Times exposé. Apple has since bore the majority, if not the full, brunt of the criticisms for allowing what looks to be a sweatshop full of suicides with workers earning very little while making iProducts despite other consumer electronics companies also employing Foxconn to do their manufacturing and assembly.

What everybody has missed on however, is context. Thanks to Tim Worstall at Forbes, we now have that context and even better, there’s a clear infographic to illustrate that if you can’t be bothered reading Worstall’s counter argument. I had to link to Worstall’s entire blog instead of the infographic post since Forbes seems to have messed up the link but I’ll embed it for you.

Foxconn’s workers in context

The Man Who Makes Your iPhone

nikf:

Business Week interviews Foxconn’s CEO. A fascinating look into the truly-massive operations involved in making an iPhone.

When Apple’s iPhone 4 was nearing production, Foxconn and Apple discovered that the metal frame was so specialized that it could be made only by an expensive, low-volume machine usually reserved for prototypes. Apple’s designers wouldn’t budge on their specs, so Gou ordered more than 1,000 of the $20,000 machines from Tokyo-based Fanuc. Most companies have just one.

The Man Who Makes Your iPhone