Apple says New York Times report is “patently false and offensive”
In previous posts (links here and also here), I have written about New York Times articles describing conditions in Chinese factories making iPads. In an email to Apple employees, Apple CEO Tim Cook vigorously defends his company and says that the New York Times has it wrong when it reports on Apple’s attitude toward worker abuses. Among other things, Cook writes:
As a company and as individuals, we are defined by our values. Unfortunately some people are questioning Apple’s values today, and I’d like to address this with you directly. We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain. Any accident is deeply troubling, and any issue with working conditions is cause for concern. Any suggestion that we don’t care is patently false and offensive to us. As you know better than anyone, accusations like these are contrary to our values. It’s not who we are. For the many hundreds of you who are based at our suppliers’ manufacturing sites around the world, or spend long stretches working there away from your families, I know you are as outraged by this as I am.
Cook goes on to say:
Every year we inspect more factories, raising the bar for our partners and going deeper into the supply chain. As we reported earlier this month, we’ve made a great deal of progress and improved conditions for hundreds of thousands of workers. We know of no one in our industry doing as much as we are, in as many places, touching as many people.
We are focused on educating workers about their rights, so they are empowered to speak up when they see unsafe conditions or unfair treatment. As you know, more than a million people have been trained by our program.
We will continue to dig deeper, and we will undoubtedly find more issues. What we will not do — and never have done — is stand still or turn a blind eye to problems in our supply chain. On this you have my word.
I have no personal knowledge of factory conditions in China but I get the impression that the Times is singling out Apple when there are OEMs with worse worker policies.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes comments on why Apple seems to be held to a higher standard. He says it is because Apple products are perceived as high-end products with big profit margins:
It seems that Apple is once again being hauled over hot coals because of what’s going on at companies it doesn’t own or control within its supply chain. Why is Apple held accountable for worker mistreatment in the supply chain while other companies that use the same suppliers don’t?
It’s all about branding and perceived value.
Quote of the week
More than any other corporation of the Internet age, Amazon embodies the emerging culture of business strategy. It is the General Electric of our times, and Bezos is the Jack Welch. When the definitive book on corporate strategy for the early Internet era is written, Amazon will be the main example, not Google, Apple, Microsoft or Facebook.
—Venkatesh Rao at Forbes
If only we had a universal charger
Source: The New Yorker
The human costs of cheap Chinese labor
Chinese manufacturing has a big advantage in the low wages paid but there are other significant reasons for the lower costs of Chinese-made goods. Health and safety measures that are enforced in America and other Western countries are often ignored or only minimally implemented in China. Working conditions and hours that would not be tolerated by Western workers are the norm in Chinese factories. Not only low costs but also the speed with which things get done give China big advantages.
In a second article, In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad, the New York Times continues its report on Chinese manufacturing and why things are made there instead of in the West. It concludes:
People like Ms. White of Harvard say that until consumers demand better conditions in overseas factories — as they did for companies like Nike and Gap, which today have overhauled conditions among suppliers — or regulators act, there is little impetus for radical change. Some Apple insiders agree.
“You can either manufacture in comfortable, worker-friendly factories, or you can reinvent the product every year, and make it better and faster and cheaper, which requires factories that seem harsh by American standards,” said a current Apple executive.
“And right now, customers care more about a new iPhone than working conditions in China.”
It should be noted that the Chinese economy is much better off than it would be without all the goods it makes and sells to the West. Although the Chinese laborers work in conditions that an American might deplore, there is the trade-off of a better life than being on a collective farm. And we get cheaper goods. But there are big problems here.
The problems of trade imbalances, human rights, lost jobs, technology transfer, politics, vested interests are all mixed together and we are far beyond a simple solution. The idealized theory of free trade is more complicated than we thought.
Google is really, really going to track you
Google is now going to track you everywhere and there is no opting out if you use any of the many Google services. Your web activities on all Google services are going to be consolidated into one big database for finding ads to display to you. What you search for, what your Gmail is about, what you view on YouTube – all fodder for Google ads. Here is some reaction:
- Google To Start Tracking Users Across Services
Martin Brinkmann at gHacks - Google’s new privacy policy may make them evil
Owen Williams at Neowin - Google is FUBAR
Sebastian Anthony at ExtremeTech - Google’s new privacy policy: The good, bad, scary
Larry Dignan at ZDNet - Google’s new privacy policy: Should you be concerned?
Mathew Ingram at GigaOM - Google Is Facebook Is AOL: What Happens When a Good Google Goes Bad
Adam Pash at Lifehacker - Google Privacy Change Provokes Outrage
Thomas Claburn at InformationWeek
How you feel about privacy is a personal matter but I am getting a little queasy about how much Google knows about me. I don’t do anything I am ashamed of (and if I did, I know how to hide it). Still, I feel a little invaded that a bunch of advertisers are scrutinizing my every move to see what they can try to sell me.
Theoretically, you could stop using any Google services but that is not practical for many or even most of us. Or I suppose you can use special software to keep deleting Google cookies but that requires more computer savvy than many people have. Also, I understand that there is no way to avoid Google on Android phones.
What about you? Are you concerned about what Google knows about you? Will you stop using Google services?
News from the Windows 8 front
Some announcements from Microsoft about Windows 8, including that it will be releasing a beta of Windows 8 in February, have stimulated a new rash of commentary about the forthcoming operating system. Here are some of the posts:
- Will Windows 8 really matter?
Microsoft is on track to deliver Windows 8 this year, likely some time in the last quarter. But there’s a serious underlying question about the new Windows release: Will Windows 8 really matter? Will it change the way anyone works, plays, gets information, or interacts with others? How much will it matter to Microsoft’s bottom line?—Preston Gralla at Computerworld - Microsoft quietly kills off the desktop PC
Put simply, the Desktop experience in Windows 8 will be very, very similar to Windows 7. As far as the desktop WIMP paradigm is concerned, Windows 8 represents the smallest upgrade Microsoft has ever issued. On the mobile side, however, Microsoft is basically building an entirely new operating system with an equally new touch-oriented UI, an app store, and various other tablet-specific features.—Sebastian Anthony at Extremetech - When will Microsoft stop fiddling with Windows 8?
Many developers have uncovered a whole range of niggles with the OS, ranging from the truly trivial to the rather more major, and so it isn’t too surprising that Microsoft has decided to engage with the development community through a blog posted by Windows maestro Steve Sinofsky—Jon Honeyball at PC Pro - First look: Windows 8 breaks new ground
Tests of the pre-beta code indicates that Windows 8 represents an aggressive effort by Microsoft to deliver a single OS that runs just about everywhere—Tom Henderson at Computerworld - Why ‘post-PC’ is a far bigger threat to Microsoft than Mac or Linux ever was
Microsoft has dominated the PC desktop and notebook markets for over two decades. Competitors have come, and competitors have gone and Microsoft is still on top. But the winds of change are approaching, and Microsoft is embarking on what I believe to be its biggest challenge yet … the end of the road for the x86 architecture.—Adrian Kingsley-Hughes at ZDNet
Windows 8 features
Via The How-to Geek
