During the hearing, Cook noted that the company would be “investing $100 million to build a Mac product line here in the US.” Furthermore, “the product will be assembled in Texas, include components made in Illinois and Florida, and rely on equipment produced in Kentucky and Michigan,” hinting that Apple will rely on various manufacturing partners to make the US-made Mac a reality.

This means that Apple won’t be building their own manufacturing facilities, but will rely on other companies to do so. For example, Foxconn just recently set up shop in Texas as well, so Apple will most likely continue to use Foxconn to assemble the new Macs, rather than build their own plants to assemble them.

Of course, this isn’t too surprising, and while it’s not confirmed that Apple will use Foxconn’s Texas facility, it seems like a viable option at this point. However, we’re curious about Cook’s mention of other partners located in Kentucky, Michigan, Illinois, and Florida. We’re guessing these unmentioned companies will provide various components, which means that Apple won’t be using foreign components from the looks of it.

However, it’s still up in the air on what Macs will be made in the US exactly. It’s been rumored that the Mac mini or Mac Pro will be the ones to get the honor, since they’re the least in demand compared to the iMac, which means that Apple won’t need to push out a lot of units. Thus, the company won’t need to pay a lot of money to have them manufactured on domestic soil.

VIA: AllThingsD

Apple joined the Fair Labor Association in 2012 after being slammed with criticism over the working conditions at Foxconn. This prompted Apple and the Chinese company to set forth 360 items to take action on, such as things like correcting issues with a working environment that is too hot, the installation of an adequate number of fire escapes, and more. Thus far, according to a report released yesterday, Foxconn has met 98.3-percent of them.

One of the issues that is still causing grief, however, are working hours, with the report showing that employees are still being forced to work longer than allowed by Chinese labor laws. Per Apple, its suppliers are to have employees work no more than 60 hours every week. Chinese law says that 40 hours weekly is the cap, however, and that overtime can’t amount to more than 36 hours monthly. After being met with criticism, Apple and Foxconn agreed that its workers would be capped at 40 hours per week.

This hasn’t been the case, however. All three facilities had their workers clocking in up to 60 hours a week, with the spat late last year during which the iPhone was released hitting 70 hours a week. According to the Foxconn agreement, the new hour changes wouldn’t be completely implemented until July of this year, giving it a little over a month to correct the issue.

Another area of concern is unions, which have been positively impacted, showing a 20-percent increase in worker representatives over the last report. Said the Fair Labor Association’s President and CEO Auret van Heerden, “When FLA first visited Foxconn last year, the union committees – like those at most other factories in China – were dominated by management. By this time next year, we expect worker participation to be even higher.”

SOURCE: Wall Street Journal

According to China Business, and translated by The Register, the total amount that this could cost Foxconn would be around $1.6 billion. However, this would only be the case if the returned iPhones couldn’t be salvaged, which seems rather unlikely. It’s said at least five million and up to eight million iPhones were sent back to the Chinese manufacturer.

It’s not said which iPhone models were sent back, but they could most likely be the iPhone 5 or the iPhone 4S, the latter of which is still being manufactured and going on sale. It could also even be the rumored iPhone 5S getting the quality rejection, but we highly doubt it, considering that we would’ve heard many rumors about the upcoming phone’s production.

As far as the impact that this will have on Apple, it’s said that eight million iPhone failing to pass Cupertino’s quality inspections could create stock shortages for the company that could last a few weeks, but we doubt that will create many problems on the consumer end, as this time of year doesn’t see as much shipments compared to the fall or the winter.

[via The Register]

Not much is known about the lincensing agreement, with the announcement by Microsoft stating that it is confidential in nature. The only detail released was that Microsoft will be getting royalties from Hon Hai, although actual numbers weren’t specified. According to Microsoft, this is one of over 1100 licensing agreements it has taken part in.

Said Microsoft’s Intellectual Property Group’s VP and Deputy General Counsel Horacio Gutierrez: “We are pleased that the list of companies benefitting from Microsoft’s Android licensing program now includes the world’s largest contract manufacturer, Hon Hai. By licensing both brand name companies and their contract manufacturers, we have successfully increased the overall effectiveness and global reach of the program.”

Hon Hai also had things to say, with the director of its Intellectual Property Department saying that the company both recognizes and respects the protection of intellectual property, and that its licensing deal with Microsoft is representative of such. The Foxconn parent company is presently the largest maker of contract electronics in the world.

[via Microsoft]

According to Bloomberg, the extra workers will assemble the iPhone 5S, as well as existing models, like the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S. The move to increase production and hire more workers comes after the authorization from Apple to do so. The Zhengzhou factory alone employs between 250,000 to 300,000 workers.

It’s said that Foxconn has hired around 10,000 assembly-line workers per week since the end of last month, according to the Wall Street Journal, who also claims that their own sources report that Foxconn has ramped up production. Both Foxconn and Apple have declined to comment on the situation, only saying that the companies will increase employment to meet seasonal demands.

Recent rumors have noted that the iPhone 5S will officially enter production at some point during Q2 this year, with the launch of the new phone to take place at some point later this year, perhaps as early as June. However, other reports mention another fall release for the iPhone 5S, with a lower-cost iPhone to follow.

[via Bloomberg]

According to Reuters, Foxconn generates around 60%-70% of its revenue from assembling Apple’s iPhones and iPads, as well as performing other services for Apple. An analyst for KGI Securities, Ming-chi Kuo, states that a quarterly decline for Foxconn was expected, because Q4 is the very important holiday quarter, but a yearly decline was a big surprise. Kuo states,

“This shows that Hon Hai’s revenue depends too much on Apple, and iPhone orders corrected more than expected.”

Along with the decline of Foxconn’s sales, Reuters reports that Apple also didn’t reach its Wall Street revenue forecast for Q4 2012, which brings fears that Apple’s dominance in the mobile business may be on the decline as well. Apple sold about 48 million of its iPhones in Q4 2012, however, that number was millions less than what analysts believed it would be able to sell.

Kuo also believes that Foxconn will post flat sales this quarter, and that for the first half of this year, it will be seeing some decline in its net profit. However, Apple’s iPhone may not be entirely at fault here, seeing as Foxconn also assembles devices for many other major companies, including HP, Microsoft, Sony, Dell, and many more. Later this month, when Foxconn reports its quarterly earnings, we shall find out the real reason behind Foxconn’s decline in sales, whether it’s really Apple or not. On the bright side for Apple, at least its smartphone market share has increased.

[via Reuters]

The report comes from Sina Weibo, which says that in addition to the worker who jumped, three other workers were also on the roof in protest, likewise threatening to jump. The folks over at CNET received a statement from Foxconn, which said that three workers did protest and were arrested by police without injury, denying that anyone was hurt or that the attempted suicide took place.

What were they protesting? Says Foxconn’s statement: “We can confirm that on March 29, three employees at our campus in Longhua, Shenzhen were involved in a workplace dispute over the company’s decision to offer them an opportunity to relocate to another Foxconn China facility as part of a shift in production linked to their business group.” Further expounding on this, Weibo reports that some employees were encouraged to resign.

Foxconn, which has been accused of poor working conditions, has experienced various forms of this for years. In 2010, for example, an employee at the Shenzhen factory committed suicide for reasons related as being of a personal nature, while another female employee jumped from the roof, but was thwarted by the safety nets. In one of the larger protests, early last year 300 employees took to the roof and threatened to jump over payment issues.

[via People.com.cn]

Foxconn wants to be one of Sharp’s investors as well, and the two parties have been in talks for quite a while. However, Sharp had stated at a press conference held on March 14th that talks with Foxconn are falling through. Foxconn responded by saying that its trying everything it can to secure a deal with Sharp. The two have been very satisfied with their joint LCD fabrication plant located in Sakai, Japan.

Many have speculated that Sharp is hesitant in sealing any deal with Foxconn because it’s currently looking to obtain loans from banks. With Samsung’s and Qualcomm’s investments behind it, Sharp believes it has a much higher chance to convince banks that giving it a loan is a great idea. With the bank loans, Sharp doesn’t necessarily need another investor on its back telling it what to do.

Sharp’s business is very important to many manufacturers. It provides displays for a variety of technology, including laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. Apple had spent $2.3 billion more on Sharp’s displays than it had expected in Q4 2012. Horace Dediu, an analyst whose primary focus is Apple and mobile phones, stated that if Sharp did file for bankruptcy, Apple’s production capacity may be jeopardized. He believes that “Apple’s late and unprecedented expenditure was to secure this asset.” Sharp’s investors have helped the company stay up-and-running, despite the huge losses it had suffered last November.

[via Tom's Hardware]

The cases you see above come from MobileGeeks where they’ve gotten information from the case manufacturers themselves on the origin of the design. As the folks at MyLiving have let it be known that they’ve gotten information on the build of the Galaxy S4 straight from Foxconn, there is a real possibility that they are, indeed, legitimate. Foxconn is a manufacturing chain that over the past few years has become famous for putting together some of the most high-profile gadgets in the mobile industry.

What we can glean from these cases (the two black cases, that is), is that this Galaxy S machine may be working with a slightly less organic look than the Galaxy S III had. The salmon-colored case above is made for a Galaxy S III and the blue device to the left of the whole pack is, indeed, a Galaxy S III in the flesh. The Galaxy S4 appears to be essentially the same height as the Galaxy S III with a bit more bulk around the edges and, though you can’t tell from this photo, both cases appear to be made for devices with essentially the same thickness.

Several elements wash over from the Galaxy S III like the necessity for three holes right up top of the back on the case – one for a camera lens, one for a camera flash, the third for a speaker. The appearance of a power button hole on the case in the same place and the volume button also appearing in essentially the same space on the opposite side of the phone are also really rather indicative of Samsung sticking to its guns with how they intend you to tap on this smartphone.

You’ll also notice that these case designs bear exceeding resemblance to the cases leaked last month courtesy of MobileFun. Either this is what the Galaxy S4 will be shaped like, or there’s a real trickster out there poking fun at the case manufacturers one by one – we shall see!

Have a peek at the timeline below of Samsung Galaxy S4 articles from the past week or so to make sure you’re all up to speed on everything that’s known – and what’s about to be known, too. The big event for the reveal of the Samsung Galaxy S4 takes place on the 14th of March – we’ll be there with bells on, so follow along all day!

According to the Financial Times, Foxconn has confirmed the news that iPhone 5 production has begun to slow down, thus the need for more employees is no longer needed currently. Foxconn has always been hiring new employees almost every single day, so the halt of the company’s hiring process is a slight surprise.

What’s possibly even more interesting is that the manufacturer will be ramping up its workforce starting later next month, which lines up perfectly with rumors that iPhone 5S production will be begin around that time. Of course, it’s just hearsay for now, but it’ll be interesting to see what the next couple of months bring.

Foxconn has said that the iPhone 5 has been the manufacturer’s most difficult product to make yet, which isn’t terribly surprising considering that the phone has an all-new design that’s thinner and taller. Foxconn has said that with a phone that’s this light and thin, “the design is very complicated.”

UPDATE: In an interview with Bloomberg, spokesman for Foxconn Bruce Liu said that the hiring halt is not because of the iPhone 5, but rather more employees are coming back from the Chinese New Year than expected.

[via Financial Times]

HP has officially issued a set of guidelines for its manufacturing partners to follow, and this includes Foxconn. The company will be making sure that these factories limit student labor, as well as give more freedom to these students and other temporary workers over their hours. Many factories in China have relied on young high school and vocational school students where they’re put in positions that have no relation to their studies.

From here on out, HP is requiring that interns and temporary workers only be accepted for work that is close to their field of study. Plus, they’re demanding that all work must be voluntary, and that students and temporary workers must be free “to leave work at any time upon reasonable notice without negative repercussions, and they must have access to reliable and reprisal-free grievance mechanisms.”

The company is planning to hold training sessions for suppliers starting sometime in March, as well as hosting discussion sessions for government officials, non-government organizations, and educational institutions in order to make sure that the new guidelines are meant. It seems HP is stepping up big time, and it could pressure other companies to do the same.

[via New York Times]

The latest rumor claims that Apple will be moving Mac Mini production to the United States with Foxconn. Production is tipped to come to the US next year courtesy of a $100 million investment. Foxconn currently has production facilities in Asia and South America.

Apple is predicted to sell significantly more Mac mini computers in 2013. Sales estimates for the Mac mini in 2013 are 1.8 million units, which represents a 30% increase from 2012. Previous rumors have suggested that the Apple US manufacturing facility could be located in Fremont, California.

However, that location is unconfirmed. While Apple is intending to bring some of the production of its Mac mini computer to the United States, the company continues to work hard to produce more iPad mini tablets. Shipments for the iPad mini are expected to reach 8 million units in Q4. The component that is difficult to get for the construction of the little tablet continues to be the touchscreen.

[via 9to5Mac]

The makers of the POP charger are now being forced to refund Kickstarter pledges after they failed to secure the rights to use Apple’s Lightning cable, and Adobe has acquired Behance to improve its Creative Cloud offerings. We heard today that HTC might have suspended a number of smartphone orders for 2013, while the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone was leaked with a couple of different color combinations. Speaking of BlackBerry, RIM released its Q3 2013 earnings today, showing a slight profit gain but also some subscriber loss.

The Steam holiday sale kicked off today, so hopefully you have some money left in your bank account after all of your holiday shopping. GM is recalling more than 145,000 mid-sized trucks after a hood latch issue, and Facebook is testing a new feature that will let you send messages to strangers for a fee. Polaroid will be showing off a mirrorless Android camera at CES 2013, while the FTC clarified some of the amendments in its Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule today.

Amazon has ordered six original TV shows and will let viewers vote on the pilots, and Foxconn has purchased a 9% stake in GoPro for $200 million. Flipboard landed on Android tablets today, while Borderlands 2‘s next DLC was given a release date. Final Fantasy IV is now available on the iOS App Store, while the makers of the eagle-stealing-baby video that has been such a hit on YouTube revealed that it was a fake. Those who purchased a Windows 7 PC and now want to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro might need to supply their product key to do so, and finally tonight, we go hands-on with Rockmelt for iOS. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, we hope you enjoy the rest of your night folks!

There’s not a lot of details at the moment about the transaction, it seems Foxconn wants to get into the camera business, and not just any camera business, but action cameras in particular. GoPro is a huge name in the action cam market, and their Hero series is one of the best wide-angle action camcorders you can buy.

Foxconn is the world’s largest electronics manufacturer. They’re responsible for a lot of Apple’s products, as well as Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. Pretty much any smartphone, laptop, gaming console, or tablet you have in your hands was mostly likely made in Foxconn facilities. Pretty soon, though, your action cameras might be Foxconn-made as well, but we’re not really sure what the manufacturer has planned.

The Taiwanese electronics giant has already gotten quite cozy with Sharp, with interest towards investing directly in the LCD market, though no deal has been made on that matter just yet. GoPro founder and CEO Nicholas Woodman said his company is “over the moon” to have Terry Gou and Foxconn join the GoPro team.

[via Reuters]

According to a report by Focus Taiwan, Foxconn has entered its “initial phase of tests” on Apple televisions, though it’s “unlikely” shipments would begin in 2013. However, the source claims that new “Apple TV-related products” will be shown off at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, which seems extremely unlikely, given that the company has avoided the annual trade show like the plague.

Perhaps the interesting piece from the rumor is that they only mention televisions ranging from 46 inches to 55 inches, meaning the company wouldn’t be competing for the largest-display award, but will rather attempt to make the best television possible at modest sizes. 46 to 55 inches seems to be the sweet spot for adequate television size anyway.

At the end of the day, we’d love to see what Apple comes up with if they actually do end up developing a television set, especially on the price end. We would certainly expect some kind of smart TV with an Apple TV unit built in that comes with all traditional apps and features that Apple TV users currently enjoy, but as with any unannounced product, the rest is still up in the air.

[via Focus Taiwan]

According to the Taiwan Economic News, Foxconn won an exclusive contract to manufacturer the Amazon smartphone, and the cost of the smartphone is said to be anywhere between $100 and $200. It’s rumored that Amazon has ordered around five million of these smartphones, which doesn’t seem like a lot of units, considering that Apple sold five million iPhone 5s during the first three days of release in the US alone.

The report says that the Amazon smartphone will be announced sometime between the second quarter and the third quarter of 2013. In other words, that’s any time between April 2013 and September 2013, which is a large window, but perhaps it can be narrowed down based on when other companies will announce their own new products. Google I/O will be in May, and Apple may hold an event in June, so we could see Amazon announcing their new device after these two events.

Amazon will certainly go international with their new smartphone — at least to places where the company already offers their services, so five million smartphones doesn’t seem like a lot. But perhaps this is only the first order out of several that Amazon will send in, which wouldn’t be surprising, but you can probably count on the new device selling out quickly regardless.

[via Taiwan Economic News]

According to the whispers, Apple has been focusing on “a few designs for a large-screen, high-resolution TV” and the rumors have regained steam after CEO Tim Cook’s comments that TV is “an area of intense interest” earlier this month. The secretive chief exec refused to comment any further, however; “I can’t say more than that” he told NBC News.

Rumors earlier this week, meanwhile, suggested that Apple was experimenting with 3D technologies for big-screen TVs, while research indicates there’s an appetite among consumers for an Apple-branded model. In fact, a fair number would apparently be willing to pay a 20-percent premium for the privilege.

However, just as has presumably been the case with earlier prototypes, Apple could well decide not to continue development of the TV sets. The tipping factor this time around might be how much – or how little – it has to pay for LCD displays themselves, following a significant investment by Foxconn into Sharp. According to that deal, Foxconn gets first-grab at half of the panels the $10bn Sakai facility produces.

Currently, Foxconn is taking advantage of that position to piece together 60-inch Vizio sets, but the company’s long-standing relationship with Apple makes it the obvious choice should production of an Apple television get the green-light.

Hardware is only part of the story, however. Apple’s relationships with content owners and cable companies are terse, insiders say, with traditional providers wary of allowing the Cupertino firm into the segment for fear that it will quickly dominate as it did in digital music. Apple TV, the $99 set-top box already in its third generation, remains a bit-player in the company’s range; however, there are whispers that a new version with live TV functionality is also being considered.

What’s believed to be holding that up – and, presumably, doing the same for an actual Apple television – is that reluctance of content owners to actually open up their catalogs to Apple’s hardware. The company has attempted to tackle that with deals in the past, but has been rejected.

Exactly what form the Apple television would take is uncertain, though it’s expected to use Siri for navigating through channels and program guides, rather than the traditional button-encrusted remote. A Sharp IGZO display is also likely, using the company’s brighter, more energy-efficient panel technology.

Products with the made in the USA designation are a very big deal to some consumers in the US. Typically, manufacturing operations for companies such as Foxconn are conducted in China where labor is significantly cheaper than in the US. However, Bloomberg is now reporting that Foxconn is in fact planning an American expansion to be able to offer its clients products that are Made in USA.

Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou has stated that he wants to bring US engineers to Asia where they can be trained in manufacturing before putting them to work in the US. Some of the components that Foxconn uses in construction today are manufactured in the US reports Bloomberg including processors for phones and the glass that is used in displays.

At this point, it remains unclear which Foxconn partners (other than Apple) are pushing for made in USA, and when Foxconn might launch operations within the US. Apple CEO Tim Cook hasn’t offered any details on where the manufacturer in the US would take place or how many Apple products would be produced in the US. However, Cook has said that US operations would include more than final assembly. FTC rules specifically note that a product can’t simply be screwed together in the US and be called Made in the USA.

[via Bloomberg]

According to the insiders, Sharp is hoping to squeeze up to $240m from Intel or Dell, though its ambitions for Qualcomm investment are more modest. The display firm has been mired in ongoing negotiations with Foxconn/Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. for several months, with the firms needing to reach a conclusion by March 2013 but uncertainty around Sharp’s value stalling the deal.

Unofficially, however, a Sharp executive speaking to the newspaper said that while the companies continue to talk, “the unpredictability of its earnings are hindering” the likelihood of a deal. Others familiar with the deal have said that Sharp is laying on hyperbole about IGZO’s promise as a key negotiating point, routinely describing it as “potentially game-changing technology.”

That game-changer comes down to how IGZO works, replacing the substrate material among other changes, and in doing so reducing power consumption and increasing pixel density. That makes for displays that can offer the same brightness as regular LCD but with lesser power demands, or alternatively use the same power as traditional panels but for a much brighter picture, useful for outdoor applications.

IGZO production, however, has struggled to meet Sharp’s goals, and so far the panels are only showing up in a limited way in tablets and phones for the Japanese market. However, Sharp claims it is ready to offer a 32-inch IGZO panel that runs at an impressive 3840 x 2160 resolution, and which could well find its way into future Apple products according to some industry speculation.

In fact, Apple involvement in Sharp’s ongoing business has been the source of display channel muttering for some time. One analyst has suggested that a $2bn blip on Apple’s most recent financial results sheet was in fact a helping hand to the Japanese firm, potentially bringing forward future panel orders onto the books so as to help shore up the supplier.

Sharp has declined to comment on whether it is in negotiations with companies outside of Foxconn, and neither Dell, Qualcomm, nor Intel would comment on the rumors. It’s possible, however, that the move to widen negotiations – or, indeed, the leaks that such a move is being considered – is a tactical one to increase pressure on Foxconn management.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2012 turned out to be the best ones ever for Amazon’s Kindle family of devices, and Evernote Clearly has added text-to-speech for its premium members, which is a pretty awesome new feature if you ask us. Gmail has added support for 10GB attachments so long as those attachments are stored in your Google Drive account, and Outlook.com was able to boast 25 million users today, with Microsoft telling us that an Android app is on the way.

We heard today that Foxconn might be manufacturing Microsoft’s rumored Surface phone, and Apple reassured everyone today that the new iMac is still on track to launch later this month (November 30 to be exact, which is right around the corner). Cyber Monday sales topped a whopping $2 billion this year, and we learned that Nintendo TVii will be launching in Japan on December 8, which leads us to believe that it won’t be long before the service is available in the US and Europe.

HP and Nomadix have settled their patent lawsuit, while Nintendo launched new nostalgia-fueled DLC for New Super Mario Bros. 2. Fans are petitioning Rockstar to release Grand Theft Auto V on PC, and indie hit Super Hexagon is now available on Steam. Microsoft might be opening its first retail store in Europe as early as next year, the NYPD is building a database of calls made with stolen phones, and Rdio has been updated on iOS and Android with an entirely new UI.

Finally tonight, we have a couple of reviews for you to check out. Vincent Nguyen delivered his review of the new Jawbone UP earlier today, while Chris Burns takes on Hamilton’s Great Adventure THD for some mobile gaming goodness. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, enjoy the rest of your night folks!

With Surface marking Microsoft’s first foray into the tablet space, it isn’t hard to imagine the company making the jump to smartphones too. Windows Phone 8 on a Surface-branded smartphone seems like something too appealing for Microsoft to resist, so we wouldn’t be all that surprised to learn this rumor is true. Specifically, Foxconn International Holding is said to be putting this phone together, but neither it nor its parent company, Foxconn Electronics, would comment on the rumor.

In an interesting twist, Foxconn International Holding is said to be manufacturing an Amazon phone as well. We heard rumors of an Amazon phone earlier this year before the company unveiled the Kindle Paperwhite and the Kindle Fire HD, but Amazon was quick to quash those whispers. Maybe Amazon was simply lying so it could reveal such a device at a later date?

The report from DigiTimes doesn’t mention anything about technical specifications, but it does say that both phones should be shipping in mid-2013. It also claims that initial shipments of both devices will be limited, but other than that, we’ve got nothing else to share. Looks like this is another one to toss on the ever-growing rumors pile until either Amazon or Microsoft share some official details. Stay tuned.

The report coming from Taipei has Foxconn chairman Terry Guo speaking at a recent “public event” on how the company is planning a training program for US-based engineers, “bringing them to Taiwan or China to take part in the processes of product design and manufacturing.” Though this in and of itself wouldn’t be the word needed to assume Foxconn is coming to the USA, Digitimes goes on to say that, “evaluations” are being conducted in the USA for the spaces the plants would exist.

“According to market watchers … Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) reportedly plans to establish manufacturing plants in the US and is currently conducting evaluations in cities such as Detroit and Los Angeles.” – Digitimes

This is part of a two-tiered plan, it would seem, with the engineers being brought to China to learn Chinese and have first-hand experience in the manufacturing process being part one. Part two would then be bringing locations to the United States, with these same sources saying that the group has already begun discussions with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about the exchange program to start the whole show. Again it’s reported that Foxconn chairman Terry Gou who mentioned the training program (as seen above).

Market watchers have also said, according to CNET, that these new plants will be LCD television locations primarily. Earlier this year, Foxconn was in talks with Sharp to acquire two of that company’s units – assembly plants in Mexico and China. It could very well be that Sharp will be transferring locations to Foxconn in the USA as well.

We had a couple of quarterly reports land this afternoon, with both Activision and Qualcomm looking great as they charge into Q4 2012. Apple executive Eddy Cue has joined Ferrari’s board of directors, while AT&T is putting up a whopping $14 billion to boost its LTE and U-Verse services. There were rumors of an iPad Mini 2 with Retina Display floating around today, and ZTE was spotted teasing a new Windows Phone 8 device with a massive 5.9-inch screen.

Gearbox has squashed a nasty exploit in Borderlands 2 with a new patch, and we learned that Kim Dotcom’s new website has been killed before it even got off the ground. AT&T has revealed off-contract pricing for the Nokia Lumia 920 and 820, and Time Warner Cable is trying to lure new customers in by giving away free Xbox 360s. We got to see Nintendo President Satoru Iwata unbox the Wii U, found out which features will be on the Wii U from launch day, and were even told that the Wii U will allow for 12 user accounts per console.

Verizon is waiving voice and text fees for those who were hit hard by Hurricane Sandy, and Microsoft has released its SkyDrive app for Windows Phone 8. A new Sandvine report gives us an idea of just how popular Netflix is in North America, and Yahoo has hired a former National Geographic photographer to head up Flickr. A*STAR has revealed a new hybrid disk drive that’s only 5mm-thick, and DC Comics are now available digitally through iOS, Kindle, and NOOK devices.

Finally tonight, Don Reisinger asks if Apple actually helps its competitors, we take a closer look at Qualcomm Halo, and Chris Davis gives us his review of the Phillips hue lightbulb. That does it for tonight’s edition of the Evening Wrap-Up, enjoy the rest of your night everyone!

Gou told a group of reporters after a business forum this week that “it’s not easy to make the iPhones. We are falling short of meeting the huge demand.” However, Gou wouldn’t confirm whether the manufacturer’s other unit, Foxconn International Holdings, has taken on some of the production of the iPhone 5.

Foxconn has already acknowledged that the iPhone 5’s complex design makes it the most difficult product that the manufacturer has ever assembled, and Apple’s decision to tighten quality control in Foxconn’s facilities in order to prevent damaged devices from being sent out has most likely played a role in the backed up production.

The iPhone 5′s current delay still sits at 3-4 weeks according to Apple’s online store, but it’s said that it’s easier to get hold of one at either an Apple retail stores or a carrier store. However, Foxconn is the world’s largest contract maker of electronics, so they not only have the iPhone 5 to deal with, but also other Apple products, as well as devices from Nokia, Sony, Nintendo, Dell, and more.

[via Yahoo!]

One of Foxconn’s highest profile clients is Apple with Foxconn constructing the iPhone and other gadgets for the technology giant. However, Apple isn’t the only massive and successful technology company that contracts with Foxconn to assemble electronics and other products. Microsoft also contracts with Foxconn to construct products and Foxconn builds the Nintendo Wii U that will be coming on the market soon.

Nintendo has issued an official statement on Foxconn hiring children under the age of 16 to work in its Yantai factory in China. Foxconn recently announced that some interns were as young as 14 years old and Chinese law states the workers under the age of 16 can’t be hired. One official news agency of China has previously claimed that Foxconn hired underage interns in an effort to make up for a shortage of 19,000 employees.

Chinese news agency Xinhua has reported that as many as 56 underage workers were returned home from Foxconn’s internship program. Nintendo has noted that is in communication with Foxconn and is investigating underage workers. The company says that they require all production partners, including Foxconn, to comply with their procurement guidelines set out in July 2008. Nintendo says that it requires any production partners that don’t meet those guidelines to modify their practices according to Nintendo’s policy. You can read Nintendo’s official statement below.

“Nintendo is in communication with Foxconn and is investigating the matter. We take our responsibilities as a global company very seriously and are committed to an ethical policy on sourcing, manufacture and labor. In order to ensure the continued fulfillment of our social responsibility throughout our supply chain, we established the Nintendo CSR Procurement Guidelines in July 2008. We require that all production partners, including Foxconn, comply with these Guidelines, which are based on relevant laws, international standards and guidelines. If we were to find that any of our production partners did not meet our guidelines, we would require them to modify their practices according to Nintendo’s policy. For more information about Nintendo’s Corporate Social Responsibility report, please visit http://www.nintendo.co.jp/csr/en/index.html.”

[via IGN]

We found out today iOS app size is on the rise, and that the FCC will allow AT&T to take advantage of unused airwaves for mobile broadband. Google is allowing third-party developers to use its plethora of Maps information with a set of new APIs, and Facebook’s new promoted posts feature is undergoing and expansion in Europe. RIM CEO Thorsten Heins had something to say about a recent (and rather negative) write-up about BlackBerry in The New York Times today, and a series of leaked AT&T training videos revealed that the Lumia 920 will be exclusive to the carrier for six months after its release.

Call of Duty Elite won’t be featured in the Wii U version of Black Ops II, and Apple has been granted a patent for an alternative NFC technology. Speaking of Apple, the company will be holding a meeting with the MFI group next month to talk about the future of the Lightning connector, and Foxconn is saying that the iPhone 5 is a difficult device to make, but assures that it’s getting better. Consumers are reporting a decline in overall Internet usage, but Forrester (the company that did the study) has a good explination for that, while V-MODA was busy pulling the veil off its Crossfade M-100 headphones today.

A new video called “Star Trails” shows time-lapse footage captured by the International Space Station, and the Color app that has been gracing Verizon phones lately may be going dark soon. Just a little while ago, Google sent out invites to an Android event that will take place in New York in a couple of weeks, and we got a high-definition look inside the company’s data centers today. The Pirate Bay told us this afternoon that it has switched its servers to the cloud, eBay posted some strong Q3 financial results, and Project Eternity from Obsidian reached its funding goal on Kickstarter (and then some).

Finally tonight, Chris Davies asks why we care about the iPad Mini, and Craig Lloyd brings us his review of the Loop Mummy iPhone case. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, enjoy the rest of your night everyone!

“To make it light and thin, the design is very complicated,” the Foxconn exec told the paper. “It takes time to learn how to make this new device. Practice makes perfect. Our productivity has been improving day by day.”

As well as refining the production technique, Foxconn has also been adding extra quality checks to address complaints about iPhone 5 units arriving already scratched even though they’re box-fresh. A “new quality check procedure” of an unspecified nature has been slotted into the process, though the exec blames one of Apple’s chosen coatings for the newest iPhone for being more prone to gathering scratches.

“It’s always hard to satisfy both aesthetic needs and practical needs” the exec countered.

Apple has been vocal in its comments around how the iPhone 5 breaks new boundaries in design, with Jony Ive and others insisting that no other company has pushed the boundaries of construction to the same extent. That includes using high-resolution cameras to match up the best fit of back panel to chassis.

The next big Apple event we’re expecting is the presumed iPad mini launch next week, though that too has been pegged with production problems. We’ll be liveblogging the whole event at live.slashgear.com from 10AM Pacific on Tuesday, October 23, so join us for all the news!

Foxconn issued a statement saying that the practice was “not only a violation of China’s labor law, it is also a violation of Foxconn policy.” The company is taking “immediate steps” to return the underage interns to school. The company is “also carrying out a full investigation, in cooperation with the respective educational institutions, to determine how this happened” and are ensuring that something like this “can never happen again.”

According to China Labor Watch, the schools that the underage interns belonged to were sent to Foxconn, but the company failed to check IDs of the students. China Labor Watch says that the schools involved are primarily responsible, but Foxconn is also at fault for not checking the ages of the interns. However, Foxconn has taken full responsibility and apologized for what happened.

Interns at Foxconn are able to gain relevant industry experience while also earning the same compensation as the company’s full-time entry-level workers. Interns also have the opportunity to become full-time Foxconn workers after school should they prove their worthiness and hard work to the company.

[via CNET]

The show’s guest host of the night, Christina Applegate, hosts a panel made up of three tech writers on a show called “Tech Talk.” The segment revolves around the iPhone 5, and each panelist takes their turn at criticizing the iPhone 5′s various flaws. It goes rather smoothly and typically as you’d expect.

However, the host brings out three Chinese factory workers who assembled the iPhone 5 (no mention of Foxconn, though) and begin to sarcastically express their sympathy to the bloggers, saying things like, “You want Starbucks and it takes you to Dunkin Donut. That must be so hard for you,” referencing back to the tough working conditions at the iPhone 5 factory.

It’s actually a pretty enjoyable skit, and it makes you realize just how small our problems really are, but the sketch almost makes it feel like that the factory workers are at fault, since the panelists immediately retract all of their previous comments when the factory workers show up, and start to show their regret. In any case, watch the skit and enjoy a good laugh.

Foxconn International Holdings is a subsidiary of Foxconn Technology. If the rumor were true, this would mark the first time Foxconn International Holdings has had an Apple partnership. Reports indicate that shares in Foxconn International Holdings rose within 10% after a brokerage report claiming the company could start manufacturing a version of the iPhone within the next few months.

It remains unclear exactly what version of the iPhone Foxconn International Holdings might build. It certainly wouldn’t be out of character for FIH to land a contract with Apple. The subsidiary is the world’s largest manufacturer of mobile phones, FIH already manufactures phones for Nokia, Huawei, and ZTE.

The new iPhone 5 has had problems with easily scratched aluminum with some reports indicating that units coming out of the box are already scratched in some instances. Apple had similar complaints about the iPhone 4S with its glass back being too easy to crack or break. No official statement on FIH being contracted to produce a version of the iPhone has been offered from Foxconn or Apple at this time.

[via Apple Insider]

Foxconn employee Zhang Tingzhen, aged 26, was electrocuted while fixing a light. He fell 12 feet to the ground, and suffered severe, life-altering injuries. Several surgeries later, and nearly half of Tingzhen’s brain has been surgically removed, leaving him handicapped. He has been in hospital care since the accident, and is still not in good enough condition to leave.

Reportedly, Foxconn, who has been paying the medical bills, has been sending the worker’s family messages since July demanding that Tingzhen be removed from the hospital. The company has threatened to stop paying the bills, something that would be lawful under the applicable labor laws, unless Tingzhen undergoes a medical evaluation at a facility located 43 miles away. Due to the severity of his injuries, this is not possible.

Foxconn stated that it would have Tingzhen transported back to the hospital after the evaluation, but doctors fear that the trip could result in potentially fatal bleeding. The Chinese company, while acknowledging that it wants Tingzhen to travel for a medical evaluation, denies stopping payments on the medical bills. At the heart of this issue is a story that’s all too familiar: unsafe working environments, and disregard for workers, something that that seems to be at the core of Foxconn.

It’s said that that both Foxconn and Pegatron aren’t able to get suitable yelds for the display and chassis of the iPad Mini and aren’t able to keep up with Apple’s large orders, which is the cause of the delay. Foxconn has always seen difficulties in keeping up with the demand of Apple products, but this would be the first time in a while that we’ve heard of a production delay.

The rumored 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display is also said to be affected by the delay as well. Both Foxcoon and Pegatron are seeing low yields with Retina displays, and it’s said that the new laptop has already been delayed a month so far, which makes us believe that the delay is more serious than expected.

The iPhone 5 has already been rumored to be in a slower production mode, after Apple and Foxconn decided to crack down on inspection and benchmark regulations for the new device after users were complaining of scuffs and scratches out of the box. If Apple is hoping to release their new products in time for the holiday season, let’s hope they make the deadline, but delays certainly aren’t going to make it easier to do so.

[via DigiTimes]

A couple weeks ago, Apple reported that the scratches that many owners are witnessing are actually from normal use and that owners shouldn’t be worried about it. However, a lot of iPhone users don’t take any kind of damage to their device lightly, and it was even discovered that some iPhone 5s were scratched and chipped right out of the box.

It’s said that Apple is slowing down production of the iPhone 5 in order to fix these issues. Foxconn has begun to enforce stricter inspection and benchmark regulations on the device to hopefully cut down on the number of scratched up units that leave the factory floor, but it’s costing Apple both time and money.

Apple sold 5 million iPhone 5s during opening weekend, but the company said that the tally would have been higher if there weren’t supply constraints. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets have cut their projected sales estimates from 57 million to 49 million, which isn’t a huge loss, but the dearth of supplies and stricter regulations inevitably slow down production. Both Apple and Foxconn have declined to comment on the situation.

[via Bloomberg]

Foxconn did tell Reuters in a statement that there were two smaller disputes earlier in the week, but those were handled quickly before things got out of control. “Any reports that there has been an employee strike are inaccurate,” Foxconn stated, continuing by saying that “there has been no workplace stoppage in that facility or any other Foxconn facility and production has continued on schedule.”

The company also admitted that there were some who were working through the holiday, but those who worked did so voluntarily, and were paid three times their normal amount for putting in those extra hours. This is a high-pressure period for the company, with iPhone 5s currently flying off the shelves. Apple has delayed the shipment of new orders to the end of this month, which suggests that manufacturers are having trouble keeping up with demand, something that’s bound to put even more pressure on workers.

So, we have two very different reports coming in – one from China Labor Watch that claims a large-scale strike went down at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory yesterday, and another from Foxconn claiming what is essentially the exact opposite. It’s hard to know who to believe in this instance, but we’ll be keeping an ear to the ground for more information, so keep it tuned to SlashGear for additional details.

[Image via China Labor Watch]

The LG Nexus G has been tipped for a reveal later this month, and it looks like problems with component yields might mean that we’re headed for iPad Mini shortages (assuming the rumored tablet actually exists, of course). The Kindle Paperwhite has officially been jailbroken, and Rovio was spotted teasing a new Star Wars-Angry Birds tie-in earlier today, leaving us to wonder what’s in the pipeline. Sprint might be looking to rain on T-Mobile’s MetroPCS parade, and Anonymous is at it again, this time bringing down government sites in Sweden in the name of The Pirate Bay and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Wii U pre-orders are hard to find these days, but provided you’ve got the cash to burn, you can pick one up on eBay. iPhone cases were popping up left and right today, like this Loop Mummy case for the iPhone 4/4S and these Moshi cases for the iPhone 5. Xi3 has gone to Kickstarter to fund its new X3A and X7A modular computers, and one analyst is saying that HP’s stock should be worth negative $2. Ubisoft gave us a brand new ZombiU development diary, and we heard that increased iPhone 5 quality demands led to a strike at a Foxconn factory in China today.

New algorithms may eventually lead to cell phones that charge twice as fast, while NASA explained why Curiosity is collecting dirt from the surface of Mars. Motorola has managed to fight off Microsoft in a patent dispute over in Germany, while astronomers say they’ve discovered a new star circling a black hole at the center of our galaxy. Pokemon Black and White 2 launch in the US this Sunday (are you ready to be the best?) and we found out today that New Zealand authorities may have been spying on Kim Dotcom much earlier than they’ve admitted.

Finally tonight, we have quite a few original articles to share with you. Don Reisinger asks if Bill Gates will be remembered in the same way as Steve Jobs when he’s gone, Chris Burns explains why the iPad Mini will be free when it launches and what the iPad Mini needs to fix when it comes to Apple tablets, and Chris Davies has a review of the Synology DS213air NAS. That does it for tonight’s evening wrap-up – we hope you have a fun weekend!

The report states that workers went on strike for a couple of different reasons. First, they were upset that they didn’t get to take time off during the holidays, but there was also an extreme amount of pressure on them to meet new quality standards that had been put in place at the factory. Management apparently put these new quality control standards in place without providing proper training, so obviously, workers weren’t able to meet the standards for iPhone production. Here’s an excerpt from China Labor Watch’s report:

It was reported that factory management and Apple, despite design defects, raised strict quality demands on workers, including indentations standards of 0.02mm and demands related to scratches on frames and back covers. With such demands, employees could not even turn out iPhones that met the standard. This led to a tremendous amount of pressure on workers. On top of this, they were not permitted to have a vacation during the holiday. This combination of factors led to the strike.

Quality control inspectors also went on strike after a fight broke out between them and the workers. Apparently, the brawl sent a handful of folks to the hospital to be treated for injuries, and despite the fact that these quality control inspectors had been physically threatened in the past and went to higher-ups to report the threats of violence, they were merely ignored by the management at the factory.

Hearing all of this, it’s no wonder that these workers went on strike today. It’s been a high-stakes period for Foxconn, with the iPhone 5 shipping late last month and a short supply that can’t catch up with demand. To have quality standards raised when workers were already having a difficult time keeping up with demand is a recipe for disaster, and it looks as if things came to a head (again) today. We’ll be keeping an ear to the ground for more details on this riot, so keep it tuned here to SlashGear for additional information.

Foxconn officials may have been able to get things under control relatively quickly, but today labor experts are warning that riots like this could happen again. The Washington Post has interviewed a number of these experts, with some pointing to increased pressure on workers as one of the major reasons for the riot on Monday. Why is there increased pressure on workers? Because the pool of uneducated workers in China is shrinking, meaning that there are fewer people for Foxconn and other companies like it to potentially hire.

Of course, we also need to take the time of the year into account – the iPhone 5 launched to massive consumer demand last week, and with Windows Phone 8 and the holiday shopping season both on the horizon, many other companies will soon be rushing to get their latest handsets on shelves. The Washington Post points out that these jobs rarely require anything other than an employee who is fast and accurate at all times, and these days, management is having a difficult time keeping the intensity of the job under control. “The companies haven’t figured out how to manage that intensity,” said University of Michigan China labor expert Mary Gallagher. “It’s intense because of the precision required. It’s intense because of how quickly technology changes and newer models are demanded. And while the number of workers is shrinking, you have the pressures on them mounting.”

Wang Zhiqian, a former line worker-turned-recruiter for the company, sees it a different way. According to him, it isn’t so much the lack of workers (and therefore an increase in pressure on existing employees) that is the problem, but rather the main issue is that factories like Foxconn aren’t good companies to work for in the first place. Zhiqian says that management is “a mess,” work days are often long, workers aren’t allowed to talk to one another, and guards have made a habit of abusing their powers. Ultimately, it’s “spiritual emptiness” for the workers at Foxconn which leads to their unrest.

Whatever the cause, experts are warning that this riot could lead to similar problems at other Foxconn factories if these issues aren’t addressed in a meaningful way. Companies like Apple, Samsung, and Microsoft have been stepping in from time to time to tell Foxconn higher-ups to shape up, and those interventions have led to some minor improvements. In order for things to change in a significant way, however, something big needs to happen, and that big thing might just have been Monday’s riot. Here’s hoping it’s enough to get Foxconn to realize that for the good of everyone involved, a major shift needs to occur. Stay tuned.

[Image via Reuters]

The factory has now reopened with production set to begin again. Foxconn and local authorities say that the cause of the fight is still under investigation. The brawl comes at a time when people in China have been acting out, at times violently, against Japanese companies.

Foxconn has so far declined to say whether the closed factory will affect availability for the iPhone 5. While we heard yesterday that the fight was a result of the disagreement between a restaurant owner and workers, new reports indicate that the violence may have started between a factory worker and a guard at the facility.

One source cited by the AP said that the violence was the result of workers who are angry at how they’re treated by Foxconn security guards and managers. Foxconn has been the source of investigations before over unfair labor practices. Workers say that they have no way to voice grievances hinting that violence such as what occurred this week is their only option.

“Foxconn, some supervisors, and security guards never respect us,” said the employee, who asked not to be identified by name. “We all have this anger toward them and they (the workers) wanted to destroy things to release this anger.”

[via AP]

Foxconn is helping police with investigations to narrow down the exact cause of the aggression, spokesperson Louis Woo told Bloomberg. The downtime at the plant is described as an opportunity for tensions to ease before work resumes. “We want to give people time to cool down” Woo said, denying that it had been triggered by work-related complaints. Photos taken on-site apparently show damage to buildings and other facilities [image via Bill Bishop] though Foxconn has not details what repairs must be made.

Although Foxconn counts Apple among its customers, and is responsible for manufacturing the iPhone 5, the company would not confirm whether production of the new smartphone would be affected by the facility’s closure. However, analysts have suggested that it is more likely to be a hub for producing Nintendo’s Wii and other devices.

According to local reports, the fight between rival groups of workers began at 11pm on Sunday evening outside a company-run dormitory. Foxconn security and police became involved, and the violence was subdued by around 3am, Woo claimed, with several people arrested. 79,000 people are employed overall at the Taiyuan plant.

Foxconn has come under prolonged investigation over concerns regarding working conditions and employee rights in recent months. The company passed a Fair Labor Association assessment, but was later embarrassed by an insider-exposé when a Chinese journalist reported damningly from within one factory having secretly found work there.

Since preparation is key, Apple has apparently put Pegatron in the spotlight. The report from EDN says that Pegatron has nabbed 50 to 60 percent of Apple’s iPad Mini orders, which means that the company will be a pretty big supplier of the new, smaller iPad. Before the iPad Mini (provided that this is all true), Foxconn was the only manufacturer of the iPad.

But this isn’t necessarily at the expense of Foxconn. Instead of taking away Foxconn’s iPad duties entirely, Pegatron will merely be helping to carry the load. Foxconn will still be putting iPad Minis together for Apple, and with both of these companies working in tandem to push new tablets out the door, Apple can supposedly count on 5 million iPad Minis being produced each and every month.

That definitely isn’t bad, and Pegatron’s assistance apparently extends beyond just the iPad Mini. We’re also told that Pegatron will be jumping in to help with iPhone 5 production later this year. With iPhone 5 pre-orders hitting 2 million in the first 24 hours, it sounds like Foxconn could use the help, and that’s especially true if Apple hopes to ship 53 million iPhone 5s this year alone, as the Economic Daily News states. That, ladies and gentlemen, is an absurd number of iPhone 5s, so you can be sure that Pegatron’s talents won’t be going to waste.

[via Engadget]

[Image via Ciccarese Design]