This talk covers many topics we’ve been speaking about over the past few weeks, namely the first and foremost on many people’s minds: what will Apple do about the suggestions that they’ve got bad working conditions in supplier plants around the world? This of course was the first thing answered by Cook as he started the conference, assuring the world that it was no small subject for Apple and that they’d be taking measures above and beyond the call of duty.

Have a peek at the feed right now at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/conference/ and listen along with us as we continue to report the news from within. Do you think Cook will reveal any information on the upcoming iPad release? We’re guessing no – but there’s always great things to be heard when Tim Cook is speaking – listen in!

The group reportedly took advantage of an Internet Explorer vulnerability that had been left unpatched by a Foxconn employee, pulling out sensitive information from the company’s servers and bundling it into a freely-available torrent. Other users were encouraged to access the servers using the disclosed passwords, which could reportedly be used to place fake orders with Foxconn under the names of its vendor partners like Apple, Microsoft, Intel and Dell.

“This is Swagg Security, we aim to to reshape your perspectives, our perspectives, by the inducing of entertainment. A unique approach to spreading a unique philosophy which brings the sought after tranquility. In a way we are “hacktivist”, but in our own views we are Greyhats. We believe there is no reality in hacktivism, even with good intentions. We know those who claim to be “hacktivists” that inside of you, a suppressed part of you, enjoys playing a part in the anarchist event of hacking of an infrastructure. One which at the same time presents a challenge, upon completing reveals an almost unknown feeling of a menacing satisfaction. We encourage not to continue quelling such a natural emotion but to embrace it. Only when embracing what society has taught you to hinder, is when you realize your own identity” Swagg Security statement

Although Foxconn has been in the headlines recently around allegations of worker abuse, with staff said to be underpaid and subject to arbitrary and unfair disciplinary procedures, the hackers claim not to be working on some moral crusade. “Although we are considerably disappointed of the conditions of Foxconn,” the group said, “we are not hacking a corporation for such a reason.”

The security breach is the latest in an increasing number of tech attacks in recent months, with hackers broaching company servers in chase of chaos, private information or even extortion. Earlier this week, Symantec’s Norton Antivirus code, among other data, was released into the wild after attempts to coax a $50,000 payment from the company failed.

[via 9 to 5 Mac]

These new Foxconn factories will be working with iPad and other Apple products, but will also be able to tooled for notebook and general electronics production as well. Following the Chinese New Year celebration this year, officials from both Foxconn and Brazilian government will meet to decide where the factories will be built. Sao Paulo is said to be pushing heavily for the investment as these factories will bring in one whole heck of a lot of money to whichever area they are built in.

In addition to these new factories, M.I.C. Gadget reports the Chinese city of Zhengzhou was flooded last night with worker hopefuls waiting to be let in to sign up at their local labor agency for a job at one of Foxconn’s local factories. Foxconn is said to be working in Zhengzhou to hire up twice the workers they have now at the facility they’ve got there ahead of the next iPhone. That’s 100,000 more employees here instead of the slightly smaller number in Brazil. So what this all means is that Apple is here to stay, essentially – and that another iPhone may well be coming soon!

Bonus! Watch these report from CutTV on the lines in China. Massive amount of people looking for work with Foxconn!

[via Apple Insider]

“We’ve known about labor abuses in some factories for four years, and they’re still going on … Why? Because the system works for us. Suppliers would change everything tomorrow if Apple told them they didn’t have another choice” Anonymous former Apple executive

According to insiders, Apple – and other companies – face “an unresolved tension” internally over awareness of labor conditions at suppliers and the ongoing pressure to reduce product costs and maintain a rapid production schedule. That tension, it’s suggested by one former Apple exec, is a partial reason why annual supplier checks such as those the company carries out are undermined. “If you see the same pattern of problems, year after year, that means the company’s ignoring the issue rather than solving it,” the ex-employee suggested “Noncompliance is tolerated, as long as the suppliers promise to try harder next time. If we meant business, core violations would disappear.”

A follow-up report quoted responses from Chinese readers, many expressing frustration at the work conditions and the apparent willingness of Western consumers to overlook what goes on at Foxconn and other factories. However, others took issue at the Apple focus of the report, suggesting that the outlook at companies supplying Samsung, Lenovo and other firms is no better:

“If not to buy Apple, what’s the substitute – Samsung? Don’t you know that Samsung’s products are from its OEM factory in Tianjin? Samsung workers’ income and benefits are even worse than those at Foxconn. If not to buy iPad – (do you think) I will buy Android Pad? Have you ever been to the OEM factories for Lenovo and ASUS? Quanta, Compaq … factories of other companies are all worse than those for Apple” Anonymous commenter

In the end, then, the onus appears to be on the end-consumer: a focus on price above all else will only force all electronics suppliers to chase the bottom line in production.

“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” a current Apple executive told the newspaper under condition of anonymity. “And right now, customers care more about a new iPhone than working conditions in China.”

The government of Brazil has given Foxconn an exemption or reduction on taxes that would normally be paid on the production of tablets. The deal was signed on Monday of this week. The decree says that touchscreen tablets weighing less than 750g with no keyboard will qualify for incentives on IPI (Excise Tax), PIS (Social Contribution Tax) and COFINS (Federal Contribution Tax). The tax breaks are also good for the production of accessories, cables, power supplies, and manuals that go along with the tablets.

Foxconn plans to spend $12 billion in Brazil to set up its manufacturing plant and start building the tablets. The negotiations stalled last year when a Brazilian government official said Foxconn had made “crazy demands” for tax cuts. The construction of iPads is expected to start quickly.

[via AppleInsider]

Microsoft reportedly found that the protest had nothing to do with working conditions and was due to staffing assignments and transfer policies at Foxconn. PC World cited a Microsoft statement that said the transfer or voluntary termination offer was made due to “regular production adjustments.” Apparently, only 45 of those workers decided to resign and take the bonuses and pay due to them depending on how long they worked there. The remainder was to be sent to other production lines. No one jumped from the rooftop during the protest.

The part about this that jumps out at me is that the Xbox 360 is still selling very well and is generally the best selling of all three consoles on the market. If you have the best selling console on the market, why would you need to slow production? Could this be an indication that the new Xbox 720 (or whatever it will be called) could be closer than we think? Pure speculation mind you, but an interesting thought.

[via PCWorld]

The event is said to have happened on January 2 and was incited by Foxconn not granting the workers compensation they were promised. A group of workers was allegedly given the option to leave their positions with some compensation or remain at Foxconn with no raise. Most of the group allegedly accepted the option to leave with compensation.

After the workers agreed to leave the agreement for compensation was then changed, and no money handed out. The group of 300 workers then threatened to jump from the top of the building if the promised compensation was not given. According to reports, the mayor of Wuhan came to talk the workers off the top of the building, and the entire group came down from the building by 9pm January 3. Foxconn manufactures products for Apple and other major tech firms.

[via Wantchinatimes]

The last Foxconn explosion killed 3 workers and injured 15. This time’s explosion did not cause a fire but it injured 61 workers with 23 having to be hospitalized for observation. The China Labor Watch, an independent not-for-profit organization that works with unions and labor groups to assess factories in China, released a statement about the blast.

“The blast in Riteng is a result of aluminum dust in the workshop where iPad cases are polished,” said CLW in its statement. “A similar blast happened in the same workshop of a Foxconn’s factory in Chengdu, killing 3 workers and hurting another 15.”

CLW also emphasized that “there is a sharp contrast between the strong performance of Apple and the poor condition of the worker working on its assembly line in China.” Apple is said to be working closely with Pegatron to understand the cause of the accident.

[via 9to5 Mac]

The current Kindle Fire tablet is assembled by Quanta computer and Amazon is expected to move about 5 million of them this year. If Foxconn has in fact landed the contract for the second generation Fire, it will be the source of 80% of the tablets on the market according to DigiTimes. It’s not clear what the next Kindle Fire will be like.

I would think it could be a 3G version of the Fire we already know about. It could also be a larger screen tablet with a 10-inch screen more like the iPad. Foxconn is also the marker for the Sony Tablet S and the iPad 2 tablets. What do you think is more likely, a 3G version of the Fire we know about or a larger screen version?

[via Android Community]

Foxconn already produces the Amazon Kindle ereaders for the retailer, though reportedly passed up on the Kindle Fire production contract as it was already stretched manufacturing Apple’s iPad. Instead, Amazon supposedly worked with Quanta on designing and producing the 7-inch Kindle Fire, basing the tablet, in part, on the existing legwork Quanta had done on the BlackBerry PlayBook.

Previous rumors have suggested that it’s the larger tablet that Amazon is most proud of, with the model announced on Wednesday being something of a rush-job to get to the market in time. It’s not expected to ship until November 15, however, which wouldn’t leave much time prior to the holidays for Amazon to also make a suitable song and dance about the 10-inch version.

According to Reuters, Brazilian government officials say that Foxconn’s plans to produce iPads in Brazil is “in doubt.” They claim that negotiations have stalled because the Taiwanese manufacturer is making “crazy demands” for tax breaks and other special treatment. Combined with other problems with manufacturing in Brazil, including a lack of skilled labor, high taxes, and an overvalued currency, the prospects of a Brazilian iPad seem even less likely.

The initiative to move iPad production to Brazil was first announced back in April and set to begin in July. But since then, Foxconn’s Brazilian iPad production has been pushed back to November with the latest reports pointing to a December shipment. It’s not been clear whether these iPads would be the current generation tablets or the rumored iPad 3s, but now the whole project may get canned altogether.

Foxconn’s proposal is a complex one that involves constructing a new industrial city outside of Sao Paulo. This “intelligent city” would require plenty of new infrastructure, including its own energy facility and roads. The government requires such projects to have Brazilian partners, but the country’s technology sector doesn’t have the investment power to support such an ambitious project. In order to move forward, everything will likely be scaled back.

However, it’s unclear exactly which model of iPad the new facility will focus on. Brazilian reports would suggest that it’s the iPad 2, with Apple looking to reduce the cost of the current model in the country – where it retails from the equivalent of around $1,000 – by around 40-percent. However, DigiTimes claims that it’s more likely to be the iPad 3, with Foxconn boosting its production capabilities by opening the new plant.

The third-gen iPad is expected to use Apple’s new A6 processor, though previous rumors have pegged that processor as not being ready until Q2 2012. It’s also tipped to have a high-resolution Retina Display screen, sticking at 9.7-inches like the existing iPad 2 but running at 2048 x 1536.

[via DigiTimes]

That’s on the way to targets of 5-6m units in September, ramping dramatically to a total of over 22m units in Q4 2011. At the same time, iPhone 4 units are expected to dwindle, with both the GSM and CDMA versions losing popularity as the end of the year approaches. Foxconn’s potential output may well be the limiting factor on supply, at least initially; while Pegatron is tipped to have scored 15-percent of the iPhone 5 manufacturing orders, it may not actually begin shipping until 2012 the sources claim.

As for what the iPhone 5 will bring, so far much of the detail is still speculative. Images believed to have been taken with an iPhone 5 prototype leaked earlier this week indicate an 8-megapixel camera paired with a particularly impressive lens, while a leaked case suggests the handset will be thinner but broader than the existing iPhone 4. That could be to accommodate a larger display, as Apple follows rival smartphone vendors and boosts screen size.

Foxconn has apparently decided that people are too much trouble so it is looking to replace some of the human workers with robots. The number of robots is impressive to say the least. Foxconn is eyeing a million robots in its factories in the next three years. Foxconn says that the move is to cut the rising labor expense and improve the efficiency of the production line.

The robots will be used to do simple tasks like spraying, welding, and assembling that are currently performed by humans. Right now the company has 10,000 robots in place and plans to increase that to 300,000 next year and a million within the next three years. The news of the increase in robots in the plants comes from Foxconn founder and chairman Terry Gou. Considering Foxconn has about 1.2 million workers today it sounds like the robots might replace a very large number of those workers. Foxconn recently lost the contract for the iPad 3 to Pegatron, one of its main competitors.

[via Xinhuanet]

According to Taiwan Economic News, Apple may switch its iPad 3 manufacturer from long-time partner Foxconn to Pegatron, another Taiwan-based contract manufacturer. Pegatron has reportedly already won an order of 15 million units of Apple’s iPhone 5, which is a big shift in Apple’s supply partnerships for up until now, Foxconn had been exclusively assembling iPhones and iPads.

Perhaps partly due to the plant explosion as well as the many cases of reported worker suicides, Apple no longer wants to keep its eggs soley in Foxconn’s basket. Apple also wants to ramp up production to avoid supply bottlenecks like it experienced with the iPad 2.

However, it’s not certain if the contract win by Pegatron is exclusive or if the assembly would be split among the two manufacturers before a complete transition. All other supply chain partnerships for iPad components are expected to remain the same.

Just earlier today, there was a new report that the iPhone 5 will likely arrive in the second week of September with the iPad 3 delayed until November.

[via CEN]

There’s no word on what, exactly, Foxconn has done to avoid another company swooping in, with the report only specifying that it “exerted its efforts” and “persuaded Apple … for the moment.” However, Apple has reportedly been pressing its supply chain for fresh cuts in component and production charges, asking for as much as a 10-percent reduction in what they are charging. That could suggest Foxconn may have negotiated a cheaper deal for Apple in return for some exclusivity.

Whether that will be enough to satisfy Apple remains to be seen. According to the original reports, the company’s motivation was to secure consistent iPad supplies, after accidents at Foxconn’s Chengdu plant in western China impacted on production rates. It’s only recently that availability of the iPad 2 has shifted to 3-5 days.

Pegatron, it’s said, is now looking to the iPad 4 and notebook/desktop orders from Apple in an attempt to secure future business. The company is already believed to be involved in a 15m unit order for iPhone 5 handsets for delivery in September.

“Apple’s sales estimates of the new iPhone is quite aggressive” one anonymous supplier informed the paper, going on to suggest that the Cupertino company said “to prepare to help the company meet its goal of 25 million units by the end of the year. However, “the initial production volume will be a few million units… we were told to ship the components to assembler Hon Hai in August” they continued, echoing reports from late last week about the state of Foxconn’s order book.

Even Hon Hai’s chairman, Terry Gou, has admitted that production difficulties have held the company back. “The touch-screen devices are so thin. It’s really difficult to install so many components into the iPhones and iPads,” he suggested at the company’s annual general meeting last month. “We hope to raise the yield rate and volume in the second half which will help improve our gross margin” he continued.

There’s also corroboration for the iPhone 5 using Qualcomm wireless baseband chips, which are expected to be used to make the fifth-gen smartphone a so-called World Phone capable of using either GSM or CDMA networks. Earlier this week, rumors suggested Pegatron had also received next-gen iPhone orders for a handset markedly similar to the current CDMA model it produces for Apple. That led to suggestions that Apple might be bisecting the iPhone range into two models, a basic evolution of the current iPhone 4, perhaps the iPhone 4S, with Pegatron producing it, and then a high-range iPhone 5.

The new leak echos talk from Friday, though that suggested Foxconn had clinched the next-gen iPhone production contract. Until now, Pegatron has been responsible for CDMA iPhone 4 production, the handsets used on Verizon and other carriers outside the US, though previous leaks have suggested the iPhone 5 will be a so-called World Phone offering both GSM and CDMA compatibility in a single device.

If that’s the case, then Foxconn and Pegatron could well be producing the same device, with Apple hedging its supply chain bets across two companies so as to hopefully avoid any bottlenecks. Alternatively, one manufacturer could be responsible for the advanced iPhone 5, while the other could be producing the more affordable iPhone 4S which has also been rumored.

Teardowns of the CDMA iPhone 4 actually confirmed that Apple had used Qualcomm’s MDM6600 radio chipset, itself capable – with the right firmware and software – of utilizing both CDMA and GSM networks. However, Apple purposefully decided to limit the handset to CDMA-only. It could well be the case that Pegatron is producing the iPhone 4S, ostensibly similar to the existing iPhone 4 (some rumors have tipped the inclusion of the dual-core Apple A5 processor as in the iPad 2) only with new World Phone support.

That could leave Foxconn to produce the iPhone 5, said to be a more significant departure in style and functionality. As well as the dual-core CPU, rumors have suggested the iPhone 5 will have a larger, 3.7-inch display, an 8-megapixel camera and potentially NFC connectivity. Foxconn is also expected to begin next-gen iPhone shipments in September.

The explosion happened in one of the solvent waste treatment rooms at the facility. Intel’s Josh Walden said that the internal investigation could take days to determine the cause of the explosion. Walden said, “We’re trying to ascertain what happened,” he said. “All we know is that there was no damage or release of chemicals to the community.” The treatment room where the explosion happened is one of several used to treat chemicals used in the chip making process before it is shipped offsite for disposal.

The workers in the room were just starting the treatment process when the explosion happened. One of the workers was taken to Maricopa Medical Center with serious but non-life threatening injuries. Two others were taken to a local hospital and a fourth was later taken to the hospital. Intel notes that the fire suppression system in the building worked as intended and that an evacuation was ordered as a precaution. An explosion in China at a Foxconn facility last month killed several workers.

[via Bizjournals]

The latest company added to Apple’s major supplier list is Chimei Innolux. The company is slated to supply touch panels for Apple’s iPad 2 and should have its first shipment in by June. The company has recently signed an IPS technology licensing agreement with Hitachi. IPS is the display technology currently used in Apple’s tablet display to allow for wide viewing angles.

Chimei is also a longtime affiliate of Foxconn, Apple’s main manufacturing partner. This relationship will help streamline Apple’s production, with Chimei possibly taking over the complete process from panel production to touch components to final assembly.

Although LG’s light leaking displays was originally blamed for the supply kink, it’s unlikely that either LG or Samsung will be replaced, as Apple needs all hands on deck now to meet its iPad 2 demands. The recent tragic Foxconn explosion has also added to Apple’s production woes.

[via Electronista]

Chairman of Foxconn’s parent company Hon Hai, Terry Gou, took the opportunity during the ensuing chaos to claim that the supply of the iPad and other iPhone and iPad related products would not be affected. According to iSuppli’s analysis that claim may turn out to be false. According to iSuppli, the production of 500,000 iPads is at risk from the explosion each month. The shortage of tablets depends on the outcome of the investigation into the cause of the explosion and assumes the investigation keeps the assembly line shut down until the end of June.

iSuppli notes that most of the iPad 2 production is being sent to another plant in Shenzhen, but that plant may not be able to compensate for all of the lost output. That other facility can produce 7.5 million units for Q2. iSuppli estimates that 7.4 million iPad 2 tablets will ship during Q2, and Foxconn needs to make and ship between 7.8 and 8.1 million units for Q2. The numbers show that Foxconn will fall short of shipping goals by 300,000 to 600,000 units for the quarter making the iPad 2 harder to find.

[via Foxconn]

The investigation into the tragedy is still ongoing. One worker that escaped the explosion said that it “was louder than thunder.” Work in the affected building was ended and isn’t expected to resume until Tuesday. Apple offered an initial statement to AllThingsD Friday stating, “We are deeply saddened by the tragedy at Foxconn’s plant in Chengdu, and our hearts go out to the victims and their families. We are working closely with Foxconn to understand what caused this terrible event.”

China Times reports that the production of the iPad hasn’t been affected by the explosion. Hon Hai Chairman Terry Gou said that meetings with suppliers had already been held and that not only would the tragedy not delay the iPad 2 production. The time was also taken to tease new products related to the iPhone and iPad still on time for production in Q3. Foxconn issued a statement to AllThingsD that is pasted below.

We can confirm that at approximately 7 pm on May 20, there was an explosion at our Chengdu campus. At this point, we can also confirm that there were two fatalities with injuries to 16 other employees. We are working with medical officials to provide treatment to the injured employees and we are working with government and law enforcement officials to contact the families of all employees affected by this tragedy.

The situation has been brought under control by the fire department and the cause of this explosion is being investigated by local police officials. Foxconn is cooperating fully with that investigation. Production has been suspended at the site of the explosion until the completion of the investigation. The safety of our employees is our highest priority and we will do whatever is required to determine and address the cause of this tragic accident.

Early feedback suggests “more than 10 fire engines, 10 ambulances, [and] many police cars” are in attendance, with press warned to keep clear of the A05 production building because more explosions could take place. “Super light dust” has been blamed for the incident.

Foxconn is yet to respond to requests for information. We’ll update as we hear more.

Update: New reports suggest that at least two employees are dead and sixteen injured, of which three are apparently seriously so. Preliminary investigations have supposedly ruled out human-caused factors for the explosion.

[via Cult of Mac]

Apple is having the same issue with the supply of its tablet, the iPad 2, in some areas. The popularity of the tablet and shortage of needed components means that Apple and its suppliers are having a hard time keeping up with demand. DigiTimes reports that Foxconn is having a shortage not only of some materials needed for Apple’s iPhone 4 and iPad 2 construction, but a shortage of labor as well. The shortages are reportedly at the Foxconn Chengdu, China plant.

The shortage of supplies and labor are likely to affect supplies of the Apple gear in Q2 according to sources. Part of the reason for supply shortages is the earthquakes that racked Japan not long ago. Foxconn says that it is arranging its production lines and labor to meet the needs of its clients. Some of the needed components that are in short supply include power amplifiers and memory. These shortages will make it hard for Foxconn to meet Apple’s demand for 2.5-3 million units each month of the quarter for the iPad 2.

[via DigiTimes]

The three employees were suspected of having leaked the designs to outside accessories companies in China. The iPad 2 shells being sold online were molded to the correct sizes and cutouts to accommodate the new 33% thinner body, rear-facing camera, new location of the integrated mic, and the larger speaker grille.

The cases being made to fit the iPad 2 so accurately had Foxconn suspicious that their own employees must have leaked the specs and thus reported the situation to the police. The local police arrested the three suspected employees on December 26th of last year, and officially charged them for violating the company’s trade secrets on March 23rd.

[via AppleInsider]

“The Android platform infringes a number of Microsoft’s patents, and companies manufacturing and shipping Android devices must respect our intellectual property rights,” Deputy General Counsel Horacio Gutierrez said in a statement, “To facilitate that we have established an industry-wide patent licensing program for Android device manufacturers.”

According to Gutierrez, Microsoft “tried for over a year to reach licensing agreements with Barnes & Noble, Foxconn, and Inventec.” Other manufacturers such as HTC, have already agreed to license Microsoft patents.

“Their refusals to take licenses leave us no choice but to bring legal action to defend our innovations and fulfill our responsibility to our customers, partners, and shareholders to safeguard the billions of dollars we invest each year to bring great software products and services to market,” said Gutierrez.

[via All Things Digital]

However, DigiTimes‘ sources claim that while a deal was potentially in the works in Q4 2010, it was subsequently called off “for an unknown reason” and has been dead since then. Samsung was believed to be considering using HP’s notebook production to offset a reduction in component orders from rivals, cautious about relying on a company which is aggressively promoting its own notebook lines.

HP CEO Leo Apotheker recently confirmed that the company planned to put webOS on every PC from 2012, a move that would be at odds with selling off the computing business. The company is also believed to be assigning development of the Touchpad 2 – successor to the not-yet-released HP Touchpad tablet – to the notebook team, in the hope of making it more appealing to enterprise users than Apple’s iPad 2.

The company apparently intended to begin mass production in January next year, but longer than expected testing of the firmware has meant that schedule had to be pushed back. Initial shipments are tipped to amount to 400,000 – 600,000 units.

As for the hardware itself, there have been various rumors about the iPad 2′s functionality, including talk of an iPhone 4-style Retina Display and a carbon fiber frame. The iOS slate is also expected to have a front-facing camera for Face Time video calls.

Existing iPad supply comes from Foxconn’s Shenzhen plants, which are capable of producing 2.5m units per month. Q4 2010 shipments are tipped to exceed 7m units, while overall 2010 volumes could surpass 15m, according to sources. Foxconn are also expected to be heavily involved in production of the iPad 2, Apple’s second-generation iPad that many believe will launch in April 2011.

The identity of each device is unknown at this stage, but all will run webOS.  Barring the PalmPad, the assumption is that they will all be smartphones of some design, with slider and QWERTY candybars – like the current Pre and Pixi models – probably featuring, and hopefully something larger to take on big-screen rivals like the HTC Desire HD.

[via PreCentral]

According to the workers, they breathed in chemical vapors while working that lead to poisoning and hospitalization for many. This isn’t the first time factory workers building Apple gear have claimed to have been poisoned on the job. The chemicals used to shine up the silver parts were cited previously.

ABC News Australia said in its report:

After breathing in the chemical’s vapors, they became dizzy and numb and eventually they could not walk. “At first the symptoms were pretty obvious. My hands were numb. I could hardly walk or run,” one woman told the ABC. “I think they knew it was poisonous to human bodies but if they had used another chemical our output would not have increased,” another woman said. “By using n-hexane, it was much more efficient”. The women have now been in hospital for more than half a year. “I am back at work but my symptoms are still with me,” one worker said. “My legs still hurt. This will accompany me for the rest of my life. It’s very painful.” The workers’ boss, Zhong Jianxiang, was not available to be interviewed.

Via 9to5Mac

Sony, Foxconn and Wistron are unsurprisingly declining to comment on the reports, though the companies are already working together for production of various sets.  Apparently only 20- to 30-percent of 2011 models will be in-house designs, with the remainder split equally between OEM and ODM designs.

Instead, Foxconn says, most handset manufacturers are facing the same increases in labor and component costs, and would be unable to drop their own quotes.  The company – a subdivision of Hon Hai Industry – has agreed to increase workers’ salaries to help reduce the number of suicides among employees.

According to Citibank analyst Chang Kaiwei, Nokia, Microsoft and Sony Ericsson should all expect bigger bills from Foxconn in the near future.  However the company isn’t exactly failing as it is; profits are simply expected to get bigger in Q4 2010 thanks to the increase in costs, and Citi expect a 30-percent sales growth in 2011 from 2010.

[via CrunchGear]

In fact, the sources at manufacturers claim that only two or three of Taiwan’s smartphone producers may actually decide to make Windows Phone 7 devices.  The decision could be seen as an attempt to pressure Microsoft into reducing their licensing fees, a move which is nonetheless seen as unlikely.

Foxconn has now confirmed that a female worker that had been with the company since March has attempted to commit suicide by jumping from the building. The woman who jumped was 22 and worked in the factory placing plastic spacers in boxes.

The woman was only identified as Miss Liu. She was caught by the safety nets strung between buildings and at first thought to only be slightly injured in the fall. As it turns out the injuries were more serious and Miss Lui later died from her injuries.

via Micgadget

Steve Jobs himself confirmed that Apple was exploring other ways to address the iPhone 4′s antenna issues at the company’s press conference a little over a week ago.  While a full recall is not on the cards, there’s been plenty of speculation that Apple is looking to tweak their hardware design alongside the launch of the delayed white iPhone 4.

However, a private, more tightly controlled facility would also allow Apple to work with Foxconn on the next-generation iPhone 4; while the latest model has only been on the market for a relatively short period, it’s no secret that development of the handsets stretches into years and Apple is undoubtedly considering the device that will replace it.  Foxconn’s record of secrecy has been punctuated by various high-profile leaks together with employee suicides, and this temporary works might be a move to better control access to development information.

[via 9 to 5 Mac]

The suicides are blamed on low morale and thought to possibly be linked to the death benefit packages Foxconn was paying to families of the deceased that amounted to about ten years pay for the workers. Foxconn has since stopped paying the death benefits.

Gizmodo has posted a picture sent to the publication of what is supposed to be a pair of Foxconn owned buildings with nets strung between them both. The speculation is that the nets are there to prevent jumpers from killing themselves. They look just like the sort strung under bridges to stop workers from falling.

One of the rumors that surfaced recently was that Foxconn might be closing its Chinese factories altogether. Digital Trends reports that Foxconn has now handed control of its worker dorms over to a property management group.

Foxconn has 153 dorms that house over 450,000 workers. Under the new management groups, the workers would now be charged rent. However, Foxconn will reportedly be offering a housing stipend. Whether or not that stipend will cover all of the rent is unknown.

It seems it’s just a cosmetic issue – someone at Foxconn made a mistake with the two button caps, and accidentally fitted them the wrong way around – but given the value of mis-stamped coins and incorrectly printed stamps these dodgy iPhone 4′s could be worth a few extra dollars in years to come.  Of course, someone could just as easily accuse you of following iFixit’s teardown guide and switching them yourself, so probably best to simply complain to Apple instead.