Reports have circulated the internet that a 25-year old worker at Chinese manufacturer Foxconn, which produces all the iPhone models for Apple, committed suicide last week following revelation that a fourth-generation
iPhone prototype, one of the 16 iPhones he was responsible for, had gone missing. Some stories circulating have described illegal searches of the man's apartment and interrogation involving physical abuse by other Foxconn employees. While not confirming the case being a suicide or the cause being the disappearing device, a spokesperson for the Cupertino-based company did release a statement corroborating the news of his death, saying that it is "saddened by the tragic loss of this young employee, and we are awaiting results of the investigations into his death. We require our suppliers to treat all workers with dignity and respect." The status of the missing iPhone prototype, which may or may not have been one that earlier this month
found itself on eBay given the timeframe (although a 3GS model and not "fourth generation") remains unknown. Our hearts go out to all involved.
Read - Statement form Apple
Read - iPhone prototype goes missing; Chinese worker investigated, commits suicide
posted Jul 21st 2009 11:23PM
You feel sadness, but what are you going to do about it?
I bet what really happened was Apple sent "agents" to question him about how he was selling plans to the KIRF makers and they demanded he commit an honorable suicide to save his family shame.
Int he future, when Apple has its own air force, KIRF maker
s will get hit with AIR STRIKES.
one thing is for sure, i do not wanna mess with Steve!
In no way is Apple directly responsible for this. Indirectly, however, the extreme secrecy they try to maintain over their product launches is the catalyst that ultimately led to this event.
1. Apple tries to keep product launches as secret as possible.
2. Intense secrecy leads to a scarcity of information about highly desired Apple products.
3. Scarcity leads to increased demand.
4. Increased demand yields a high dollar value on any information regarding upcoming Apple products.
5. Prototype iPhone "goes missing".
6. Prototype handler is "interrogated".
7. Prototype handler commits suicide as a result of the interrogation.
I bet Jobs personally killed him bare handed for losing the prototype.
Why would Apple do anything? Its feigned sadness by Apple's part. Its well known that Apple uses draconian tactics to keep their trade secrets.
Apple will do shit. Apple investigated Foxconn in 2006 due to sweatshop claims and alleged employee abuse. Female workers make less then $50 a week to make an iPod and forces them to live in slums; they build these products in absolute horrid conditions. This is three fuckin' years ago. Absolutely NOTHING done, and business continued as usual.
The same company, Foxconn, its been found to abuse an employee to the point of suicide on Apple's behalf. Shame on Apple; the new Sith of tech companies.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/06/06/12/ipod_city_inside_apples_ipod_factories.html
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/06/06/20/apple_begins_audit_on_ipod_sweatshop_claims.html
There is no confirmation that it was a suicide, so the only logical explanation would be that he was thrown into a pool with sharks with laser beams on their heads.
Are Foxconn employees working on Apple products suspected to be given worse working conditions than their other employees? Serious question, I honestly don't know. I do know that many of these manufacturing companies require that employees live in company housing (and pay for it too, I think!) and many practices that most people don't ever hear about.
Yesterday I read that Apple was conspiring with the mob and implanting devices into the Ipod touch and Nano devices so they could listen in and spy on this particular individual. Then I hear someone has committed suicide after being accused of stealing an apple product. I am beginning to wonder if maybe apple and the mob really are in bed. Dun Dun Dun!!!!
I don't blame Apple for this. I blame sites like engadget, Apple Insider, MacRumors, Gizmodo, and more. 20 years ago, companies could happily toil away for years on a product and then release it to the world in a flourish of theatrical surprise. Now, every damn blogger in the world wants to get every stitch of info about a product, and push it out so they can scoop the competition in the hopes of getting a few more hits on the site to appease the advertisers.
And we're to blame, too. If we didn't read this stuff, they wouldn't print it. But we do. We are all responsible for consuming rumors, gossip, and dirt. Maybe if we cared more about feeding the poor or climate change, rumors wouldn't be a commodity. But we don't.
F-ck that sh-t!!! If Apple doesn't come out supporting the family(financially), they lost ALL my respect and hopefully everyone else with a moral fiber left... i say ban those f-ckers until they come out and publicly do something more than "expresses their sadness". It's a freak'n human live idiots!!!
Jimmy are you serious?
This is clearly a tragic case, no doubt. But you have to live with stuff like that, you can't save the world, you can support the world. Pay a monthly fee to charity, shut down your computer if you care that much about the environment instead of giving freaking blogs the blame. It's to damn easy.
If it's not Foxconn, it's Apple, if it's not Apple it's the world - but everything is still run by humans including you Jimmy!
Uh huh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6toaQXwCdU
This uproar over Apple's secrecy is silly. Apple is neither directly nor indirectly responsible for this. Many companies deal with trade secrets in a far more draconian way than Apple (think about companies developing military technology); we just don't hear about it.
This is a tragedy, to be sure, but if any company has responsibility, it's FoxConn. And if the allegations of abuse and interrogation turn out to be true, Apple must hold FoxConn accountable or switch vendors.
According to the Chinese report, this man was responsible for some integration work on the fourth generation iPhone N90.
"孙丹勇主要负责富士康公司Apple iPhone第四代N90的导入"
Boycott the 3GS.
How many more people need to die before Apple finally allows blu-ray playback in OS X!?
It's not a matter of people dying. It's a matter of Apple wants people to go out and buy new macs, and specifically macpros, so that just after everybody finally gets off of PowerPC they can go ahead and re-invent blu ray and everybody will want to buy new machines again. Because if it's not an official Apple blu-ray drive in the machine, it's crap.
I ROFL when I read your comment...and now I hate myself for doing it.
Poor sucker.
Dear Leader Kim Jong Jobs must be real proud by the glorious example set by this guy.
It's also fitting that all the Fanboi rags including the gadget blogs are putting on kid gloves when approaching the Apple angle of this story peddling that cold Press Release with no follow up questions. If this happened to Sony or heavens forbid Microsoft I can imagine a slew of Photo-shopped Ballmer pics screaming at or decapitating an Asian guy along with heavy dose of Faux Outrage.
Seriously, they "interrogated" the poor guy over a shiny plastic product? WTF. This company and those that enable and rationalize its BS "secrecy" schtick need to take a long walk off a short cliff.
Way to go Apple. I'm not sure what I would do if I knew Apple was going to kill me.
I wouldn't worry to much, they'd all be trying to stab me with beautiful iKnives that got rid of the handle in order to be more compact thus the assailant would hurt himself more than me in an effort to try and murder me.
Well said, reconcile
It's must be hard for this man's family but putting the blame on Apple is silly after all they don't own Foxconn. Leaks of future products can cost money and give rivals an idea of what you are up to. Apple are not social workers.
You? You would scream like a girl and run into walls because you're stupid to figure out where the door is. It takes a whole lot of stupid to blame Apple for something like this, since Apple has nothing to do with Foxconn. You can tell by the name "Foxconn". It's not spelled or pronounced "Apple".
You guys are all so lame. Clearly the reason Foxconn would be so worried is because of how secretive Apple is, therefore Apple's insane secrecy indirectly is partly responsible. Relax a little people.
Jordan - Stop being an ignorant dipshit.
According to Shanghaiist’s translation, what drove him to jump to his death from a 12-story building was the torture he was going through at the hands of Foxconn security.
Is that not clear enough for you? Should we use smaller words? IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH APPLE.
To your eye it has nothing to do with Apple, how do we know it doesn't? How do we know Apple wasn't presuring ForConn to fix this? My original comment was more of a joke than anything towards Apple because we all know how Apple is with secrecy, and yes, I can see them going after someone. Relax dude, go back to protecting your precious Apple.
Stop being such a douche, if this had been a Microsoft product people would be all over Microsoft and you know it.
your right if i knew apple was gonna torcher my ass real slow dip me in acid hang me by my balls from a post and beat me and murder my family i would kill myself to
I take back any iPhone fanboy comments I have made to others. This guy takes the cake.
It's not a matter of people dying. It's a matter of Apple wants people to go out and buy new macs, and specifically macpros, so that just after everybody finally gets off of PowerPC they can go ahead and re-invent blu ray and everybody will want to buy new machines again. Because if it's not an official Apple blu-ray drive in the machine, it's crap.
We know already. You already said that.
lol, he just wants Center Of Attention... ha ha
orrr I hit reply, but Engadget comment system blows so it created a new post. Since I couldn't delete it I then reposted it in the correct spot.
@Jordan
ummm, selling stuff every few years is called "Business"
It's what these "businesses" do.
If Apple hadn't innovated or sold anything since PowerPC's they'd no longer be a "business".
Would you fault Microsoft if they stayed at Windows ME? Or maybe we should have stayed with MS-DOS, because then nobody would have to buy anything new. Perhaps Minux should still be the kernel for Ubuntu?
Innovation is good. Innovation for the sake of innovation is not. Blu-Ray has not really taken off, and probably never will. I have a Blu-Ray player, and I use it to stream Netflix more than I watch Blu-Rays. I own a couple dozen Blu-Rays, and have the Netflix Blu-Ray plan. I also do hi-def downloads, and more and more people do.
The difference between VHS and DVD was staggering. Quality and convenience of DVD were magnitudes above VHS. The step from DVD to Blu-Ray is much smaller, and the movies cost at least double. Prices may come down, but it's too late. Hi-Def downloads are the future.
@Jimmy:
That's such crap. Blu-Ray is what people want to be able to burn their newer content onto. Macs are used the most in media production... as in: HD video content (amongst other things). Yet, there's no options for a Blu-Ray drive. Just because you prefer to download bootleg movies doesn't mean that's what everyone does. Some of us have large, nice, 1080p televisions and need disc-based content that actually gets everything out of the tech it harbors. You can't get the same content from downloads. You don't get the special features, you don't get the full 1080p, you don't get all of the audio or subtitle options. Computer hardware manufacturers are supposed to at least *offer* the bigger-better-thing for those with the money to spend. If you don't offer what's actually pretty popular in your industry and you stick with the old stuff because you don't "like" the format, you're hurting those customers that rely on you to offer them the best.
Calling it "too late" for a format that's been gaining popularity steadily is just asinine. Get a 46" 1080p tv (or look at one in a store) playing a recent Blu-Ray disc and then try watching one of your 720p (or MASSIVE 1080i) downloaded videos and you'd see the difference.
Also, saying that they're double the price is wrong. Just incorrect. A new release DVD is usually around the $17 mark while the two-disc version with all of the special features is around $25. A new release Blu-Ray is usually about $27 when released side-by-side with the same movie on DVD. The Blu-Ray versions of these movies include usually the same (if not *more*) content while offering a noticeable bump in picture quality (again, with a decent tv of course). So, you're looking at $2 more for a Blu-Ray with at least as much content as a two-disc DVD version of a film. Just because they don't offer a stripped-down version doesn't mean that it's more expensive than its DVD counterpart, it just means that it's aimed at those who have spent the money on a compatible player and tv... those would usually be called enthusiasts. Just like when DVD first came out and they were priced higher than their VHS brethren.
I can't believe it.
I hate you.
R.I.P Billy Mays :(
R.I.P. MJ.
R.I.P. FF.
R.I.P. Prototype Handler.
I can't believe this thing went out of control this bad. Granted, I'm sure the guy had emotional problems of his own and this just sent him over the edge, but still, there had to have been at least one guy who thought, "Oh, shit, he might actually kill himself." I'm still very confused about this: Torture and illegal searches and the like are certainly horrible actions and Apple should be punished for them, but then again, he did lose a prototype for a phone that could have affected Apple's iPhone sales immensely.
All because of Apple's pointless secrecy.
I fear you may be right. Apple's strict leakage policies probably lead to this tragedy.
super secrecy for a phone that had absolutely no aesthetic change compared to its predecessor.
Is it a bad thing that i read the title as a joke about iAssassinations and actually laughed out loud?
He didnt kill himself!! The assclowns he worked for did it!
"We require our suppliers to treat all workers with dignity and respect." No shit :/
http://www.theage.com.au/technology/biz-tech/terrified-chinese-iphone-worker-kills-himself-after-prototype-misplaced-20090722-dsl8.html
And you guys said Apple wasn't in bed with the mob.
I don't know why this death is making so much headlines. It has little if anything to do with Apple, and is just another example of how Chinese manufactures have a hard time keeping secrets. Suicide in Asia is a lot different than in the west, and should not be look at exactly the same. Asia countries are all about keeping honor, and if one fails at that they are likely to take their own life. Much like the recently past president of Korea. Sad but true.
Really ,
Its about honor ?
You must have been drinking APPLE juice.
If not for the draconian secrecy the guys would have not taken his life.
Its just a phone , not nuclear secret.
You obviously don't understand the situation. This has nothing to do about Apple. It has to do about another company. Read the article one more time, then google or wikipedia Foxconn. Now, I don't know if you have lived in Asia for an extended period of time. But my original statement is true. Talk to a university research psychologist whom specializes in international psychology. That does not make the situation less sad, but it makes one questions whether the news should be in a tech forum.
@sarp
my god are you a clueless twit.
The device in the report of this suicide is a 4G iPhone. The item for sale on eBay was a 3Gs, or you could maybe call it a "3G" since it was the 3rd generation. But it is in no way a 4G. So I doubt the eBay phone and this one lost are the same ones.
you guys really need to need to hit the read links, to find out the full story. After he owned up to losing the iphone prototype, and it's the NEXT iphone not 3GS that was lost, his apartment was illegally raided by Foxconn's(builds iphones for Apple) security team, detained, rumors of possible torture(seriously). He cracks and throws himself out the window. Security team is suspended without pay, and under investigation. Everyone sends out their condolences even though they don't give two shits and world moves on.
you got my vote on this. and people here still make jokes... imagine this was your brother or cousin than tell your jokes idiots.
Well head on over to Nokia, Palm or HTC and see how it feels to build crap phones. Oh, don't bother, nobody cares about you or those companies. It's Apple and iPhone all the way.
The guy died in China and I would imagine a life lost there is like accidently stepping on one ant out of an army of billions, although I'm sure he will be missed by his immediate family.
WOW
Some Chinese media reports alleged the apartment search was illegal and quoted former classmates saying that Sun told them he was beaten and harshly interrogated by his superiors.
Steve, if this turns out to be true, will you continue to use them? I say yes! but apple will want a discount to be sure...
If that's the case, Foxconn will get sued massively, especially given the high-profile nature of the case, but nothing will happen to Apple.
jeeze Engadget, lose the unplugged cable picture...creepy imagery for this story
....what?...
You are quite the character IphoneRulez, truly.
Someone's still livin' in 2007.
You're telling me the next iPhone is already in prototype form? I mean, I have no doubts they've already started working on it...but a prototype?
That is...unless all they're doing is adding multitasking...since that would basically be the same phone again, just as the last 3 years.
designers, engineers, and quality assurance are always working you know
let's go over the product development cycle
------------- Year 1 > ---Year 2 ---- > Year 3 ---- > Year 4
project 1 design > engineering > Q&A -->product launch
project 2 --------- > design ------ > engineering > Q&A -->product launch
project 3 ------------------------------ > design ------ > engineering > Q&A -->product launch
If I lost an iPhone prototype I would probably kill myself too, before the agents in the Aluminum and fingerprint-resistant glass van pulls up and the Agents dressed in "supposed-to-be-normal-but-rich-looking" attire pop out and kill you first.
Oh and I have more! but it is racist so I will go to bed, night!
Suicide my black ass. He was probably questioned, then bludgeoned to death. Poor guy. :( What kind of secrecy clauses causes someone to "commit suicide" over a prototype? We want answers, Apple.
right, because the chinese word for "apple" is Foxconn............
He should have at least leaked some pictures before committing suicide.
I just thought that they may already have a 2010 Iphone in the making which is mentioned in this article.
This would have made me push back my iphone 3GS purchase because the next iphone would have to be A LOT better than the 3GS.
But maybe the iphone mentioned here is just the WIFIL-less Chinese model and it would be stupid to wait for the 2010 yet.
What do you think?
I really think you should shut up and show some respect :)
i see the next block buster film in this!!!!
read this one.
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/07/a-chinese-worker-has-killed-himself-after-a-fourth-generation-iphone-prototype-he-was-responsible-for-disappeared---the-25-y.html?csp=34
Could someone verify that if the liver of this poor guy is missing or not?
Don Steve Jobs "this is what happens to people who steals from apple"
I know it was you *insert Chinese name*. You broke my heart
That is probably how Steve gets his new organs to keep on living.
What else are they going to say?
Dont mess with Apples protos. Bad things will happen and people, well, lets just say they get taken care of.
@ cmd
And getting mad over a troll says what about you?
i can't speak with any authority, but I'm pretty sure just about every damn phone out there is built in China. This could have just as easily been a Nokia, HTC, Samsung, or LG prototype. Douche.
i've not heard of any sony employees committing suicide, but the psp go and ps3 slim seem to be leaking every other day!!
i guess apple aren't as forgiving... :(
Yep, I'm going to hell for laughing at iphonerulez' comment. :'-(
Jobs pushed him?
Lots of really stupid people on Engadget tonight. Only a complete tool would blame Apple, (or HP or anyone else for that matter) over something like this.
Here's a newsflash - shit made in China is cheaper for a reason. That reason, primarily, is the the workers get paid shit compared to the US and Europe.
Don't like it? Don't buy shit made in China... If you can find anything not made there, that is...
Of course, I guess the alternative is that they all just go back to working in the rice paddys.
You are an idiot.
Are you living in island paradise ?
Do you know that you bought chinese products too
Apple wants to be secretive about future products like any tech company - they all have security policies, and anyone who thinks Apple is in some way different from other companies obviously needs to do some research.
The actions of other people are not the responsibility of Apple and nor should they be. Apple says, "we want secrecy" - not, "we want secrecy so if anyone leaks or loses prototypes, could you illegally interrogate and possibly torture them to the point of suicide?"
The number of comments here attempting to lay blame at the feet of Apple because they're "secretive" is depressing.
Just to make this clear - blaming Apple just means that you are not blaming the people who are actually responsible for this man's death, the people who allegedly interrogated and tortured him. To suggest that their actions are OK and that Apple is actually responsible is disgusting - get your damn heads read.
What I want to know is, is there nothing so sensitive, not even a person's death, that you won't misuse it in an attempt to sling mud at Apple? Sadly, it looks like that question has been answered in the affirmative.
Indeed, sir. Indeed.
=/
so you don't believe in "following the money"? Who pays who who pays who.......may ultimately be responsible for somewhat of what happened? Pay to get a job done(no matter what it is, don't care how) and this is what happens over zealous ppl working for a "god complex company.....my 2cents
Please look into detail on the news again...ITS not APPLE who did the interogation.
ITS Foxconn the outsourcing plant that Apple used to produce their product.
if you are aware of the industry...APPLE mostly use ASUS and Foxconn as their outsourcing partner.
like my iPOD nano was in fact ship out directly from Foxconn facility to my door step.
Apple have their policy to keep their product secret before launching and it is Foxconn to follow but do you think apple will even put in the procedure to question employee where's the stolen goods if this happen. This is up to Foxconn management.
what happen in china...anything is possible...if you ever been to any major city at China you will realise. Its not I try to look down on them its just the changes and development happen so fast that people seem to be in a lost how to handle things/ crisis/ issues.
Death of a Fanboy, not a good thing. see the hype is too large for life....
Why do they (Apple) have to make everything so secretive??
Think about it, if it was January 2009, and Apple told everyone that there will be an iPhone 3G S coming this summer, I bet that the same number of people will go ahead and buy it! In fact, I think that there will be more people who will buy it,,,
For example, think of the people who saw the Apple announce "New iPhone 3G S, available next week!!", the people would be like "Oh shit, if I knew that they will make a new phone, I wouldn't have bought the new *insert phone here* two weeks ago!"
So say that Apple will release iPhone "4" in June 2010... They announce it in January 2010, people would 'hold' from buying other phones that could be released from January to June 2010, they would prefer to have the new iPhone...
Plus, people who bought an iPhone 3G a month before the arrival of the 3G S would be very angry!
morbid reality...tsk tsk tsk
its yet another sad news for apple....after a recent news that iPhone Hackers Get a Break...this news will add to the sorrow...its now time for companies ......It is better for everyone to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the security of devices, and make informed decisions about what devices they should use and how they should use them, rather than having only the bad guys know how they work...this would remove the doubts on consumers while choosing their products...with iphone ( http://en.oboulo.com/the-iphone-63191.html ) having already occupied a large share in the market this news is surely a huge blow to the developers of iphone.
steve. ninja. interrogate. kill.
You've heard of blood diamonds, now we will have blood iPhones.
Nuff said!
Actually, the one on eBay was found to be a 3G prototype, not a 3GS.
Apple, wait for your 10X Karma. It won't be good, I'm telling ya. It won't be good.
A phone to die for...