We suspect there's more than a few chapters left in the story of 25-year old Foxconn factory worker who died in an apparent suicide this month, following the
disappearance of a prototype next-generation iPhone. The latest newsbit, this time care of
Bloomberg, is that a security official for Hon Hai, a company with 72 percent stake in Foxconn, has been suspended and turned over to Chinese government authorities, with the suspicion / implication here that there's a direct correlation between this and the suicide. Though unconfirmed at this point, reports circulating say the worker had been harassed by company security prior to his death.
Yahoo! Tech has all those details, and the official investigation is ongoing. We'd like to say there'll be conclusive answers in this case sometime in the near future, but we're not getting our hopes up.
Read - Hon Hai Suspends Official After iPhone Worker Suicide
Read - China suicide puts spotlight on secretive Apple culture
posted Jul 22nd 2009 10:41PM
That sucks :(
Yea Apple iPhone "Find-Me" aint workin in china...
Bunch of nubz..
How do you let a bunch of nubs handle an iPhone... YO, all you bitchez strip to your knickers... One of you dirty a$$ spies gonna get an anal examination. and when we find the dirty a$$ thief who tried to steal from me we are gonna shove 10 KIRF iPhones up yer arse!
What TF does Apple expect when they deal with China?!? All of you yuppies with iPhones are paying the price of this poor mans death.
That's why I give RIM and other such companies mad respect when they only deal with Canada, US, and Mexico because you know at least there are SOME labor standards. China is the devil and anyone who deals with them is no better so.
@KMAN,
I can confirm that RIM also does some of its manufacturing in China. Next time check some of your RIM accessories (such as chargers) to see where they are made.
KMAN
Everything from the cloths you wear and the computer your probably using to post is made or has components made in china. This is not about a countries work ethic. And if you didn't know people kill themselves because of their jobs all over the world. This is gets the press hear because it has a connection to apple. Hope he left a damming letter about what happened to him after losing the prototype.
"YO, all you bitchez" ...
Thank God we have the English speaking Elite of our community here to put things into perspective.
KMAN
dude, I hope you are still alive when you decide not to buy anything from China... maybe you're already dead because you can't find even a cake or you can't use any of your communication utilities(cellphone,phone or even radio) to send SOS when you're in emergency. It's just a suicide that will happen everywhere in the world. Don't react like a man being brainwashed.
I was under the impression Hon-Hai Precision Co literally *is* Foxconn.
They have their own city of manufacturing. It's huge.
They're a subsidiary. Like Chi-Mei.
odds are the dude they turned in was some innocent worker too they simply had a beef with, that'll now dissapear. knowing china.
my guess is we now have 2 innocent deaths and apple and foxconn can act like all is right again in the world.
The poor 25 year old guy who died is not just a low end "factory worker," he is a junior engineer involved the development of the N90 iPhone, He graduated from one of China's best engineering universities.
The security team leader in today's news was indeed involved in the investigation and likely ordered unusual measures to make the engineer talk. This agent's name was identified through SMS and IM conversations between the 25 year old and his girlfriend.
Darn those Apple cults!!!!
Oh foxconn makes the iphones? I had no idea.
Yeah... Same company that makes the motherboards for the 360.
They make damn good pc motherboards!
Yeah but really damn expensive, I prefer Asus over all.
They make just about everything else, too.
they make all apple products, as well as all gaming consoles.
Can an iPhone RROD??? Does my 360 warranty cover iPhone RROD???
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
*(PC suffers fatal RROD)
If I had been left with the responsibility of prototype iPhones I would have a gun strapped to my belt at all times to make people know that trying to rip me off aint gonna be easy...
As a matter of fact anyone who tries to walk away with one is gonna get a bullet in the a$$!! right up the 'ol poop shoot
calm down there hill billy ....
the laws are different in every country .... plus who knows under what circumstances the dead guy was
corporate espionage, extreme poverty, .... etc ....
Yeah, cuz that PoS phone is worth more than a human life.
I don't think that would've made a difference. The point is that a prototype made it out without security noticing, or otherwise failing to do their jobs. It wouldn't have mattered what kind of weapons they had... they didn't notice, that's the point.
Guns are illegal in China, even toy ones.
Probably explain why China's number of murders per capita is half of USA.
@Boards of Canada
The real reason is due to demographics. Most Americans live in high density urban and suburban areas, while most Chinese live in the country. Murders are easier to commit in high density urban areas than in the countryside. It doesn't matter whether guns are illegal. Someone who really wants one can figure out how to get it.
Diprivan did it
he might end up dead. this reminds me of the lead in toys or poison additive in the baby formula, those guys ended up dead.
This guy will be made into a scapegoat, even though he was probably carrying out his duty that was inline with the company culture. Unless there's a massive pressure from the higher management, or you're just sadistic, you don't normally threaten your employees to the point they commit suicide. Foxconn as a company will try to deflect any responsibility and squarely put the blame on one person.
But who knows, maybe the mainland officials will seize this opportunity as a way to do some damage on the Taiwanese firm.
R.i.p. the poor man.
To what end? Regardless of what they want to think, Taiwanese people are still native to China.
Indeed. The companies are scapegoated at times too. The government looks the other way as long as the companies succeed and then act surprised when there are allegations of corruption or keeping workers in sweatshop-like conditions.
Same thing in this case I'm sure. The company wanted that device found at all costs, the efforts to find it give them a bigger black eye than not being able to find it would.
He Saw Too Much
The security guy will be executed, Apple gets a scapegoat and an extra liver for future transplant.
You mean pancreas don't you?
Yu Wan Mei
IT FISH TIME!
China *sigh*, something tells me he was afraid of something more serious to kill himself. Maybe attempts on his families life? Or maybe he just had a lot of bad days and knew he would loose his job so that sent him over the edge.
In other news Apple is working on yet another iPhone. So forget about that ancient month old 3GS and get the new new new iPhone 4.0.
This apparently was the "fourth generation" iPhone.
Wow, check what i just read on the Foxconn wikipedia page regarding this story, can anyone who reads Chinese verify this? Are those to news outlets state controlled or are they independent?
--
Upon filing his report on July 13, Chinese media reported that his residence was searched by Foxconn employees, and that he was beaten, interrogated and tortured by his superiors.[23] Sina Online News and ND Daily Newspaper both reported Foxconn's security division may have used illegal approaches including illegal search of personal residence without warrant, unlawful confinement and possible physical force during the investigation.[24][25] The controversial incident placed questions regarding Apple's secrecy over upcoming releases of its products, where misplacing prototypes serves as a serious breach of protocol.
--
It was the man behind the grassy knoll
all of the posts prior and the ebay listing all said this was a 3GS...this is the first time weve seen it stated to be a 'fourth generation.'
Apparently doug you have missed a few details, it has always been reported that the phone is what's called Fourth Generation iPhone N90. This detail was in the initial news from China.
Wanna bet.. in the next couple of weeks / months, a new iphone look alike will appear on the chinese market...under a chinese brand.. that is the risk of outsourcing...
It's time for the next wave of mass production. Outsourcing to China is insane, they just steal everything anyway, overcharge the contracting company and then roll out grey market unbadged versions, let alone the cheap clones. When will we, like, learn.
Solar powered, totally automated factories, no windows, no lights, no toilets or kitchens. Just build. What did Apple call the unibody, "the brick", well its time for "Brick 2.0 - The factory"
Anyway, I reckon he was more likely thrown off the building
Seriously, what the hell are you talking about? You didn't say a single thing that made sense.
He just had a few drinks. That's all!
Solar powered, totally automated factories, no windows, no lights, no toilets or kitchens. Just build. What did Apple call the unibody, "the brick", well its time for "Brick 2.0 - The factory"
What I mean with that quote is, that's probably future (current?) China.
Now lets see what FoxConn does more to accuse a single person instead of the companie's pratices. It could have been any other security official. Now it's 2 men dead. R.I.P.
F#ck FoxConn and china-sourced production by major producers. That makes me feel bad, because this PC is made in China, and I can't live without it. Ohh Well.
OMFG, between the news media's inability to report the truth, internet blogs that have no responsiblity to report the truth, China and it's continuous human rights violations, and the inability of most pople to even acurately duplicate a single statment from any other person,there are a FUgh ton of flaws and lies in this story
This isn't n ews, just BS passed though the sphinter of the internet.
Enlighten us then, if this is incorrect then I would like to hear what happened considering there was loss of human life. He was someone's son/nephew/grandson/husband/boyfriend and possibly even brother... that's a lot of pain.
Yes, please share the truth we are all missing.