SteveDowling
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Apple confirms purchase of flash memory firm Anobit
Apple spokesperson Steve Dowling spoke to Bloomberg's Business Week and confirmed the company purchased Anobit, an Israeli-based flash memory firm. Israeli newspaper Calcalist broke the story in December, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu corroborated the news when he tweeted a welcoming message to Apple. Apple's acquisition of Anobit is the company's first step into Israel, a place that's becoming a hotbed of technology. The company probably attracted Apple's attention because of its memory signal processing technology, which increases the performance of flash memory. Dowling did not provide details on the deal. He only said, "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."
Apple: "iPod City" investigation still underway
Despite recent comments by a Foxconn spokesperson that Apple had already investigated and found no problems with the Chinese factory that has come to be known as "iPod City," BusinessWeek is reporting that the probe is still in fact underway, with an Apple representative reiterating that the company takes "allegations of noncompliance very seriously." According to spokesperson Steve Dowling, Apple is in the midst of a "thorough audit" of the Hon Hai-owned plant, which had recently admitted to breaking labor laws concerning overtime, but which continues to deny other allegations contained in the original Daily Mail exposé. Specifically, Dowling says that the auditors are looking into "employee working and living conditions," conducting interviews with workers and their managers (separately, we hope), and generally making sure that the factory lives up to a supplier code of conduct that supposedly "sets the bar higher than accepted industry standards." This is all very good news indeed, but now Apple faces yet another hurdle in the form of a jaded public highly skeptical of corporate-speak, meaning that whether the investigation turns up violations or not, the company may still have a hard time convincing folks to accept the auditors' final verdict.[Via AppleInsider, image courtesy of Mail on Sunday]
