"Apple's iPods are made by mainly female workers who earn as little as £27 per month, according to a report in the Mail on Sunday yesterday. The report, 'iPod City', isn't available online. It offers photographs taken from inside the factories that make Apple music players, situated in China and owned by Foxconn," reports Macworld.
The report claims Longhua's workers live in dormitories that house 100 people, and that visitors from the outside world are not permitted. Workers toil for 15-hours a day to make the iconic music player, the report claims. They earn £27 per month. The report reveals that the iPod nano is made in a five-storey factory (E3) that is secured by police officers.
Another factory in Suzhou, Shanghai, makes iPod shuffles. The workers are housed outside the plant, and earn £54 per month - but they must pay for their accommodation and food, "which takes up half their salaries", the report observes.
Comment: Virtually all of Apple's portable products are made in China, because it's cheap, and that's common in the cut-throat electronics industries. I'd be surprised if the conditions in the factories used by Apple's contractors were worse than the norm for large companies. However, as Wired News's Mac fan Leander Kahney points out:
The situation is too murky for a rush to judgment on Apple's ethics here, and it may well meet minimum global standards. But for a company that has staked its image on progressive politics, Apple has set itself up as a potential lightning rod on global labor standards. Sweatshops came back to bite Nike after its customers rose up in arms; and Apple can expect a similar grilling from its upscale Volvo-driving fans in the months ahead.
Given that some iPods seem to fail comparatively quickly -- see Is your iPod one of the bad Apples? -- and that Apple users have had problems with notebook reliability, it might pay to improve the quality.
