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I’m dying to get one of those iPads they’re dying to make

David Penberthy

by David Penberthy

28 May 05:58am

Filed under: Apple, Capitalism, Consumerism, Ipad

178 comments

Call me a miserable old piece of shit but I reckon it’s pretty weird that on the same day that some of Australia’s most committed virgins are queuing up in the cold outside the Apple Store for the launch of the iPad, in China, they’re queuing up on the roof to kill themselves at the factory that manufactures them.

iQuit…Workers at the Foxconn factory in Hunan.

If you want to know the story of globalisation, this one surely will do. On George St, Sydney, extra staff have been called in at the Apple Store to cope with the demand as hundreds of cashed-up geeks gather in a display of commodity fetishism which will hopefully be the subject of formal study by some sardonic anthropologist from the developing world.

Meanwhile, not that far north at the Foxconn factory in China’s Hunan province, nets have been installed on the roof after an 11th employee hurled himself to his death as the workers struggle to meet a deadline which has been created by our demand.

Apple is Apple so it has largely escaped the kind of Naomi Klein/No Logo vitriol which has damaged companies such as Nike and Puma.

It’s because Apples are, like, soooo cool, and nobody else makes their stuff anyway, so it’s not like you have a choice or anything, you really just need an iPod and an iPhone and a Powerbook and now an iPad, right?

It’s such a hysterical double-standard and proof that when it comes to consumer boycotts people are only actually prepared to impose an arbitrary ban on something they think they can live without.

And that’s the flipside of the issue - why do people think they can’t live without this stuff?

I got an iPod last year. For those of you who don’t know it’s like a small computer version of a Walkman which contains music and if you plug it into things like the car radio, or the stereo, songs come out of it.

But it’s just an appliance.

And at what point did our society start queuing for appliances? We’ve turned into the affluent version of the former Soviet Union.

When the first toasters were released did people sleep out overnight in George St in their jaunty denim caps and waxed moustaches to be the first proud owner of a magic bread-warming machine? Did the ladies camp out in anticipation of being the first to own a curling wand? Was there a crush when the first Breville Kitchen Wizz hit the market?

We’ve all got too much time on our hands, too much damned money and too screwed up a sense of what is actually important or even interesting.

Personally I just love the fact that even the most hyper-groovy among our number can assuage their instinctive and loudly-voiced concern over dodgy, life-ending work practices in the developing world, just because it’s just such a totally cool must-have item.

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178 comments

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    • Scott Maxworthy says:

      07:10am | 28/05/10

      Ahh David you just DON’T understand!

      But in all seriousness you’re right - today’s must have now fashion gadgets for the masses are just tomorrows Leyland P76 and flares - at some stage the market will switch their attention, $$$ and activity preferences - driven by the cool kids that are already “over it” and on some other path.

      I wonder what the cool kids are doing now - probably creating and not just blindly consuming.

      Reply

    • Grumbles says:

      03:53pm | 28/05/10

      I find it interesting that you can blame consumers for employment standards in China. Are you really too scared to critisize the Communist Dictators or do you really think Western consumers are to blame? PC gone Mad.

    • Anon says:

      08:49pm | 28/05/10

      You call yourself a journalist?

      The overall suicide rate in china is 12 deaths per 100,000. The suicide rate in shenzhen (the city in which hosts the Foxconn campus) has a suicide rate of 19 per 100,000.

      Foxconn has 540,000 employees, thus one would reasonably expect 102 suicides per year at the campus. There has been 11.

    • Dan says:

      10:08pm | 28/05/10

      Actually Grumbles, although China is not a democracy, its leaders are neither communist nor dictators. China is capitalist, and it’s an oligarchy, not a dictatorship.

    • Independent consumer says:

      10:54pm | 29/05/10

      I don’t really know what the point of this piece is, do you want us to hold a memorial service and suspend a day of trading whenever a poor soul (however unfortunate that is) commits suicide in China?

      ...and the whole concept of must-have products is nothing new from what i’ve seen. When i was 10 the same hype was over Reebok pumps and Hypercolour shirts. Since people have been brought out of poverty and middle class has been created, it’s always been this way.

      Do you want us to go back to the days when only the government and the monarchs had money? Then the only fad products being bought would be guns!

    • Charlie says:

      11:04am | 31/05/10

      OK - but do you drive a car?  Own a computer?  Does your wide have a diamond ring?  Do you wear any clothes made in China?  Buying cheap clothes at the big sales, fly on an aircraft crewed with cheap asian crews….?

      The west will always be taking advantage of the developing world.  But please dont kid yourself or get too sanctimonious…you are doing it too…just a little less ostentatiously perhaps as queing up for an iPad…but with the same deleteourous effects on those doing the slavery back in asia/africa etc.  Don’t be a hypocrite.

    • Ken says:

      03:46pm | 31/05/10

      Dan, If you seriously think that China is not a communist dictatorship, you really should get out more.

    • Stephen Fitzpatrick says:

      05:06pm | 31/05/10

      Ken, if you think China is a Communist dictatorship, you need to look at a dictionary. The Chinese may call it ‘Communism with Chinese characteristics’, but in the West we just call it capitalism.

      Though I’m sure the Party would be happy to hear that at least one person on earth still thinks they are communist.

    • Ken says:

      08:51pm | 31/05/10

      Thanks for that Stephen, I will let the Communist Party of China know that they are no longer in charge. I am sure that will come as a bit of a shock to them. By the way, your dictionary should have told you that capitalism is not a form of government, communism is.

    • Derrick Dyson says:

      07:37am | 28/05/10

      Your a miserable old piece of shit.

      There happy now?

      Reply

    • J says:

      08:51am | 28/05/10

      @Derrick Dyson.

      Dang! You beat me to it!

    • bob says:

      03:11pm | 28/05/10

      You are a douche bag! That makes me happy

    • sha says:

      04:12pm | 28/05/10

      You’re…...

    • Ned says:

      04:38pm | 28/05/10

      David, you are not a miserable piece of shit at all. You have a well developed sense of reality, unlike like the boofheads who line up outside the Apple stores for hours to get their hands on something that’s overpriced, underperforms and is not really needed. These people are PSBs - Poor Sad Bastards.

    • Jaded says:

      05:06pm | 28/05/10

      You’RE another idiot who needs to learn how to spell.

    • Jaded says:

      05:06pm | 28/05/10

      You’RE another idiot who needs to learn how to spell.

    • Steve says:

      08:01am | 28/05/10

      Imagine going to work for a twelve hour shift and not being allowed to talk to anyone, having to work long and hard for low wages and not even being allowed to kill yourself on the company’s time. Why it sounds like an employers paradise, kinda makes me want to resign from the Liberal Party and join the Chinese Communist party.

      Reply

    • Harriet says:

      08:49am | 28/05/10

      Yes but they eventually did think of an employees safety net. Hmm an employee safety net provision was a last minute effort of work choices.

    • Anthony Jeff says:

      04:58pm | 28/05/10

      Ha ha ha, I have a friend who says working for the NSW Police is exactly the same…

    • Stephanie says:

      08:23am | 28/05/10

      Well I’m glad I’m not the only one that thinks that way, I’m one of the very few ppl that I know do not own an ipod or iphone or “i"anything! I do not follow trends… now-a-days it seems if you do not then you’re just weird… but I prefer “unique” smile

      Reply

    • Scarlett Street Rocker says:

      08:36am | 28/05/10

      I used to wish that I was a trend follower but found that I just don’t have that “gene”. I have just ditched my FB account and somewhat bizzarely feel liberated. I have an ipod but am much happier putting on a record - remember them - for back ground (or foreground) music. I am not that old - really ! I would have a problem giving up the t.v. remote but am sure that like giving up smoking I could do it. Eventually.

    • Andy says:

      09:06am | 28/05/10

      I just love listening to all the ‘alternative’ sheep congratulate each other for not following trends. Don’t you realise it’s just so fashionable right now to not follow trends.

      Here’s the dirty little secret, Everyone is unique, even the iWankers lining up at Bondi Junction to buy their new large iPhones are all unique individuals with their own quirks.

    • Steve says:

      09:58am | 28/05/10

      So well said Andy…. I laugh when I read “individuals” on forums such as this one carry on that they are part of a unique *group* of people who refuse to follow the trend of other groups and then congratulate each other on being non-trend following individuals.  What a crock!

    • AliceC says:

      12:19pm | 28/05/10

      ‘If you want to be non-confirmist like us you have to dress like us and drink coffee like us”

      Southpark

    • A Bob says:

      12:26pm | 28/05/10

      “Everyone is unique”

      I’m not.

    • CSallen says:

      12:54pm | 28/05/10

      Stephanie- I’m assuming (correct me if I’m wrong) that you posted that comment using a computer.
      Now check and see if it is an ASUS or other Taiwanese brand.
      If not, you have probably avooided buying anything built in this factory, but it was still probably put together in a similar environment.
      The massive problem with mega factories like this is that there is on average 80 applications to work there a day.
      It would be pretty hard for workers to demand better rights at work if there’s that many people (a day!) breathing down your neck to take your place.
      But unfortunately it’s really hard to not support these companies if you live in the modern world. Avoiding Apple products aint gonna cut it.

    • Jones says:

      01:03pm | 28/05/10

      Remembering of course that one of the biggest groups of the individual non-trend-followers in the mid-recent past were in fact the apple geeks…

      I hate apple.  Their products don’t work (I had the dubious privilege of getting to sell iPhones for a while there), the software is incredibly unstable, they are intent on controlling everything you do, while lagging depressingly behind the benchmark of commonplace technology (think - 2 years to enable mms capability on the iPhone).

      I tried to use a mac for about a month once and it wouldn’t do any of the things I asked it to.  It crashed about 8 times a day (apples NEVER crash, they said…), and I have suffered the indignity of being labelled a mindless follower for declaring that apple is inferior even to microsoft.

      In fact, I just have the freedom of thought to be able to see this rubbish for what it is.

      Oh, and the suicide pact in China?  Disgraceful.  Way to address the problem, Foxconn.  Make them quite literally sign their lives away.  Now when they kill themselves, you won’t be legally liable because you told them not to.  Didn’t you?

    • Muttley says:

      01:23pm | 28/05/10

      Steve and Andy keep patting yourselves on the back as you march with the rest of the robots. This is un necessary garbage that people have decided they cant do without. You know what you cant do without? Oxygen,food and water. Thats about it. Love your attempt to drag those who dont follow these ridiculous trends down to your level.

    • Chuck says:

      01:28pm | 28/05/10

      You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying, organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile.

    • Andy says:

      02:34pm | 28/05/10

      Muttley, your ire amuses me. I never said I was one of the iWankers who love apple stuff, I just made fun of those who agree with me that Apple are crap but try to pretend it’s because they are true individuals who don’t follow trends.

      I love your ability to misread a comment so badly that you lump people on entirely the opposite side of an argument and then attack them for the belief they don’t have that you made up for them. Two thumbs up wink

    • Stephanie says:

      02:47pm | 28/05/10

      well to Andy & Steve who laugh at individuals, glad I could provide you with some amusement as its quite obvious you two are very bitter :(
      To the one who said I’m not unique… do you know me? because if you did you’d know I am smile but thanks for caring enough to post!

      To the ones who understood what I was getting at, booya!!!

      SSR: I too am not that old (early 30s) and have records smile))) I love them, much (again) to the dismay of most of the ppl I know… some dont even know how to work a record player smile much to my own amusement, I have de-activated my fb acct twice but I have relatives overseas whom I communicate with through there smile but I do turn my phone off when I get home every evening smile (And no I can’t give up the tv remote either lol)

      CSallen: I am at work and this is an australian built PC, just like the ones I have at home (nb & PC), however, the parts I assume were built somewhere over there…

      Jones: Hate apple too smile

      Chuck; I beg to differ… but that’s my own opinion

    • Stephanie says:

      03:52pm | 28/05/10

      Stephanie… are you secretly me? Did I post here and forget??

      I am a Stephanie who shuns all the ‘i’gear. Except my iRiver, which isn’t made by Apple and was given to me by my fiance…

    • sha says:

      04:17pm | 28/05/10

      I own no I products. Just can’t stand to have to learn yet another new thing. I got my first pc in 1992 and was amazed at Leisure Suit Larry so I am easy to please.I love the internet. Facts at your fingertips and no more trek to the library for that essential quiz question answer….or a recipe for lemon curd tart which I am making tomorrow. I choose to take what I need to run my life in regards to new tech..the rest is just bells and whistles.

    • Daniel says:

      08:45am | 29/05/10

      Jones you’ve never used anything Mac related in your life. Everything you said is pretty much garbage.

    • Ann McGrath says:

      08:24am | 28/05/10

      With reference to your opening comment: maybe you did not hear the piece on ABC Radio National this morning talking about people in this world who want to have a mobile phone when they do not have a toilet?

      Reply

    • Andy says:

      08:44am | 28/05/10

      Ann, sneering at people who want mobile phones before toilets sounds very much like you imposing your western standards on others. Cultural Imperialism is what it’s called.

      There are plenty of people who live their whole lives without a toilet in their home, yet they are clean and happy. A mobile phone in a developing country where landlines are an impossibility can help people get connected with people they otherwise would not be able to speak to, can help them get work they otherwise could not get and can help them make a living they otherwise could not do.

      I can fully understand someone in rural India who lives in a village that has shared a communal toilet for thousands of years wanting a mobile phone more than an en-suite.

      That said, I think Apple is the McDonalds of computers. It’s more about the brand than the product. Where do you think Apple got the idea of adding the trademark ‘i’ in front of everything they sell? McDonalds have been doing that with ‘Mc’ since the 60s.

    • Muttley says:

      01:27pm | 28/05/10

      No Andy. The point is valid. If you are living in a rural community without telephones, who the hell are you going to call? I would have thought it was fairly obvious limiting the spread of disease would have been slightly more important than being able to download the latest ring tone. Maybe i missed it but am unable to find any “sneering” in Ann’s post.

    • Andy says:

      02:42pm | 28/05/10

      Ooh, Muttley must have got upset at something I said, he is following me around and attacking all my posts. You go girl!

      My point is that human beings have managed to survive millions of years before porcelain was invented. Just because we westerners have no idea where our feces goes after we flush does not mean people in “less fortunate” countries have the same blase attitude towards their waste.

      Many communities in developing countries would see the concept of a family having their own toilet in their own house totally decadent and slightly creepy. I can fully understand why these people would prefer the things that telephone connectivity can bring them.

      I’ll defer to you on the subject of sneering, from the posts I have seen of yours so far you seem to be the expert in the subject.

    • RM says:

      10:12pm | 28/05/10

      Perhaps Ann is solely talking about the USA, but I agree with you in what you say, Andy.

    • Shelly Stone says:

      08:25am | 28/05/10

      iPods, iPads, iPhones…. Im just going to throw it all away in 14 months and get a newer version of all of the above.

      Apples has made technology disposable.

      Reply

    • BTS says:

      08:50am | 28/05/10

      Throw them in the iBin…

      Reply

    • aMy says:

      09:16am | 28/05/10

      hahaha.. You better TRADEMARK this so when it’s time Apple will have to pay you for it!!!

      Wait… have they already done that?? :D

    • Pilby says:

      10:10pm | 28/05/10

      Ther’s an iBin?? Where can I buy one???

    • MS of Sydney says:

      08:54am | 28/05/10

      Penbo, this ties in conveniently with the article yesterday on the Freeport mine in West Papua. It seems our lust for all stuff shiny and superfluous has completely blinded us to the methods via which they are made/procured. I don’t want to turn this into an anti-capitalist rant, because quite frankly, making money is not so bad and our standard of living should not be complained about. But this level of consumerist nonsense is bordering on the insane. Is a piece of digi-crap so important to you that you can live with people dying to make them? We really need to take a step back here and think not of the new shiny rubbish we can out-bogan the rest of society with, but rather on what price was payed to get it (and I don’t mean your credit balance).

      Reply

    • Lazy Technology says:

      09:00am | 28/05/10

      Ann, you said it how it is….keeping up with the Joneses has never been this bad before….Advertising tells us that if we don’t have all these gadgets we are incomplete citizens…what a load of shit. People are so easily fooled these days it’s sad…...My life was much more fuller before all this lazy technology came, now everyone is too busy playing X box or on the internet to go walking…sad…sad.

    • Dave Sag says:

      08:58am | 28/05/10

      As I sit here clicking refresh on the TNT tracker page that tells me my iPad is “sighted in Depot, Canberra” I laughed out loud at your story.  Yes we have become an affluent Soviet Union, hell we even have the Gulags, erm refugee processing centres.

      About an hour ago I heard clanking outside my front door so I raced down the stairs to find it was just my wife loading some crap into the bins.  Here was me thinking it was my iPad arriving!  TNT have twittered me to tell me it’s on its way; TNT UK that is! I don’t know whether to be pleased or stunned; or both.

      Yes the iPad is just an appliance, but that’s like telling my wife that Jimmy Choos are just shoes.  Or to be honest like telling me that James Ellory’s “Blood’s a Rover” is just a book.

      Okay it’s sad that some Chinese people are killing themselves but 11 people out of a workforce of 800,000 (no shit!) is actually a pretty small number.  It’s less than the national suicide average for many western countries in fact.  And that factory also makes stuff for Sony, Nintendo, Nokia and many others.  But today’s headline is all about the iPad.

      As Martin Amis famously observed, there is no clean money in the world.  Likewise there is simply no way to live in our modern world without causing suffering to someone or something.  That’s the mean, horrible truth; ours is a culture of death.  You can choose to boycott BP, Shell, Monsanto or Nestle or Apple if you like, but where does it end?  There are no ethical oil companies.  Most chocolate is laced with pure evil, and Apple, well I’d say they deserve some credit for getting their stuff made in a factory where the suicide rate is lower than the average, and whose stuff has literally transformed my life a number of times.

      But I’m a fanboy zealot as you know.  Now come on TNT, deliver already!

      Reply

    • Action says:

      11:43am | 28/05/10

      Quoted from cringley.com:

      “The annual suicide rate per 100,000 people in China is about 13.5… that means the Foxconn factory, with 300,000 workers, ought to be experiencing almost 40 suicides per year, while the reported numbers are a lot less than that.

      “This story says more about the press than it does about Foxconn, because I’ve read about it for months and nobody else seems to have done the math, which isn’t hard to do. But doing the math makes the story weaker, so of course it isn’t mentioned.”

    • Pedro says:

      12:34pm | 28/05/10

      wow i can’t believe you have allowed your thought process to be so cleverly dictated by advertising spin from a corporation. It’s people like you who have allowed this consumerist behaviour to happen and yet expect those of us who are unwilling being forced to upgrade our lifestyles to shut up and just consume. Pure vile. 

      How could you sit there and try to justify 11 deaths as nothing as long as you get your shiny apple products. Even 1 death from crappy working conditions is inexcusable.

      Such a selfish self centred twat!

    • iCare says:

      09:04pm | 30/05/10

      true about the maths point but i doubt those 13.5 people died in the same place or for the same reason, 13.5 people in all of china compared to 11 in the same building is a statistical anomaly.

    • J says:

      09:02am | 28/05/10

      I got my first iGadget at the end of last year. An iPhone. It was free on the upgrade of my mobile phone plan. I think it is great, but honestly this is the first phone that I have ever not had to pay any money for (apart from the phone plan, of course).

      But seriously, if only one of Apple’s products performed all the tasks brilliantly then there wouldn’t be any real “need” for all of these products in the first place.

      Reply

    • sheps says:

      09:02am | 28/05/10

      God we’re a bunch of old fogeys…complaining constantly about the overindulgence of this generation.  We want to impose our new-age apologism for everything that is wrong with the world. 

      We f*%#ked it up but we want the next generation to forgoe their fads because we’re uncomfortable with what we’ve built. 

      First and foremost .....WE created the interenet, the internet enabled the internetworking of everything you see now and I’m afraid you just can’t put that genie back in the bottle.

      Like all fads this too will find its level…

      Reply

    • Jack Spratt says:

      09:04am | 28/05/10

      So you bought one then, Penbo?

      Reply

    • Comedian says:

      09:04am | 28/05/10

      “in China, they’re queuing up on the roof to kill themselves” ...In China it’s know as iSplate

      Reply

    • iSad says:

      09:13am | 28/05/10

      I could almost….key word is almost kiddies….understand the interest in the iPad if it actually did something different from any of the other trendy little gadgets on the market. There’s nothing it does which a netbook, laptop, phone or whatever else can’t do. The only thing I’ve ever heard anyone in all the “why do you have to have it?” interviews say was different is that there are some unique iPad applications. Well whoopedy doo! I’m going to queue in the cold, waste time I could have spent with friends and family (or just flossing my teeth for that matter), waste thousands of dollars on the as-yet-unproven gadget because….wait for it….I can play a new version of Bedazzled or have my computer call my mum hands free. Yup, gotta get me one of them wink The people who’ve spent their time and money grabbing one of these RIGHT NOW instead of waiting will be the sameones queueing back up again to return the little gizmo when the inevitable initial release glitches start appearing. More importantly - not one of the people huddling in those queues this morning will have their lives significantly enriched by the purchase. If you’re going to get so excited, how about we try for something a little more meaningful than a lump of plastic with a few “new apps” (and not just because you won’t look quite as silly or waste your money wink )?

      Reply

    • aMy says:

      09:13am | 28/05/10

      Ahh.. David.. I understand you have an iPod.. but I guess you don’t have an iPhone that’s why you don’t understand why people wants an iPad so badly.

      Sometimes we just have to be IN IT to understand it..  I can say that because I was against iPhone (was so loyal to my Nokia), now I’m in love with iPhone.. and if I have the spare $800 or grand… I will get an iPad just for the sake of it’s so easy to use while walking around home or outside.. and have lots of fun apps to play with…  smile

      Reply

    • ABC says:

      12:16pm | 28/05/10

      As long as you are not one of those people who spends the entirety of any conversation (and I am a boring conversationalist by any means) fiddling around with the bloody thing.  Drives me friggin’ nuts when people do that!

    • Bane says:

      01:17pm | 28/05/10

      I prefer to look at birds in the sky or stars at night when I walk around oustide.

      Or say if I am walking around the city I prefer to look our for cars and people who are paying attention to an Isomething that I may collide with.

      I dont see why we need to constantly be apping while we are doing something else.

    • Engie says:

      03:23pm | 28/05/10

      If you can be “so loyal” to Nokia mediocrity, then I can understand you falling in love with an iPhone. Obvioulsy you never have experienced what a powerfull handheld device can really do.
      Now, look at the step change in functionality and user experience between your current iPhone and the next one coming out in a couple of months, double it, and then you will understand what competent, leading smart phones could do two years ago!

    • Zeta says:

      09:14am | 28/05/10

      Steve Jobs needs to take a leaf out of American Apparel CEO Dov Charney’s book. Charney moved production of American Apparel clothing back to the United States and pays his staff more than triple the average factory worker’s wage - productivity climbed by 400 per cent. Sure, Dov has also been accused of statutory rape, his advertisements occassionaly border on child pornography and he’s going bankrupt because of his crazy concept stores - but he’s still cooler. And no one kills themselves making his tube socks.

      Thanks anyway Penbo but I didn’t need another reason to hate Apple and their over priced products. I just can’t believe anyone is still falling for Jobs’ shit. It’s a giant iPhone that doesn’t let you make a phone call. My 1998 MSI laptop has more functionality than an iPad and it’s held together with electrical tape.

      Reply

    • Glen says:

      09:55am | 28/05/10

      “It’s a giant iPhone that doesn’t let you make a phone call”

      Or have a camera.  Or operate independently of another PC/Laptop

      Perhaps the world’s most useless gadget?

      Oh, but it’s cool

    • bella starkey says:

      11:15am | 28/05/10

      Yes but AA make the fugliest, overpriced hipster clothes in the world.

      “yes i would like to pay 40 dollard for a pair of ‘organic’ y-fronts”

      “What’s that? everyone is wearing see-though lace full body suits? where do i get mine?”

    • Zeta says:

      11:59am | 28/05/10

      @ Bella - Obviously you get your see-through lace bodysuit at Am Appy’s concept store in Newtown.

    • AdamC says:

      01:47pm | 28/05/10

      Dov Charney cooler than Apple? I don’t like Apple, but that comment is just misleading. And AA produce mainly uninspired basics, much like Uniqlo.

      Not cool.

      But I do agree that Apple has reached some kind of tipping point situation where they can release a product that millions will buy that doesn’t do anything they can’t do already.

    • Ginger says:

      09:25am | 28/05/10

      Ipads are the new blood diamonds

      Reply

    • TheRealDave says:

      09:35am | 28/05/10

      I object to the term ‘geek’ as used in the article.

      Actual techno savvy geeks and IT Professionals wouldn’t touch a cut down, crippled, featureless Apple piece of shit. What you meant to say was ‘cashed up, tech illiterate, marketing speil beleiving monkeys who need to be seen with the techo gadget de jour’

      No thanks neccessary, its all part of the service.

      Reply

    • Steve says:

      10:12am | 28/05/10

      Oh dear TheRealDave -  now repeat after me ‘‘i before e accept after c” - and no I don’t mean the ‘i’ before iPad - I mean the ‘i’ before ‘e’ in “believing”, and “spiel”.  Got it?

    • Andy says:

      10:21am | 28/05/10

      You are 100% correct Dave, I work in IT anyone I work with would be laughed out of the office if they turned up with an iPad.

      ....mind you, there may be something askew here, a guy nearly got a standing ovation the other day when he brought a Commodore 64 to work with him smile

    • David says:

      10:23am | 28/05/10

      ‘i’ before ‘e’, except after ‘c’.

      Sorry, couldn’t resist correcting a geek )

    • TheRealDave says:

      11:06am | 28/05/10

      I prefer the term ‘Enigma’.....being an IT Professional AND Rugby Legue front rower wink

      A foiled by my spellchecker not working in comment boxes in Firefox….

    • CHris says:

      11:36am | 28/05/10

      i see all the comments and all i can guess is they are from a bunch of windows IT pros.. and you call yourself geeks…  lets guess you probably work for telstra as well and say your part of a awesome telecommunications company?

    • Andy says:

      06:08pm | 28/05/10

      So CHris, what you are saying is that you can’t be a ‘real’ computer geek unless you are an Apple fan. What a crock of shit mate! It’s precisely those kinds of remarks that make people think apple fanboys are such giant tools!!

    • Shane From Melbourne says:

      09:37am | 28/05/10

      At least they are Geeks lining up to get an iPad, they are not someone on a alcohol or drug induced rage kicking they crap out of someone and receiving a disparate sentence for manslaughter (a nice easy connection with the last article you wrote). Seriously blame Apple that sources the product from China not the consumer.

      Reply

    • Hawker says:

      09:37am | 28/05/10

      Come on guys, he wrote this on his MacBook Pro, whilst talking on his iPhone organising with Apple his pre-order delivery of his iPad.

      Unless he is using a computer not built in China? Good luck with that!

      I like how the fact they build computers for other companies, doesn’t seem to matter, just the fact they’re building something for Apple.

      How about some fair journalism for a change? Would be most welcome in Australia, we’re still waiting for some!

      Reply

    • Julia says:

      09:38am | 28/05/10

      Oh, come on Penbo! That was dripping with self- righteousness.  Fair enough - you’ve had sex and you’re a luddite. That’s fine.

      But this is an issue about the laws in that country - this is a comment better directed at the Chinese government not the virgin geeks.

      If you want to get all corporate social responsibility, ask yourself how many people have suicided in Australia because of pressure from work here? Or from being made redundant and not being able to get another job?

      How many people have resigned from Kevin Rudd’s office largely because they had to work Apple hours?

      How many people suffer depression from bullying at work? How many marriages are falling apart because both partners work? How many kids don’t get an hour with their dad a day because they’re shuffled off to day care at the break of dawn (we know the offspring of PMO staff at least)?

      There’s a bible quote about specks and logs but as I largely slept through religion at school, I don’t know what it is. And I’m not googling it!

      Reply

    • David says:

      09:46am | 28/05/10

      2 out of 3.

      Don’t know anyone who has too much time on their hands.

      Though that could be because they play too much, or queue up for hours to get something that’ll still be available in a few months time.

      Reply

    • kane says:

      09:51am | 28/05/10

      i will not buy one

      Reply

    • Zeolink says:

      04:45pm | 28/05/10

      To be honest, these gadgets are all a bit boring. Sure you can connect to the internet and watch video’s etc but after hearing horror stories about people being charged thousands sometomes 9,000 or $25,000 for accidental overuse (just watching one movie in one case recently) who would take the risk? Until telco’s are more transparent with charges and provide real usage caps..I wont be buying any of these things

    • Grant says:

      09:53am | 28/05/10

      This piece is smug, hypocritical and elitist.  I want you to go home and destroy everything that you own, because nearly all you consume is produced under the exact same circumstances. 

      Go on.. destroy your toaster, your clothes, your washing machine, the paint on your walls, your t.v., stereo, dvd player, your car, the food you eat… 

      At least own the fact that you also benefit from cheap labour overseas.

      Reply

    • Harriet says:

      10:03am | 28/05/10

      And look how well your shares in the company are doing and your dividend! Lower overheads better returns.

    • Kordez says:

      10:44am | 28/05/10

      @Grant, people shouldn’t be killing themselves for your consumerism. Just because it’s in a different country isn’t a good reason to turn a blind eye to the fact.

    • Grant says:

      11:16am | 28/05/10

      @ Kordez,

      You missed the point.

      I am stating that Penbo is clearly hypocritical in this piece because he takes a high moral ground regarding one particular product produced cheaply overseas.  While at the same time he himself consumes products that are produced the exact same way…

      And, I am not blind to it, I accept that other countries with cheap labour are paying the price to produce our goods, but its all the goods not just Apples.

    • Harriet says:

      11:21am | 28/05/10

      Kordez it is a different country with different working conditions to what we have. Why is Apple producing in China and not America because its cheap. However eventually working conditions will improve and the big companies will look and move to the next cheap labour market.

    • Dani says:

      09:59am | 28/05/10

      Absolutely fantastic piece Penbo. Loved every word.

      Reply

    • MadMick says:

      10:01am | 28/05/10

      Ipad?  Ipad?  Is that something put out by Libra?

      Reply

    • Rich says:

      10:11am | 28/05/10

      Spot on David… Where is the logic in this… It’s not the AFL grandfinal which only happens once… they can easily waltz in tomorrow and have no wait if they used logic.

      Reply

    • Clem says:

      10:16am | 28/05/10

      People who camp over-night in the streets waiting for something to go on sale are idiots. As are, incidentally, the people who camp overnight to get a good spot for the fireworks on NYE. People who think they must have an appliance before anyone else, when they could otherwise wait for future shipments of improved versions of said product, and who therefore are belittling their own self-worth through with an embarrassing display of masochistic fetishism driven by nothing more than the ego, are bloody gallahs.

      Reply

    • John Sample says:

      10:17am | 28/05/10

      This is about brand advocacy with Apple marketers living in 7th heaven. Your article is spot on - it is just an appliance, and a very expensive one at that. User will get stung for media content that is widely available for free on the net. Good idea for consumers.? i think not.
      Apple as a brand has managed to cleverly use the general public as sales teams to flog their products. Other tech companies simply can’t get their products to evoke the same emotional connection and thus advocacy. Why.?The simple answer is Apple products are fun to use and designed for the everyday human. Iphone Vs Blackberry is a great example - life Vs busines people will make an easy choice. In 6 months time the Ipads price will be halved and the product shortcomings will be highlighted in the press - the question is, who will be writing the articles.?

      Reply

    • Elphaba says:

      10:23am | 28/05/10

      the same day that some of Australia’s most committed virgins are queuing up in the cold outside the Apple Store for the launch of the iPad

      Classic!

      I said the same thing when people started queuing for the iPhone.  Camping out with chairs and sleeping bags.  Why not just buy it online?

      Christ, I haven’t even done that for concert tickets!

      No iPad for me.  They’re pretty, but the whole consumer idolatry that’s happening with all things Apple makes me a little nauseous.

      Maybe one day I can be swayed.  It’s not today though.

      Happy Friday, Punchers!

      Reply

    • Tony Jones says:

      10:28am | 28/05/10

      So David, you won’t mind if I tell you and Rupert to go shove the Australian and all other News Ltd iPad apps?  You obviously donn’t need the revenue stream (cough cough) from a market segment you so obviously despise.

      Reply

    • Lisa says:

      02:18pm | 28/05/10

      Agreed - your sister site/paper The Australian has been hyping the ipad launch for months in conjunction with its PAID ipad app. According to News Limited ipad is the greatest things since sliced bread as they are desperately hoping it will bring back some of their “rivers of gold”.

      C’mon Penbo being all “digital” now and working for a blog I thought you might have got into the action instead of sneering from the sideline.

      By the way don’t you know Geeks are hot!

    • Richard says:

      10:31am | 28/05/10

      Foxx Conn make Sony, Canon and many other product… typical tall poppy syndrome to blame high profile manufacturers… how about some credible reporting instead of rubber stand plagiarism…

      Reply

    • Andy says:

      11:09am | 28/05/10

      What is “rubber stand plagiarism”??

    • Roddles says:

      10:44am | 28/05/10

      Id like one.  Really, REALLY like one.

      ...I’m just not sure why. 

      Its almost retail Alzheimers…“I know I need one - but wish I could remember what for.”

      Reply

    • Ian Pilkington says:

      10:45am | 28/05/10

      Great piece, right on the money. We should consume more morally.

      Reply

    • Rich says:

      10:49am | 28/05/10

      I bet you use a Blackberry don’t you…

      Reply

    • TRS says:

      10:54am | 28/05/10

      @Derrick Dyson it’s spelled “you’re”
      @penbo If you’re a miserable old piece of shit, you’re not alone.

      Reply

    • Tails says:

      10:54am | 28/05/10

      Does it amaze anyone else that the boss’s solution to the problem of employees hurling themselves off the building due to an immense feeling of helplessness is to install nets?

      Reply

    • 6c legs says:

      03:57pm | 28/05/10

      yeah, the company won’t even let the poor bastarts exercise the last vestige of free will left to them. - -  - Now that’s appalling!

      stand by for a headline: foxxconn employee rampage kills hundreds

      But everyone keep on wanting an ithingy, after all, the people are only Chinese -plenty more left to keep making yer stuff. /sarc

    • we're all suckers says:

      11:01am | 28/05/10

      With the savage markup Apple puts on their products they could certainly afford a more ethical production choice. It’s interesting they haven’t made any real attempt to be an *actually* good corporate citizen, given their overall “we’re pure and wonderful” tone.

      But it’s far more amazing their customers don’t demand it. For all their pretensions at superiority and making the greater choice, Apple fans are just the latest in a long line of suckers paying big bucks for generic crap with an expensive logo.

      Reply

    • damien says:

      11:41am | 28/05/10

      Except the iPhone and iPad were genuinely new and takes on failing markets.

      What is worse? - hundreds of generic Nokia models, or Apple producing one phone that happens to be highly usable and one that people enjoy using and want to own?

      Sure since then Android is on the scene.  But Android is no cheaper for similar features. You’d be totally wrong if you thought that.

      But the comment “pretensions at superiority” just smacks of your own bias and snobbery.

      Just because Apple create products that people want to use does not make people suckers.

    • we're all suckers says:

      12:00am | 30/05/10

      Well done for zooming straight in to the superiority of Apple products, but not stopping off at “ethical production choice” on your way through. Couldn’t have demonstrated my point any better.

    • Matt Dee says:

      11:05am | 28/05/10

      This article simply exposes how sick the human species really is.

      Reply

    • Spellcheque says:

      01:34pm | 28/05/10

      Isn’t it “i” before “e” except after “c”??  well who made up that stupid rule?

    • Traxster says:

      11:10am | 28/05/10

      I’m always amused when I see video footage of poor people overseas living in abject poverty but they’ve all got cell phones,(‘mobiles,to you Aussies.)

      Reply

    • Damien says:

      11:16am | 28/05/10

      That factory is not dedicated to Apple.

      Chances are you own a device from that factory.

      The clothes you wear are also made under the same conditions, but you look clothed in your profile photo.

      Reply

    • James says:

      11:38am | 28/05/10

      Not that it’s an excuse for the conditions, but… clothes are actually usefull and necessary in most circumstances.

    • meatmachine says:

      01:37pm | 28/05/10

      Damien speaks the truth… is there any evidence the suicides are DIRECTLY related to the manufacture of the iPad?  Of course the suicides are tragic and investigations should be made, but to put the blame solely on Apple is a little naive…  Foxconn make a wide range of products for other large electronics companies…

    • Damien says:

      01:41pm | 28/05/10

      @james True. However consider the abundance and range of clothing. Some rich people would not think twice on paying $1000 for a piece of clothing, and it’s not uncommon to spend $200 just on shoes these days. Do you think these prices reflect on the working conditions of people in Indian and Chinese factories? Nope.

    • Miles says:

      11:34am | 28/05/10

      I think people who spend all night lining up for this useless piece of tech are miserable old pieces of shit (with no lives).  Fools and their money…

      Reply

    • Bon says:

      11:37am | 28/05/10

      I am still confused about what the thing actually does…even the tech guy they had on the news this morning had trouble explaining what the point of it was, he mainly kept going on about how nice it looked and how easy it was to carry around.  That and you can read books on it, was about all I gleaned.  Needless to say I won’t be getting one.  I am quite happy with my out of date PC and my no name MP3 player and mobile phone that is only good for phone calls and texting.

      Reply

    • Chuck says:

      04:39pm | 28/05/10

      Here Here !!..

      Spot on with your comment

    • Kordez says:

      11:39am | 28/05/10

      Recently I sat through Idiocracy, which has to be the worst flick since Mean Girls. The world has evolved into morons and some B grade actor from 1000 years in the past runs around solving simple problems because he is the smartest dude on the planet. If we are happy to consume products which during production are involved in the lead up to death of other human beings, we must be moving down the path of Idiocracy.
      Perhaps we’ll become brain dead zombies chipped by Apple and an arranged existence will be imprinted seconds after birth while cloned Steve Jobs XXVII controls our every move from his Ipad 26G.
      Idiots..

      Reply

    • Davo says:

      11:40am | 28/05/10

      it’s a toy for adults ... and like most toys, they’ll break eventually. Serious point thought - what are the occupational health and safety consequences of too much iPad use? I imagine that holding it and using it for more than 1 hour at a time won’t be too good for your neck and shoulders muscles, tendons and nerves.

      Reply

    • James says:

      11:52am | 28/05/10

      There are 400,000 residents at the Foxconn factory. The suicide rate in China is 13.9 per 100,000. So 11 suicides at Foxconn is not out of the ordinary.

      Reply

    • Ally says:

      01:26pm | 28/05/10

      James, that’s 11 people who threw themselves off the Foxconn factory building, not the total number of Foxconn employees who suicided in a year!

    • stephen says:

      11:55am | 28/05/10

      iPad ?
      Ink pad. Do it the old fashioned way.
      But the real reason i ain’t gonna buy one is i then gotta talk to an Apple Geek.
      (Yeah capitals. A new breed.)

      Reply

    • Blah says:

      12:30pm | 28/05/10

      You ‘gotta talk to an Apple Geek’ because you don’t understand how to set it up/use it?
      You can buy it online, you know. You don’t have to physically go into a store.

    • daved says:

      11:58am | 28/05/10

      I’m confused. what am I supposed to buy again?

      Reply

    • Dave Sag says:

      12:06pm | 28/05/10

      My iPad just arrived!  W00t!

      Reply

    • K says:

      12:10pm | 28/05/10

      Just want to say thank you for the piece too.  This is where our society works - being able to make these comments and offer up for consideration by our consciences.

      Reply

    • devi says:

      12:17pm | 28/05/10

      So what are you suggesting we should do about it?

      Reply

    • Babs says:

      08:46pm | 29/05/10

      That is a good point.  There’s no good in moping about issues such as these if you have no serious intention of doing something about it.  Chances are, we all own things that were made under undesirable conditions (including the very computer and screen that you read this article from). 
      So what does it matter that it is expensive? that a hardly justifiable amount of the profits even make it to the people who manufacture them (and their families too)? what does it matter if there’s no consequence to the complaints, except for making people feel momentarily guilty.
      These are the kind of articles that I read every now and then that honestly make me feel like crap for being so influenced by consumerism, and wish that i could dedicate my life to making people know that what is happening is wrong… but WILL i? will you?
      from my point of view, no-one REALLY cares, and that is what’s wrong.  They just leave an outraged comment on a website and think they have done their part towards social justice.

    • cyril says:

      12:19pm | 28/05/10

      i’m going to buy an eye patch for dinner.

      Reply

    • Jon says:

      12:35pm | 28/05/10

      Do you even know that this person worked in the iPad factory division?

      Foxconn is the largest contract manufacturer in China and the world, making products notably for Apple, Nintendo, xBox, Motorola and for other American companies, too.

      Were these people worked to death? Were they worked insane? In one case was the suicide the result of a suspected leak of Apple intellectual property? What kind of sweat shop is Foxconn, anyway? How is this Apple’s lone fault?

      You as a journalist have made this even more depressing buy using the deaths of these people as link bait for your article by making it an Apple / iPad case and not as an article about Foxconn themselves. If you included Foxconn in the title nobody would click.

      I’m sure when the next xBox and Playstation come out there is a suicide at Foxconn (as they both produce these items too) you will use the same article as above, but link it back to those companies.

      Reply

    • Johnno says:

      12:44pm | 28/05/10

      How many people queued up? 100? 200? In a city of four million that’s a very, very small percentage of sad losers.

      Reply

    • iDontGetIt says:

      12:57pm | 28/05/10

      I’m in IT as an enterprise architect, and I just don’t understand the “i” philosophy or hype even though many of my colleagues have “i” devices. If you approached me for a job with “Apple Marketing” listed on your resume I would hire you in an instant, cause you guys are damn good at duping and hyping up the masses!

      For me Apple is more of a marketing company than technology and as many have said, has made technology a disposable commodity. The 3rd generation iPhone is to be released shortly, the 3rd in 3 years, and people are throwing out there practically new ones to buy the latest! How do you manage that? And the iPad, it’s a technical disaster. It has no interoperability with other devices, no USB, HDMI/DVI, poor CPU, etc. End of the day its complete garbage, yet there selling millions of the things. If any other technology company did what Apple has done / does, they would be ruined.

      Reply

    • Elphaba says:

      02:19pm | 28/05/10

      I’m with you.  For not much more money, you can get a laptop or desktop computer that can connect to just about everything.

      They’re awfully pretty things, but I just can’t understand shelling out that much money for such limited capability.

      The first iPhone couldn’t picture message.  WTF?  And still, people bought it in droves.  Crazy.

    • Super D says:

      04:04pm | 28/05/10

      Spot on about the Apple marketing machine.  You can imagine the execs sitting around saying “What can we flog to the iTards next?”

    • Douglas says:

      05:38pm | 28/05/10

      I have to agree with you. They make their products so lame, and market them as if though they’re some kind of magical and revolutionary device (which they aren’t, they’re useless and crippled)

      And you know what’s funny? Their motto is “Think Different”. Well, I thought different, Apple. I went out and bought a ThinkPad.

    • Horthy says:

      06:02pm | 29/05/10

      Keep playing catch up “Enterprise Architect”. I hear your ilk are finally enjoying your copied solutions from NeXTStep days.

      Happy BSD to you.

    • Robert says:

      01:23pm | 28/05/10

      Well after working 8 hours a day to afford to buy all this crap I have another 2½ hours each way travelling so don’t begrudge my choice to buy something I can used to watch a few TV shows, play a few games and see what my friends are up to.

      I guess you just leave the office and head out for dinner, a luxury I can’t afford.

      Reply

    • Elphaba says:

      02:16pm | 28/05/10

      Not at $600 for an iPad, you can’t…

    • Douglas says:

      05:41pm | 28/05/10

      Might I suggest you look into a Netbook? For about the same price, you get about four times the functionality, and you also get the added bonus of not looking like a Mactard.

    • Andy says:

      06:18pm | 28/05/10

      hehe, mactard is my new favourite word, thanks Douglas

    • Dion says:

      01:26pm | 28/05/10

      I don’t give a flying rats arse who kills themselves because they can’t handle their job.  Harden up.

      Reply

    • Simonious says:

      01:53pm | 28/05/10

      Penbo,

      Most Appletards couldnt care less about a worker making these devices in China. They are a special breed and would buy a dog turd if you put an Apple logo on it and and “i” at the beggining of it’s name.

      Reply

    • Super D says:

      02:11pm | 28/05/10

      Every time we increase minimum wages and conditions we simply outsource more work to the chinese communist regime.  We don’t mind that chinese workers are exploited, just so long as we can get cheap stuff and the suicide rate stays in single figures.

      Reply

    • daved says:

      02:50pm | 28/05/10

      where can I buy an i-turd?

      Reply

    • N says:

      03:19pm | 28/05/10

      Same place wink

    • Martin says:

      03:25pm | 28/05/10

      Do a story on where diamonds come from. Or how Nike shoes are made.

      Reply

    • Lillypilly says:

      03:45pm | 28/05/10

      Ah, the cult of consumerism. Who cares if someone died so you could get your [insert status toy here] *wipes blood of factory worker off it and shows friends* A human life is NOTHING compared to out-of-the-box cool and manufactured belonging. Besides, it’s not trendy to hate Apple (yet.) Now, if it were Nike exploiting factory workers…oh, wait.

      Reply

    • 6c legs says:

      04:20pm | 28/05/10

      i’m gunna start advertising my sale horses as: ihorse:  and triple their prices!  grin

      (NOT)

      Reply

    • Andrew says:

      04:26pm | 28/05/10

      Products that we ‘just can’t live without’ are all pretty much made in sweatshops and other awful factories- why? because we want them cheap and we wnat them now. I have traveled over seas before and have witnessed these factories and I can tell you that there are some brands that I don’t buy anymore!! However- now I’m going to hell.. I love the Imac and could not live without it so I don’t care where it’s made…... ahhh ok kill me now….

      Reply

    • notsurprised says:

      04:27pm | 28/05/10

      David, the problem lies with the business model of that particular company and the laws of the country in which that company operates. If you wish to point the finger at the end user then you should include those that drink coffee, eat rice, buy opals and utilize the benefits of coal power.

      Reply

    • nosthow says:

      04:27pm | 28/05/10

      No Penbo you arnt as you call yourself a ” miserable old piece of shit ” because your article highlights the stupidity in this world whereby we “must have” the latest electronic gadgets - in particular Australia who just love them. Chinese workers have suicided at the manufacturing plant so that tells you a lot about their “happy” working conditions cranking out these “must have” drevices. Then of course when we take delivery of this very large to carry around and completely unneccessary tablet we then have to pay the bills associated with its usage. Rarely a week goes by on the current affairs programs where people have run up , often unitentionally , huge bills, sometimes in their thousands using the latest must have device. Whats next I ask from these companies making all this useless junk ?

      Reply

    • bernie says:

      05:24pm | 28/05/10

      great piece, but the nets have gone up around the factory in Shenzhen, not Hunan. That’s where the worker was from. cheers.

      Reply

    • David says:

      06:44pm | 28/05/10

      Amen brother!

      Reply

    • Dave Sag says:

      07:23pm | 28/05/10

      I really enjoyed the comments on this article. I read them on my iPad. The iPad is a thing of beauty. I understand the ranting by people who hate apple and the stuff they make, but guess what, who cares what you think. The screen on this iPad is seriously magic.  Go have a play with one before you diss it. 

      And yes I did write this comment on my iPad.

      Reply

    • Nash says:

      07:30pm | 28/05/10

      Some of us don’t buy iPods due to their trendiness. Some of us just want to be able to ignore the noisy, opinionated knobheads we have to share public transport with.

      Reply

    • Jo says:

      02:50pm | 30/05/10

      You do realise that there are other companies out there that make mp3 players, right? Some of them even have better sound quality and the same specs for a much lower price!

    • craig says:

      07:30pm | 28/05/10

      you fool do you worry about the car workers that kill themselfs, the doctors that kill themselfs, the butcher that kills himself? some people are just weak.

      Reply

    • F says:

      10:41pm | 28/05/10

      Funnily enough, this sort of exploitation of the low-class workers has been happening for CENTURIES.  Then, just because you don’t appreciate/understand the hype surrounding some new gadget, you feel the need to get up on your high horse? Please. If you ACTUALLY give a shit about working class, try some real journalism for a change.

      Reply

    • Yuri says:

      12:40am | 29/05/10

      What a bunch of whiny losers, you included you “miserable old piece of shit”. Look, if it weren’t for the popularity of Apple’s products none of you would be discussing this, the microscope wouldn’t be on Chinese sweat shops and these people would continue dying. Instead of wringing your hands, why don’t you write to the Chinese Embassy and demand that action be taken or protest in front of it? (You can’t miss it, it looks just like an oriental prison and is opposite the Hyatt in Canberra). Of course you clowns whine about Apple. It’s easier and your consciences remain clean when you continue to buy stuff from China which has been made under similar sweat shop conditions. I hope your cheap Chinese electric blankets zap some sense into you during the night.

      Reply

    • John Cluley says:

      05:21am | 29/05/10

      Im getting sick to death (no pun intended) of Journalists calling this “The Apple Factory”

      Foxconn make parts for so many other manufacturers and have been for so many years its not funny, but everyone wants to place the blame for these suicides directly on Steve Job’s and Apple’s shoulders.

      Why do reporters and the public need to make them the scapegoat when the computers, phones, and so many other devices that THESE PEOPLE USE TO WRITE THE ARTICLE come from the exact same factory.

      Be fair!  Blame yourselves as well!

      Reply

    • Harquebus says:

      11:50am | 29/05/10

      David, you are not a miserable old piece of shit, you are a gutless piece of shit. Soon I will be reminding you of your role in the collapse of our civilization. Hoping you will be proud of your lack of responsibility and the perpetuation of the great con.
      http://www.countercurrents.org/peakoil.htm
      You have been warned, emails are forever and you will not be able to deny your responsibility.
      Hoping you enjoy the downhill ride, coward.

      Reply

    • cat says:

      12:31pm | 29/05/10

      Going to the store right now and have a play with an iPad.
      i want to be unique and cool like all the iWankers out there!

      Reply

    • Ted says:

      01:05pm | 29/05/10

      So you want ‘Fairtrade Ipads’ to use while you eat your ‘fairtrade chocolate’?

      Reply

    • tony says:

      01:39pm | 29/05/10

      Insightful comment, David. This multinational needs to be called to order.

      Reply

    • Liz says:

      02:59pm | 29/05/10

      I’m not sure if you have been reading much “news” but instead of reading head lines you should perhaps look at all the facts about Foxconn and the suicides. Yes there is a big statistic of suicides and depression in China but with Foxconn offering a large lump sum for the family of the poor/stressed/depressed struggling chinese along with that a year sum for the family, I think there may be a sign leading to those with depression and struggling with looking after a family in poverty. http://www.dailytech.com/Foxconn+Pays+iPhone+Suicide+Victims+Family+52000/article15810.htm this article points out how much the payment was. If you read it you will know that the employees get paid quite a lot compared to other harder, grueling jobs out there that people are doing in china. I know it is morbid to suggest that people are killing themselves as a sacrifice to their family but with depression and the stress of looking after a family it might push some to go in that direction. Yes there was an undercover worker sent there to work at Foxconn to see what it was like, and he reported that no one talked and moral was down, but traditional Chinese people are reserved and very private not like other cultures. You are not taking in other considerations and cultural facts, all you want to do is criticise and have you bit of fame with an article that is poorly researched. I would stop bagging a company that has become successful from hard work as everyone knows they have been around for a long time and this success is something to be praised not criticised just because you scrooges out there like to bag out what is succeeding! Please focus on the bigger picture with a positive outlook!

      Reply

    • mathew says:

      03:12pm | 29/05/10

      ok so it was a Big thing that everyone almost everyone wants an IPAD,
      but this is now class as old technolegy what i would like to know is whats APPLE going too come up with next i mean whats the next big thing ?

      Reply

    • Helen says:

      05:09pm | 29/05/10

      I think it’s hilarious / sad that everyone gets worked up about climate change, but surely the greatest contributor to climate change is our over consumer, must-have-new-crap mentality. I totally agree with D.P. and couldn’t believe the way the media and customers alike danced like little puppets for the Apple staff yesterday. Cheers, HP

      Reply

    • bigmuzz says:

      01:12am | 30/05/10

      so the thing has no USB support? so all the movies and tv shows and music on my harddrive can’t be used with this new device? so what is the point of it, if i already have a laptop that can do all this and more? i just don’t get the obsession with the iPad….. PS i must admit that i do own and obsess over my iPod tho, because that actually has a function and use! lol raspberry

      Reply

    • David says:

      02:39am | 30/05/10

      Insightful comment? Someone had said - if you didn’t know what David had said then you are so incredibly ignorant. It takes a man with half a brain to know what’s happening.

      People have different interests, whatever that may be. I don’t see who are you to judge, seems like this article is one big boost of self-esteem for you huh? Or is it that you’re so much more superior than everyone else, wait no sorry - ipad owners.

      Reply

    • Peanut Hunter says:

      10:34am | 30/05/10

      I have spent the last 3 years working in fragile countries that sit at the bottom of the list of developed nations. Everyday people live for their immediate needs and the furthest thing from any conceivable existence for them is an iPad or such. Lucky to get electricity and clean running water here. My world view has enabled me to look from the outside of the Aussie fishbowl in. I don’t like what I see. I see selfish, self centred, self absorbed, inappropriately entitled, aggressive and poor excuses for humans. The iSheep are the classic and obvious example of this disgusting consumerism at any costs and the apparent ease at which the modern Aussie are able to be morally and ethically flexible when it suits them. The Church of Appleology is the new evil empire overtaking Microsoft in more than just capitalisation and innovation. Every single iSheep has blood on their hands with the exploitation of third world and developing economies. Not that it would concern anyone in the line to get an iPad, out of sight and out of mind.

      Reply

    • A Black Friday Baby. says:

      10:39am | 30/05/10

      Thank you for your article. I know its a bit of reality that most of the computer generation don’t like to hear about but it’s the truth. Every bit of technology that we get, has had sacrifices made by real people along the way. And when we poo poo human suffering, we debase ourselves. And we become unfeeling and uncaring…. just like the ipad. Thank you to the author for reminding us of the human element behind the computer industry. Remeber humans? Remember humanity? Oh no, that’s right, in 1995 Howard obliterated the Humanities at university and replaced it with computer science. Now look what we have… a bunch of ungrateful, unfeeling and uncaring sods who care more about the newest computer chip and not the deaths of people. Yep, humanity is dying.

      Reply

    • Vamsmack says:

      11:37am | 30/05/10

      You’re a tool mate. At your own admission a “Miserable old piece of shit” but not for ragging on Apple but for forgetting that Foxconn actually manufacture products for most of the tech giants not just Apple but of course if you called out any of the others who use Foxconn like Dell or HP but that wouldn’t bring in the hits now would it?

      Reply

    • averill says:

      12:53pm | 30/05/10

      David - you are so right! Apart from the workers under pressure suiciding, what is the point of rushing to buy something that is just a new “toy” . I would call it the spoilt brat syndrome. You know - those horrid little kids standing in the middle of the shop screaming and stamping their feet “I want it now”.  As they grow up the cry becomes “I want to be first”. Maybe they should take a leaf from the chinese workers book. Their cry is “I can’t keep up with everyone else, so I will exit the race so as not to bring down my colleague’s”.

      Reply

    • Wonko the sane says:

      07:30pm | 30/05/10

      Really, this is nothing new.  You are talking about overt versus covert cost.

      The overt cost of a DVD player is about $40 but the ‘covert’ cost is much higher.  Someone pays the price for cheap products, somewhere down the line.  Our ‘throw-away’ society seems cheap - why repair something for $100 if you can buy new for $50?

      But there is always the covert cost that no-one takes into account.  The cost to the environment, the cost to the workers, the cost to other - higher priced - companies…..  Lost of covert costs that we like to close our eyes to.

      But they are still there.
      And being paid.

      This example is just one of them.

      Reply

    • robert says:

      08:58pm | 30/05/10

      its amazing to read the indifference with which some here have approached the issue,for those who want to argue that the consumer is not responsible and the chinese government is,

      during the industrial revolution in england it was quite common that children as young as 5 were chained to machines for well over 16 hours per day,as results of condition,the 12 hour/minimal age bill was signed unions were formed and conditions improved,

      this is why we now enjoy shorter working day weekends holidays penalty rates,for how much longer is anybodys guess,enter the english government at the time,members of which were aware for years of malnutrition exploitation deaths poverty and squaller,it took a person of conscience to put a stop to it all,

      as far as the consumer was concerned,all that mattered was cheap woven cotton to mass produce garments for mass consumption,the average consumer did not care how or by what means cheap goods arrived,they just did,
      to stand back in indifference is to participate in human misery and exploitation that WESTERN owned companies are now engaged in, in order to provide cheap and plentiful un-needed substandard products manufactured by people who are given very little option but to work 12 hours 6 to 7 days a week in conditions far surpassing those described above,

      as far as the chinese government is concerned, free enterprise is free to self regulate,unlike in this country,the chinese model is run parallel to the usa model,no unions,oversupply of cheap labour and exploitation of the most basic human traits, to be productive and provide services in exchange for an opportunity to aspire to be more than a faceless disposable lifeform put on this earth to provide products to overfed spoiled brats, exploitation of people usually leads to unrest resentment and coups and china runs the risk of becoming another cuba.

      Reply

    • SallyF says:

      07:49am | 31/05/10

      Great story David. You are so bloody right! I can’t believe some of the comments for this story. The world is a seriously twisted place if we can justify suicide with stats and people still think that we actually “need” an ipad as part of our lives…
      People have too much money, too much time and are too self absorbed.

      Reply

    • Jessie says:

      08:47am | 31/05/10

      iPad? It doesn’t look very absorbent, I think I’ll stick with my iTampon.

      Reply

    • Ben says:

      09:38am | 31/05/10

      HEY! That story was VERY misleading! Over a population of 300,000 workers at Foxconn that suicide statistic is actually very LOW! And another thing, sure Apple is another giant evil corporation, but it’s totally unfair to single IT out:- the same group produces Dell, HP, components for Wii, XBOX 360, PS2, PS3, Motorolla, Cisco, the Amazon Kindle and probably heaps more (yes I can Wiki).

      Reply

    • su-iCide says:

      01:19pm | 31/05/10

      iThink i’m going to iJump off a goddam iBuilding as well if iHear anymore about bloody iPads! just another iStatistic…

      Reply

    • Bea Minor says:

      03:19pm | 31/05/10

      You’ve got no business making iPAD owners feel guilty about employment conditions in China. Because Apple and their insidious global marketers have brainwashed the poor, silly buggers into believing that useless devices like the iPAD will improve their social standing and quality of life.

      You’re just a kill-joy, David.

      Reply

    • Amit says:

      09:52am | 01/06/10

      I can feel it what his point is .

      No one is saying that you should not go for IPAD. But you are not looking at the point what writer is trying to say here that our eagerness is to be the first person to get is causing strict deadlines and that has resulted to deaths.

      I can guestimate more on number of deaths etc.. and I can argue on Call centers run 24 * 7, but overall point is… regardless of IPAD or whatsoever, if we don’t show that much eagerness we may be able to stop the deaths. Remember, it is not only us (oz) it is for the world. 

      One day when the internet was not there you were not able to live? But now we are too dependent that we feel like useless creature or somone call us 20th century people if you don’t have interneet at home.

      Reply

    • Dean says:

      01:15am | 03/06/10

      Actually it was in Shenzhen in China’s Guangdong Province (so your info is wrong). I’ll give you a perspective from an Australian living in Southern China.

      This is not the main issue, the issue is the trend of Shenzhen factories. Westerners shouldn’t compare salaries and talk about who can live on one Australian dollar per day. The reality is those who came to work in Shenzhen (where the factory is) were previously coming from poorer rural areas. Their dream was to save like crazy, go back to their home town and build a BIG HOUSE (which they very well would be able to do).

      Additionally the Central Government are raising the minimum sage each year, so salaries in China are on the rise. I have friends further in-land then myself, if I told you how cheap the rent was it would change your concepts a little.

      The new generation are those who consider themselves settled in Shenzhen and have no ideas of returning rural areas their parents are from. The money they can make will not satisfy those who want to work and live in Shenzhen, one of the biggest cities in China. This is the salary issue, but I don’t think that is the big one that causes people to kill themselves in this factory. The Honda factory had the same salary issue and no-one killed them self. The workers there just went on strike and the factory just contracted people from poorer villages.

      The factory you’re talking about is quite nice, has it’s own shopping mall and entertainment. Shenzhen itself is an entertainment capital of a city, bordering Hong Kong and in many ways comparable. If you want me to ask around my Shenzhen business friends to see if they have any more detailed info I can hunt.

      Reply

    • Jim says:

      05:02pm | 05/06/10

      Hi Dean,

      Out of all the 177 comments (of which I probably read 100) and the article I thought your input was by far the most valid and informative. Thankyou for the contribution.

 
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