Apple Confirms Death of iPhone Worker in China

Jim Dalrymple:

According to various Chinese media reports, the worker at Chinese manufacturer Foxconn committed suicide last week after a fourth-generation iPhone prototype for which he was responsible went missing.

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.

Even if the missing prototype was stolen, not lost (and let’s not be naive about how unlikely it would be for someone to lose, Uncle Billy-style, a secret Apple prototype when it’s clear that Foxconn doesn’t exactly chalk such losses up with an “oh, well”), torture is evil. Apple needs to investigate this, publish the results, and if the man was truly tortured, sever ties with Foxconn.

Wednesday, 22 July 2009