ABC’s Nightline Visits Foxconn ⇥

It’s hard to assess these stories due to their unique access, the way they’re researched, and incongruities with other stories. However, I think Bill Weir has a good report on what happens at the Foxconn factories.

For a start, he’s quite clear that Foxconn is huge and manufactures products for a large number of companies:

“We call it the ‘Nike moment’ in the industry,” audit inspector Ines Kaempfer adds. “There was a moment for Nike in the ’90s, when they got a lot of publicity, negative publicity. And they weren’t the worst. It’s probably like Apple. They’re not necessarily the worst, it’s just that the publicity is starting to build up. And there was just this moment when they just started to do something about it. And I think that’s what happened for Apple.”

Smart observation. The criticism targeted at Apple is largely due to their high public visibility, and not because they’re worse than other companies. In fact, they’re probably one of the best in the industry, but that’s not saying a lot in the world of electronics factories.

There’s a quote right at the end that touched me. I recommend you read the whole article, of course, but this was particularly excellent:

In the meantime, Zhou Xiao Ying carves another aluminium Apple into the back of another iPad casing, lets her mind wander to her two sons and whether they can ever afford to live in the same city.

I pull out my own iPad to show her a few pictures of my kid and America and her eyes light up when she touches the screen to swipe another photo into view. She’s never seen a working iPad up close before.

“For all the people in America who buy one of these, what do you want them to know about you?” I ask.

“I want them to know me,” she says. “I want them to know we put a lot of effort in this product so when they use this please use it with care.”

We will likely never know the faces behind the assembly of our products. Let’s stop taking them for granted, though.