Nightline to air its special after the kids are asleep Tuesday at 11:35 p.m. ET and PT
Weir at Foxconn. Source: ABC
Four years ago, when I first starting writing about Foxconn, it was almost impossible to get a photo of the factory workers who assemble 40% of the world's electronic devices.
Now, 18 suicides, two fatal explosions, an off-Broadway show and a New York Times exposé later, Foxconn has opened the factory where Apple's (AAPL) iPads are made to a senior ABC correspondent and a Nightline camera crew.
The result -- a TV special called "iFactory: Inside Apple" -- will air well past prime-time Tuesday night. But on Monday ABC's Bill Weir posted a long write-up of his findings that, knowing the exigencies of commercial television, may well offer more detail than the edited video.
Despite fears that any report by ABC, whose Disney (DIS) chairman sits on Apple's board, would be a whitewash, Weir is pretty blunt about what he found: work of "soul-crushing boredom and deep fatigue" and crowded living conditions few Americans would put up with.
Click to enlarge. Photo: Karson Yiu/ABC News
He also makes it clear that Foxconn's sudden openness is no accident. Among the details in his reporter's notebook:
Weir adds that Apple may be Foxconn's most famous customer, but its Chinese factories also churns out products for Sony (SNE), Dell (DELL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), I.B.M. (IBM), Motorola (MMI), Toshiba and other major brands, "keeping the details of each production line wrapped in total secrecy."
Below: ABC's video teaser. The Nightline special is scheduled to air Tuesday night at 11:35 p.m. ET and PT.
Fortune's curated selection of tech stories from the long holiday weekend. Sign up to get the round-up delivered to you each and every day.
"Maybe Brits have too many holidays for broke country!"
-- Reported, quickly deleted Tweet from @rupertmurdoch (The Sydney Morning Herald)
The HP Touchpad: Doomed to fail.
* According to former Palm employees, HP's Touchpad tablet, which the company eventually liquidated last year with a $99 fire sale, didn't have a chance. Leadership MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer-Reporter - Jan 3, 2012 6:00 AM ET
After seeing executives jury-rig consumer gadgets and software for work, companies like Google and Apple are suiting up for success in the office.
By Richard Nieva, contributor
FORTUNE -- In recent years employees have been bringing their personal smartphones and tablets to work and tricking out their gadgets (sometimes without the tech department's okay) with productivity-enhancing apps and software. Now, instead of standing by as savvy individuals co-opt their technology for the MORE
Dec 28, 2011 5:00 AM ET
Fortune's curated selection of tech stories from the holiday weekend. Sign up to get the round-up delivered to you each and every day.
What's going on, Windows Phone 7?
* Former Windows Phone general Manager Charlie Kindel explains why he thinks Windows Phone 7 hasn't taken off, chalking up much of it to Microsoft's relationship with manufacturers and carriers. However, tech influencer Robert Scoble thinks it really has to do with the operating system's lack of apps, while TechCrunch columnist MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer-Reporter - Dec 27, 2011 11:41 AM ET
An analytical gap big enough to drive a sleigh through
Image: Business Insider
Here are a pair of headline shockers:
AppleInsider: iOS dominates mobile shopping with 92% of market
Forbes: iOS Took 13.4% of Online Sales on Christmas Day
Both stories got pretty big play over the Christmas break. But they can't both be right, can they? Let's look at the facts.
The 92% figure comes from a Dec. 21 report by a San Francisco-base MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 27, 2011 6:41 AM ET
Fortune's curated selection of tech stories from the last 24 hours. Sign up to get the round-up delivered to you each and every day.
* The real story behind former Windows Mobile head Andy Lees' removal from his role. According to The Verge, Lees' lofty, public estimates for Windows Phone 7's success -- and the hard reality that it hasn't made much of a dent in the market -- created a rift. (The MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer-Reporter - Dec 15, 2011 3:30 AM ET
Fortune's curated selection of tech stories from the last 24 hours. Sign up to get the round-up delivered to you each and every day.
* Twitter unveiled and launched a major redesign of the social network, nicknamed #LetsFly, aimed at making the experience of using it faster, simpler, and more accessible. (CNNMoney)
* Citi analyst Richard Gardner believes the next iPad will launch in February with a screen resolution double that of the current MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer-Reporter - Dec 9, 2011 10:32 AM ET
Online sales were up 24.3% overall. iPad shoppers were most efficient. Android less so.
Apple Inc.
Apple (AAPL) devices figured prominently in an IBM (IBM) Smarter Commerce survey issued Saturday that reported double digit increases in online sales Thanksgiving Day (up 39.3% from 2010) and Black Friday (up 24.3%) and a 200% increase in purchases made on mobile devices (from 3.2% in 2010 to 9.8% this year).
In particular: (I quote)
The Apple MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Nov 27, 2011 6:04 AM ET
Non-techie Warren Buffett buys more IBM shares for Berkshire Hathaway than Watson could probably guess.
By Carol Loomis, senior editor-at-large
FORTUNE -- A tech stock for Buffett? Yes, a very big tech stock, and a walloping part of it, too.
Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and up to now a famous avoider of tech stocks, disclosed today on CNBC that his company has accumulated a huge investment in IBM. Berkshire spent about MORE
Nov 14, 2011 9:21 AM ET
With one seventh as many employees as IBM, Apple generates 13 times more profit
In most recent quarter. Source: Google Finance, Apple Inc. Click to enlarge.
As of September, Apple (AAPL) had 60,400 full-time equivalent employees, according to the SEC Form 10-K it filed Wednesday, nearly 30% more than the 46,600 it reported in Q4 2010.
But those employees generate more profit per capita -- by far -- than any of Apple's MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Oct 30, 2011 6:34 AM ETEvery morning, discover the companies, deals and trends in tech that are moving markets and making headlines. SUBSCRIBE
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| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Corp... | 7.95 | -0.16 | -1.97% |
| Microsoft Corp | 31.27 | -0.17 | -0.54% |
| Ford Motor Co | 12.28 | -0.25 | -2.00% |
| General Electric Co | 19.39 | 0.17 | 0.88% |
| Citigroup Inc | 32.36 | -1.00 | -3.00% |
| Index | Last | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 12,938.67 | -27.02 | -0.21% |
| Nasdaq | 2,933.17 | -15.40 | -0.52% |
| S&P 500 | 1,357.66 | -4.55 | -0.33% |
| Treasuries | 2.00 | -0.04 | -1.96% |
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