Steve Jobs has died.

[Magus]

Yeah, if it weren't for the iPhone, we never would have gotten good smartphones so soon. Just look at what the iPad did for us, already other companies are creating good tablet computers in response!

[POS Industries]

It appears that everyone's favorite psychotic con artists at the Westboro Baptist Church will be picketing Mr. Jobs' funeral.

This news, of course, was tweeted from Margie Phelps' iPhone.

[Red Mage Black]

The irony of that is delicious. Then again, the Phelps' have always been deliciously ironic. I wonder if they ever did picket Heath Ledger's funeral.

On topic, I've never really been a fan of anything Apple. It isn't 'Microsoft Fanboy' hate, it's 'I've used their stuff and I don't like it' hate. How I had to monitor everything I did or the whole system crashed. Also, the policy for iTunes really aint that great. If you don't hook it up to the same computer or you don't hook in the iPod you were using, there goes all the music you paid a fortune for. Anti-Piracy measure, I do realize and I do have a long statement for that, but I won't clog up the topic.

Not sure if I sound like a monster when I say, "I won't miss him," but that's only because I never really cared about Apple or its products. Maybe it's just my higher familiarity with Microsoft stuff that makes it so.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

I don't care about Apple because while they were innovating phones and things they were doing so with slave labour and taking all those classic 19th early 20th century tricks (if you want this job you have to live in our houses and pay exorbident rents! We're going to slowly poison you at your job then you have to pay money to our doctors to get it fix) and updating them for the 20th century.
Jobs probably didn't know about it though. So he's ok.

[Nique]

Originally Posted by Barrelpants

slave labour

what

[Professor Smarmiarty]

It's even on their Wikipedia page:

In 2006, the Mail on Sunday alleged that sweatshop conditions existed in factories in China, where the contract manufacturers, Foxconn and Inventec, operate the factories that produce the iPod.[41] The article stated that one iPod factory, for instance, had over 200,000 workers that lived and worked in the factory, with workers regularly doing more than 60 hours of labour per week. The article also reported that workers made around $100 per month and were required to live on the premises and pay for rent and food from the company. Living expenses (required to keep the job) generally took up a little over half of the worker's earnings. The article also said that workers were given buckets to wash their clothes.[42][43][44]

Immediately after the allegations, Apple launched an investigation and worked with their manufacturers to ensure that conditions were acceptable to Apple.[45] In 2007, Apple started yearly audits of all its suppliers regarding Worker's Rights, slowly raising standards and pruning suppliers that did not comply. Yearly progress reports have been published since 2008.[46] In 2010, workers in China planned to sue iPhone contractors over poisoning by a cleaner used to clean LCD screens. One worker claimed that they were not informed of possible occupational illnesses.[47]
[edit] Allegations of labor abuse in Chinese factories

During the international launch of the iPad news reports broke of about a dozen suicides over the past year at the manufacturer Foxconn's complex in Shenzhen, China,[48][49][50][51] where products from many manufacturers including Apple, Dell, HP, Nokia and Sony are produced. Apple together with Dell, HP, Nokia and Sony have pledged to investigate the suicides.[52][53]
[edit] Foxconn employee suicides

On July 16, 2009, Sun Danyong, a Chinese factory worker employed by Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn, committed suicide after reporting he lost a prototype model for a fourth generation iPhone.[54][55] [56] Upon filing his report on July 13, Chinese media reported that his residence was searched by Foxconn employees, and that he was beaten and interrogated by his superiors, actions illegal under both Chinese and American law. The incident raised questions regarding Apple's secrecy policy and working conditions in their Chinese factories. An Apple spokesman told reporters that the company was "saddened by the tragic loss of this young employee."[57] Apple's relationship with Foxconn regarding corporate security has been a continuing subject of controversy since Sun Danyong's death.[58][59]

Apple states its policy on how it influences the corporate culture of its suppliers in its Supplier Responsibility Progress Reports.[60] Holding suppliers accountable for their errors and omissions in their relationship with Apple is an area of concern Apple reports itself as taking seriously, and in its latest report, Apple stated that "[our] procurement decisions take into account a facility’s social responsibility performance, along with factors such as quality, cost, and timely delivery. When social responsibility performance consistently fails to meet Apple expectations, we terminate business."[60] Apple has not announced whether it has severed business ties with Foxconn. Given Apple's stated policy, terminating relationships with such suppliers may be difficult without incurring huge financial losses.[61]

In 2009 and 2010, Foxconn factories supplying iPhones, iPads and other devices have still come under fire in the press, with one source describing conditions as a "white collar prison".[62] In 2009, Foxconn guards were videotaped beating employees.[55] Later in April 2010, four workers attempted suicide in a single month in the same factory.[63] By May 2010, 12 workers had attempted suicide at a Foxconn operations in China. Apple, HP, and others stated that they were investigating the situation.[54]

Though Wiki states they've been cleaning up since the expose, others have claimed they are still doing it, just hiding it better.
Like for example, they apparentely started cleaning up in 2007 but then in 2011
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolog...ld-labour.html

At least eleven 15-year-old children were discovered to be working last year in three factories which supply Apple.

The company did not name the offending factories, or say where they were based, but the majority of its goods are assembled in China.

Apple also has factories working for it in Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, the Czech Republic and the United States.

Apple said the child workers are now no longer being used, or are no longer underage. "In each of the three facilities, we required a review of all employment records for the year as well as a complete analysis of the hiring process to clarify how underage people had been able to gain employment," Apple said, in an annual report on its suppliers.

Apple has been repeatedly criticised for using factories that abuse workers and where conditions are poor. Last week, it emerged that 62 workers at a factory that manufactures products for Apple and Nokia had been poisoned by n-hexane, a toxic chemical that can cause muscular degeneration and blur eyesight. Apple has not commented on the problems at the plant, which is run by Wintek, in the Chinese city of Suzhou.
A spokesman for Wintek said that "almost all" of the affected workers were back at work, but that some remained in hospital. Wintek said n-hexane was commonly used in the technology industry, and that problems had arisen because some areas of the factory were not ventilated properly.

Last year, an employee at Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that is one of Apple's biggest suppliers, committed suicide after being accused of stealing a prototype for the iPhone.

Sun Danyong, 25, was a university graduate working in the logistics department when the prototype went missing. An investigation revealed that the factory's security staff had beaten him, and he subsequently jumped to his death from the 12th floor of his apartment building.

Foxconn runs a number of super-factories in the south of China, some of which employ as many as 300,000 workers and form self-contained cities, complete with banks, post offices and basketball courts.

It has been accused, however, of treating its employees extremely harshly. China Labor Watch, a New York-based NGO, accused Foxconn of having an "inhumane and militant" management, which neglects basic human rights. Foxconn's management were not available for comment.

In its report, Apple revealed the sweatshop conditions inside the factories it uses. Apple admitted that at least 55 of the 102 factories that produce its goods were ignoring Apple's rule that staff cannot work more than 60 hours a week.

The technology company's own guidelines are already in breach of China's widely-ignored labour law, which sets out a maximum 49-hour week for workers.

Apple also said that one of its factories had repeatedly falsified its records in order to conceal the fact that it was using child labour and working its staff endlessly.

"When we investigated, we uncovered records and conducted worker interviews that revealed excessive working hours and seven days of continuous work," Apple said, adding that it had terminated all contracts with the factory.

Only 65 per cent of the factories were paying their staff the correct wages and benefits, and Apple found 24 factories where workers had not even been paid China's minimum wage of around 800 yuan (Pounds76) a month.

Meanwhile, only 61 per cent of Apple's suppliers were following regulations to prevent injuries in the workplace and a mere 57 per cent had the correct environmental permits to operate.

The high environmental cost of Apple's products was revealed when three factories were discovered to be shipping hazardous waste to unqualified disposal companies.

Apple said it had required the factories to "perform immediate inspections of their wastewater discharge systems" and hire an independent environmental consultant to prevent future violations.

However, Apple has not stopped using the factories.

In 2008, Apple found that a total of 25 child workers had been employed to build iPods, iPhones and its range of computers.

and like there are quite a lot of these stories floating around.

[TDK]

[akaSM]

Originally Posted by Magus

Yeah, if it weren't for the iPhone, we never would have gotten good smartphones so soon. Just look at what the iPad did for us, already other companies are creating good tablet computers in response!

He made people in the US discover that smartphones can actually be nice to use, in other parts of the world, especially Europe, they've been popular for quite some time. But yeah, he made tablets (either those that are like small computers or large phones) popular. Except it seems Apple likes to use other tablet makers for using their, apparently patented, minimalistic rectangle shape so, fuck them.

He did some good and some bad things but, certainly, he didn't invent touchscreen phones the world wouldn't have been the same without him.

[Meister]

Originally Posted by TDK

Yo Apple criticism is totally fine but let's avoid stuff that goes into "I'm glad this person died" territory.

[Sifright]

I dunno, Meister Apple has a bloody terrible track record for alot of shit like workers rights and there is no way the CEO wasn't aware of those kind of conditions I know in the company I work for (tech company as well) The CEO has and does visit said factories where our shit is made/assembled. There is no way he wasn't aware about what was going on so at the very least he's morally reprehensible.