Steve Jobs' desire for scratch-resistant glass is why the Apple iPhone is not Made in America
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At one time, Apple proudly revealed that its products were home made. And if it weren't for the desire of Jobs to have the Apple iPhone display be scratch-resistant, the iPhone might be like the Springsteen classic, "Born in the USA". According to a story in the New York Times, back in 2007, just weeks before the launch of the original Apple iPhone, Steve Jobs was very upset that his baby could get scratched by keys if it were placed in a pocket. He wanted to switch from a plastic display to one made of glass. The only factory that could do such a job at the last moment was the Foxconn plant in Shenzhen. With Foxconn, a midnight note from Apple could turn into production of 10,000 units a day within 96 hours of receiving the order from Cupertino. An anonymous Apple executive said that no American factory could have matched Foxconn's response.
The glass was actually made in Kentucky by a company as Yankee Doodle as they come, Corning. But a factory was needed to cut the glass and in China, a subsidized plant was already expanding in anticipation of the business. The factory started turning out samples and could run 24 hours a day. Apple denies this version of the story, claiming that it requested the punched time cards to make sure that the plant's staff was not working on short notice and at odd hours. Still, factories in China are known to play fast and loose with the truth in order to placate their customer.
Apple currently has 43,000 stateside employees and 20,000 that work overseas. The company earned an amazing $400,000 per employee last year, the most of any company. An additional 700,000 work for other companies like Foxconn and assemble the Apple iPhone and Apple iPad and other products. These factories in Asia and Europe are known for assembling electronics for other companies. Jared Bernstein, who last year was an economic adviser to the White House said, "Apple’s an example of why it’s so hard to create middle-class jobs in the U.S. now. If it’s the pinnacle of capitalism, we should be worried."
Apple now says that U.S. workers lack the education and skill for domestic manufacturing. In addition, current CEO Tim Cook needs the parts chain to be flexible in case quick changes are needed. Foxconn is said to be able to add 3,000 workers at the drop of a hat, something impossible to do in the States. And it is not just Apple. Other manufacturers like Samsung, Sony, Amazon, Dell, HP, Motorola and others depend on Foxconn's factories to turn out product. Boycotting Apple for producing the iPhone overseas would mean boycotting Android and Windows Phone models as well.
source: NewYorkTimes via electronista
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42 Comments
1. Numz posted on 22 Jan 2012, 00:33 11 2
So what can be done and what is being done by our government and these companies to bring these manufacturing jobs back to america? Do companies like Apple even care to bring these jobs to america? Seems like most of the load should rely on the tech companies to bring these jobs back here, we can't rely on the government to solve all our problems but the tech companies such as Apple have to care enough to actually make something happen and some of the responsibility should rely on them.
23. bossmt_2 posted on 22 Jan 2012, 11:23 3 1
In short, nothing can be done. Only way to start getting companies to make stuff in america is to buy american. But people won't do that because there is either not the option (such as with smartphones, videogame systems etc.) or doing so is more expensive.
31. Early_Grayce posted on 22 Jan 2012, 19:23 2 0
It's called capitalism baby and it is helped by having to reciprocate in free trade agreements.
Capitalism is about anyone who can make money making as much as possible by buying/producing things at the lowest cost possible and selling them at the highest price the market can bear.
Free trade agreements were made so that items produced within the country can be sold to other countries but did not factor in lower costs of production in other countries nor the ease at which companies would be able to send small high value products around the world. At the time that countries should have been puting up walls limiting imports the political gains that were possible from saying that you could export to the rest of the world were enough to win elections. If this was done at the same time as chasing highly skilled jobs and offering free education to people the benefits and flow-on effects would have been enough to not care about the imports.
2. Giggity posted on 22 Jan 2012, 00:58 14 2
It's all about minimizing cost and maximizing profit.
36. G2Noobin posted on 22 Jan 2012, 23:50 3 0
Load of Bu** is what this article is...dont try to make excuses Apple ....regardless C**pple still maintains slave labour and has the Cr-**ple-iest product...in terms of functionality...wake up Noobs!
3. Stoli89 posted on 22 Jan 2012, 01:16 17 3
It's easy to lie to a president if you're worth billions. The fact is, other manufacturers have plants in Europe (e.g. Finland), Eastern Europe (e.g. Romania), Brazil. Apple chose Foxconn because labor is skilled, flexible, and very very cheap.
Because the added value is not taxed at import to address the labor disparity, Apple and other US companies will continue to move manufacturing in this direction. It's a one way check valve. Steve Jobs cared little for the American middle class...as long as they could still buy his phone on a credit card.
28. stealthd posted on 22 Jan 2012, 14:25 2 0
It'd be nice if you had a single reason to claim Jobs was lying.
Try reading the NYT article. It's not just that China is cheaper, it's that they provide such greater scale than is even possible in the United States. They can hire hundreds of thousands of workers and thousands of engineers virtually overnight. Getting the same work force in the US could take over a year.
4. QWIKSTRIKE posted on 22 Jan 2012, 01:25 6 3
They are scamming us America with this bulls**t America doesn't have enough skilled labor to fulfill these jobs, and that no one can hire 3k jobs at a moments notice. We have millions out of work looking for a job, and thousands showing up for a single job's posting, but you "Apple" and others don't want to pay. The sad part is the media, and our president believe that bull s**t. It's about cheap labor, and unfair labor practices like Foxconn has going on that keep those companies sending lore jobs over seas while workers commit suicide because of unfair work practices out side of the US. I know elect Newt Gingrich and he will hire teenagers to work for free.
I have it why not privatize jails, and make the jail birds work for free while manufacturers like apple can bring that labor home and pay 3.00 a week with no shipping cost from abroad! When they need more free labor they just find a reason to throw your stupid ass in jail, and collect millions for cheap labor fro prisons. It's already happening, can any one say moral hazard. You spit on the side walk, and get 10 years hard labor to support free prison labor. There will be no reason to give parole to petty crime. Not to mention these privatized jail cells are funded by stock on the stock market. The more the stock rises the more the need to send more free labor to jail. Wake UP!
22. Mozarrt posted on 22 Jan 2012, 09:38 2 2
So thats why you should buy Finnish, Taiwanese or Korean. Because thats how the jobs really stay in America. amirite?
34. QWIKSTRIKE posted on 22 Jan 2012, 20:45 3 1
Mozarrt I never mentioned anything about buying from other nations genius you did. I never inferred this was a remedy either you did. I think that when stupid remarks like yours echo into public sentiment we discover just how much of a mini mind you really are.
Buying products made by other manufacturers from other nations has "NOTHING" to do with the fact that "AMERICAN" companies are shafting America for cheap labor abroad; while waving a no skills flag while hiring unskilled foreign workers in communist nations for huge profits to buoy their stock prices.
This is not about passing on savings as some have mentioned Apple has made huge margins on the "i products", and that money is passed on to stock holders not the consumer. It is said that Apple has made more than 45% gross profit on that phone so don't for a minute believe they are passing consumers the cost savings. Don't get it twisted either I believe that demand, and prices go hand in hand. If the demand is there and they get high margins then god bless them it's America.
I just believe off shoring American jobs for greed and using unskilled labor as a reason is just as unAmerican as dodging taxes by keeping them off shore. Some people in congress want to revamp the immigration laws to allow foreign workers into America to work for lower wages causing further damage to our economy.....wake up! When we as Americans finally wake up we will be owned by China, and the American work force will be all foreign domestically and abroad....wake up!
5. Stuntman posted on 22 Jan 2012, 01:31 1 6
When people start purchasing products because they are made in the US, those jobs will not come back. If Apple (or any other company) makes two phones, one made where it is now and one made in the US and both are priced accordingly to give Apple the same amount of profit, the US made one will be more expensive. If people choose to pay that premium (and perhaps a little more) for the US made phone over the overseas made phone, then those jobs will come back to the US. Does anything think that will happen?
6. StephenJobs posted on 22 Jan 2012, 02:02 5 7
Now all of your fellow American know that how your god "Steve Jobs" treated all of you. You all critic and hate him "Steve Jobs" for not employ you all. I'm know the Americans. Almost all of them are hipockrit. The jobless American yell at Steve Jobs and said that Steve Jobs are not fair. However Steve Jobs, still smilling or laughing loudly, because the jobless American are yelling and picketing at him but on their hands still have Iphone 4s, Iphone 4 or even Iphone 3Gs.....
7. Whateverman posted on 22 Jan 2012, 02:20 20 0
"Apple now says that U.S. workers lack the education and skill for domestic manufacturing."
Bullsh*t! Apple and all these other companies manufacture overseas for one reason and one reason only... To make more money by saving on production cost. I worked at Motorola for years churning out thousands of phones every night right alongside other hardworking educated Americans. Education was never a factor when pinch welding batteries together, ultra sounding housings or placing labels on a phone. Apple takes every potshot it can at it's users, fans and now just the American public in general, but I bet someone below this post is going to come up with some reason why this should be okay. "Apple is a business. They have to make a profit. All the other OEMs are doing it too." blah, blah, blah!
Bottom line is, with all thing considered...it's about 20-30% cheaper to manufacture overseas and everybusiness is out to make as much money as possible. They don't give a sh*t about the American middle class or what we think about them. All that matters to them is that next year's profit margin is bigger than last years. The other 99% can just suck it!
8. MorePhonesThanNeeded posted on 22 Jan 2012, 02:42 8 0
To add to what you said, the truth is the American worker won't work for such cheap wages to manufacture these devices. You will not find an American working for pennies on the dollar anywhere, and Apple is not willing to pay an American assembly line worker $10-18 an hour to do this work. With full benefits and the like, get serious. Any large American outfit that has to hire workers to do physical labor will not want to do so in good old U.S. of A. Labor laws and Unions are a big deal and they couldn't get away with cheap labor. So run to newly developing countries or countries with lax laws build plants there then export to the U.S. and sell product. They save on manufacturing and make a killing on sales...How much more can Apple call the American Worker an uneducated idiot not fit to assemble their toy phone? Look how they just stated it, and worst yet they make a phone that is basically for the uninitiated, good and bad. But facts are facts people, next time Apple calls themselves an American company, ask yourself what about that company is American aside from the fact that their base of operations is in the US? American built products will cost a lot more than foreign built American branded products. Imagine the cost of iPhone if it was built here, would easily crack $1000 and possibly be $700-800 on contract. The phone is made out of the country cheaply yet it costs almost $700 off contract...say what?
12. Doakie posted on 22 Jan 2012, 03:39 7 0
The iPhone has a 71% profit margin. I'm sure they could manufacture it in the usa and still make a profit. They just wouldn't make $400,000 per employee anymore. They're one of the Greedy Corporations that their iPhone owners protest against.
33. Asiimilator posted on 22 Jan 2012, 19:29 2 0
This is a problem.....and it crosses over to many other consumers electronic categories such as the car audio market. I've seen several speaker manufactures move manufacturing facilities overseas or had OEM's build the gear and didn't lower the prices to reflect the lower build cost. They just run with the extra profit. This is one reason I REFUSE to by an iPhone. Why should I even pay $100 when I can get a better or similarly spec'd phone for FREE right now? If I wait a few more months I'll have an even BETTER spec'd phone for FREE. Apple needs to drop the prices down to commodity levels....because thats all an iPhone is....a commodity.
35. cellphonator posted on 22 Jan 2012, 23:34 0 0
Genuine question, no sarcasm: what phone do you buy when you need one?
9. TKFox007 posted on 22 Jan 2012, 02:50 6 0
That a big, long and winded excuse for a reason to outsource. Apple just doesn't want to build a factory, hire and train thousands of American workers and pay them minimum wage when they can go to China and pay them pennies on the dollar, push the employees to near death or psychotic episodes leading to suicide. Because they know Americans won't let themselves get pushed around like that, and will demand Apple adhere to labor laws and give them health benefits. And that any company nowadays.
