Apple has accused Chinese tech giant Oppo of poaching an employee after instructing him to steal trade secrets from the former. The company alleges that the worker accepted a position at Oppo after being asked to send confidential files about one of Apple’s most popular products: the Apple Watch.
Apple employee Chen Shi was a sensor system architect at the company. According to Apple, Shi began to attend meetings with the Apple Watch team when he knew that he would be leaving for Oppo soon. More damningly, Shi also allegedly secretly accessed confidential documents about health-sensing technologies at Apple, before leaving the company in June.
Do you have any strong feelings on corporate espionage?
Chen Shi belongs in jail!
23.08%
Oppo should be sued
0%
Both the first and second options!
23.08%
All's fair in love and war!
53.85%
Apple has filed a complaint in federal court, claiming that the ex-employee downloaded 63 confidential documents late one night, just three days before he left. One day before his departure, he then moved these documents to a USB.
Apple has also revealed that Shi hid the fact that he was going to join Oppo. Instead, he told his colleagues at Apple that he was moving back to China to look after his parents. The company has also disclosed that Shi was talking in Chinese with Oppo’s vice president of health, the translation of which reads as follows for one instance of their communication.
[I’ve been] reviewing various internal materials and doing a lot of 1:1 meetings in an effort to collect as much information as possible — will share with you all later.
Oppo’s vice president of health, according to Apple’s complaint, replied to this message positively, confirming that the manufacturer was okay with Shi’s actions.
Apple has said that the trade secrets stolen by Chen Shi will help Oppo develop a rival device for the Apple Watch.
It's not known precisely what data was stolen. | Image credit — PhoneArena
Personally, I find the whole ordeal quite nasty, and I’m sure many others will too. I’m also not so sure why Oppo would do such a thing — if it really has — during President Trump’s administration.
The president is already adamant on Apple manufacturing products in the U.S., in addition to his tariff policies threatening business with Chinese companies. Such a move by Oppo will, in my opinion, only mean a painful few years for the company. Though, I suppose Oppo is playing the long con here.
"Iconic Phones" is coming this Fall!
Good news everyone! Over the past year we've been working on an exciting passion project of ours and we're thrilled to announce it will be ready to release in just a few short months.
"Iconic Phones: Revolution at Your Fingertips" is a must-have coffee table book for every tech-head that will bring you on a journey to relive the greatest technological revolution of the 21st century. For more details, simply follow the link below!
Abdullah loves smartphones, Virtual Reality, and audio gear. Though he covers a wide range of news his favorite is always when he gets to talk about the newest VR venture or when Apple sets the industry ablaze with another phenomenal release.
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts:
New accounts created within the last 24 hours may experience restrictions on how frequently they can
post or comment.
These limits are in place as a precaution and will automatically lift.
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: