Apple products are nice and all but at what cost?

iPhone 4 or your iPad are superficial compared to the much dearer cost to humanity. For many months Foxconn has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons, suicides and complaints of employees being poorly treated are synonym with one of the world’s largest outsourced manufacturer of some of the biggest tech names in the world.

Are these notion true or are they just a means to sabotage Apple? Would you forgive yourself knowing that the Apple iDevice that is your pride and joy are made under inhumane conditions? If you knew that your iPhone, iPad or MacBook Air is made by children, would Apple products still be appealing to you?

If you’re a tech junkie then you must watch the series of interviews after the jump and the answer will be clear. The interview of Mike Daisey talks about how kids who were as young as 11 worked 16 hour days to assembling iPhones and iPads by hand. He shares how one worker mangled his hand on the iPad line, but didn’t receive medical treatment for his injuries. He went back to work making iPads but was fired for being slow.

For Apple and gadget fans alike, be prepared to confront the uncomfortable truth. More importantly for all of us, are we prepared to pay the real cost of ensuring that our favourite devices are made under the right values and virtues?

Mike Daisey is on a mission and is calling on Apple — the industry leader — to set the standard and improve working conditions at Foxconns. If Steve Jobs could innovate devices with its iPhones, iPads and iPods, this shouldn’t be impossible to do. Nike made the change and shed its sweatshop image, there’s no reason Apple can’t do the same.

Further reading on this topic:
Our Great Sin — TechCrunch
Shocking details from the factory floor — ABC News

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