Last Thursday, 25 year-old Sun Danyong committed suicide after a fourth-generation iPhone prototype he was responsible for went missing. It’s a story, from what tech-industry friends in China tell me, of how Apple’s secretive ways send extreme pressure all the way down the company’s international supply chain.
Full story can be found here
This does have some implications quite serious in nature. The brand is Apple’s crown jewel and they wont tolerate stuff like this. News of Foxconn mistreating workers is not new. As far as I know Steve Jobs is certainly calling up Foxconn to know just what on earth is going on, now that he’s back at work.
Is there going to be any friction between Foxconn and Apple ? Remains to be seen.