Majority of iPhone/iPad workers at Pegatron’s Shanghai factory exceed 60-hour work limit, claims China Labour Watch
China Labor Watch says that an undercover investigation at a Pegatron factory manufacturing iPhones and iPads found that 58% of workers there were working in excess of 60 hours a week – the limit laid down by Apple for its suppliers. It also said that overtime, which is supposed to be voluntary, is effectively mandatory, reports CNET.
The report claimed that the standard shift was nine hours, but that – between September and December last year – staff worked an additional minimum of 20 hours of overtime each week, usually split up between an extra two hours each week day and one 10-hour shift on Saturdays. […] This overtime was essentially a requirement, according to the investigator, who claimed to be told by a trainer that working eight-hour shifts five days a week “does not conform to our hiring requirements.”
The report says that many workers in any case said that significant overtime was necessary to meet their living expenses, with wages at the local minimum wage of around $1.85 per hour.
The report also alleges that Pegatron falsifies documents shown to Apple to give the appearance of complying with supplier audit requirements while failing to do so in reality.
Despite providing only about eight hours of pre-job safety training—where Chinese law requires 24 hours—Pegatron forces each new worker to sign a form that “certifies” that she has undergone 20 hours of safety training. A worker also must sign a trainer’s name on the form. The factory has workers quickly copy answers to the safety information quiz. These falsified forms are the types of documentation that are provided to Apple in their audits.
The report notes some improvements since 2013, with partial improvements in sick leave and the ending of claimed discriminatory hiring practices. CNET says that neither Apple nor Pegatron responded to requests for comments on the report.
It’s not the first time that China Labor Watch has criticized working conditions in factories run by Apple’s suppliers. A report last year on another Apple supplier detailed claims of 22 violations ranging from hiring practices to safety concerns.
A BBC documentary based on an undercover investigation at another Pegatron factory prompted Tim Cook to say he was “deeply offended” by the claims and the show’s failure to include facts and perspectives provided by Apple.
Apple publishes an annual Supplier Responsibility Progress Report in which it details the issues it faces in its supply chain and the steps taken to address these.
Photo: AP Photo/Kin Cheung
Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Apple Supplier Responsibility Report, Apple suppliers, China Labor Watch, iPad, iPhone, Pegatron, Supply chain
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iOS 9 now installed on over 60% of devices, according to latest Apple App Store data
Apple has once again updated its App Store data chart with the latest statistics on iOS 9 adoption. iOS 9 came out of the gate with a ridiculously-high >50% adoption rate just a few days after it launched. This pace has definitely slowed following the initial rush of users upgrading, but achieving 61% penetration of iOS devices is still a strong result. This appears to be keeping up with Phil Schiller’s prediction that iOS 9 will be “downloaded by more users than any other software release in Apple’s history.” Remember, iOS 9 can be installed on any iPhone, iPad or iPod touch that runs iOS 8.
For a comparison, it took iOS 8 until late November to reach the 60% mark as reported by the App Store, so upgrades are happening roughly twice as fast. There will also be a likely boost this week as many people will be encouraged to update to iOS 9.1 thanks to the addition of new emojis, which are featured prominently in the release notes when you update. Moreover, the number of people on iOS 9 will continue to rise naturally as all new devices sales (iPhone 6s, new iPads, etc) ship with iOS 9 pre-installed.
iOS 9 includes many system tweaks to make it easier to update, such as lower free space requirements, the ability to automatically update overnight whilst the user is sleeping as well as temporarily delete apps whilst the update takes place. It’s nice to see that these changes are having a real-world effect on OS software update rates.
Filed under: AAPL Company, Developers, iOS, iOS Devices Tagged: adoption, App Store, faster than iOS 8, iOS 9
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Apple asking developers to submit their tvOS apps ahead of Apple TV launch next week
A couple of hours ago, Apple sent out emails asking registered Apple developers to submit their tvOS apps for the Apple TV, using the GM seeds of tvOS and Xcode 7.1.
Although several thousand developer kits are out in the wild, the App Store app is yet to appear for these users. It may come online over-the-air and just ‘appear’ like Apple TV channels do, or there may be a small software update in the next few days to add the application.
https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/6570363933660
Like with watchOS, Apple is once again warning developers that a small group of people will be able to test out their apps ahead of public Apple TV launch. This is likely referring to review units which Apple has likely already sent out to members of the press. Preorders for the new Apple TV begin Monday.
If you have a cool tvOS app in the offing, please get in touch.
Filed under: Apple TV, Apps Tagged: Apple TV, tvOS
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Apple pushes new China clean energy programs to help suppliers become carbon neutral
Just a few days after CEO Tim Cook joined the Council for Sustainable Urbanization to fight climate change in China, Apple this evening has revealed a handful of new programs in China that promote the use of clean energy. Apple says that the programs will help avoid 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution in China between now and 2020, which is the equivalent of removing 4 million vehicles from the road for one year.
Apple also says that its construction of 40 megawatts of solar projects in the Sichuan Province is complete. Thanks to this, Apple’s offices and retail stores in China are all now carbon neutral. Tim Cook noted of this, saying that the transition to a green economy is a challenging, but necessary, task:
“Climate change is one of the great challenges of our time, and the time for action is now,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The transition to a new green economy requires innovation, ambition and purpose. We believe passionately in leaving the world better than we found it and hope that many other suppliers, partners and other companies join us in this important effort.”
“Being responsible, protecting air and water, and driving clean energy are at the heart of Apple’s commitment to China,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives. “These projects go beyond Apple’s operations in China to help our suppliers adopt clean renewable energy.”
All in all, Apple sys that it is powering 100 percent of its operations in China and the United States with clean energy, and 87 percent of its worldwide operations. Full press release below:
Apple Launches New Clean Energy Programs in China To Promote Low-Carbon Manufacturing and Green Growth
Apple Now Generating Clean Energy for 100% of its Operations in China
BEIJING — October 22, 2015 — Apple® today announced two new programs aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of its manufacturing partners in China. The programs will avoid over 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution in the country between now and 2020, equivalent to taking nearly 4 million passenger vehicles off the road for one year.
Apple also announced that construction on 40 megawatts of solar projects in the Sichuan Province is now complete. These solar installations produce more than the total amount of electricity used by Apple’s offices and retail stores in China, making Apple’s operations carbon neutral in China.
“Climate change is one of the great challenges of our time, and the time for action is now,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The transition to a new green economy requires innovation, ambition and purpose. We believe passionately in leaving the world better than we found it and hope that many other suppliers, partners and other companies join us in this important effort.”
First, Apple is significantly expanding its clean-energy investments in China. Apple plans to build more than 200 megawatts of solar projects in the northern, eastern and southern grid regions of China, which will produce the equivalent of the energy used by more by than 265,000 Chinese homes in a year and will begin to offset the energy used in Apple’s supply chain.
Second, Apple is launching a new initiative to drive its manufacturing partners to become more energy efficient and to use clean energy for their manufacturing operations. Apple will partner with suppliers in China to install more than 2 gigawatts of new clean energy in the coming years.
Apple also will share best practices in procuring clean energy and building high-quality renewable energy projects, and provide hands-on assistance to some suppliers in areas like energy efficiency audits, regulatory guidance and building strong partnerships to bring new clean energy projects to China.
As part of Apple’s industry-leading program, Foxconn will construct 400 megawatts of solar, starting in the Henan Province, by 2018. Foxconn has committed to generate as much clean energy as its Zhengzhou factory consumes in final production of iPhone.
“We are excited to embark on this initiative with Apple. Our companies share a vision for driving sustainability and I hope that this renewable energy project will serve as a catalyst for continued efforts to promote a greener ecosystem in our industry and beyond,” said Terry Gou, founder and CEO of Foxconn Technology Group. “Sustainability is a core pillar in Foxconn’s strategy and we are committed to investing in green manufacturing.”
“Being responsible, protecting air and water, and driving clean energy are at the heart of Apple’s commitment to China,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives. “These projects go beyond Apple’s operations in China to help our suppliers adopt clean renewable energy.”
Apple has taken significant steps to protect the environment by transitioning from fossil fuels to clean energy. Today the company is powering 100 percent of its operations in China and the US, and more than 87 percent of its worldwide operations, with renewable energy.
Learn more about Apple’s environmental efforts at http://ift.tt/1jrLCqW.
Apple in China
Apple operates 19 corporate offices and 24 retail stores in Greater China, directly employing 10,000 people. In total, Apple has helped create and support over 4.4 million jobs in China, including at least 1.4 million iOS app developer jobs and other positions related to the iOS ecosystem.
Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Apple, Apple environment, china, Tim Cook
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Apple debuts several new Apple Watch ads highlighting Siri, third-party apps and more
Just two weeks after unveiling an initial six new Apple Watch advertisements, Apple this evening has shared seven more, all being part of the same campaign. The ads all highlight certain capabilities of Apple Watch and are short, 15 second TV spots.
The first ad, entitled “Dance,” stars R&B singer Leon Bridges asking Siri on Apple Watch to “play some 80’s music,” and proceeding to dance to then INXS song that begins to play. The second ad is called “Kiss” and features two love birds wearing Apple Watch. The woman in the relationship receives a notification on her wrist that her Uber has arrived, but proceeds to dismiss it in an effort to continue being with her boyfriend.
“Style” is the third ad in the series and focuses on the customization options that Apple Watch offers. The ad shows a woman changing her outfit several times and changing her Watch band each time to match her clothing, a move that Jony Ive is very happy Apple is able to offer. The fourth ad is called “Play” and features a pianist perfecting his skill when he receives an eBay notification telling him he has been outbid. He proceeds to continue playing the piano with one hand, while using the other to increase his eBay bid via Apple Watch.
The fourth ad, called “Travel,” focuses on Apple Watch’s support for storing passes in Wallet and shows a woman loading up her plan boarding ticket on her wrist prior to the flight. Next is “Skate,” which focuses on using Apple Pay to pay for goods via Apple Watch. Last but not least is “Move,” which focuses on using the Activity app to track your daily fitness project.
All of Apple’s new Apple Watch ads come in at 15 seconds in length and can be seen below:
Filed under: Apple Watch Tagged: ads, Apple, Apple watch, video
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Sprint enables iPhone Wi-Fi Calling for all with today’s iOS 9.1 release
Alongside the release of iOS 9.1 today, Sprint announced that the update officially enables access to the iPhone’s Wi-Fi calling feature for all of its users. That means Sprint users will join T-Mobile and AT&T customers in the US in being able to take advantage of the feature that offers Wi-Fi-assisted voice calling for poor coverage areas and the ability to accept calls on other Apple devices including iPods, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watch.
Following today’s release of iOS 9.1, iPhone customers on Sprint will gain access to Apple’s enhanced Wi-Fi calling feature… “Customers already enjoy seamlessly responding to texts and email from a variety of great Apple devices,” said David Owens, senior vice president, Product Development at Sprint. “Now they can bring that flexibility to the primary phone number their friends, family and colleagues know best. This great feature puts the power of device choice in our customers’ hands.”
Sprint customers will have to update their iPhones to iOS 9.1, released earlier today, make sure Wi-Fi Calling is enabled in the iPhone’s Settings, and sign into the same Apple ID and iCloud account across devices.
Apple’s iOS 9.1 release includes enhancements to its Live Photos feature, over 150 new emoji, refreshed wallpapers, and the usual fixes and improvements for a long list of other features and bugs. We have the full rundown here.
Filed under: iOS Tagged: Apple, Apple watch, download, iOS 9.1, iPad, iPhone, Sprint, update, wi-fi calling
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Apple adds Find My Friends app to iCloud on the web
Following a slew of updates for iOS, OS X, tvOS and watchOS, Apple has also given its web portal iCloud.com some love too. Last week, Apple took iWork for iCloud out of beta. Today, Apple has added the Find My Friends web app to the site.
Mirroring the app for iOS, the web app shows a map of friends who have opted in to sharing your location with them; pins for each person are displayed on an Apple Maps map.
Apple added Find My Friends as a default app on iOS 9 and are clearly trying to promote its usage. It is also available as a Today view widget on OS X El Capitan. With iOS 8 and previous, Find My Friends was an optional download from the App Store … now it’s part of the OS itself and cannot be deleted.
Interesting, the Find My Friends web-app did not appear on beta.icloud.com at all. Try it out now on iCloud.com.
Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS Devices
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Happy Hour Podcast 037 | Apple’s boring Magic accessories, an Apple TV ship date, and more
Apple’s recent release of the new Magic accessories … left us all a bit disappointed. Is the new Magic Keyboard, Trackpad 2, or Mouse 2 worth buying? Let’s find out. Along with that, we get into some new information regarding an official Apple TV release date and Apple Music by the numbers. Big thanks to Bushel for sponsoring this week’s episode. To find out what awesome cloud-based mobile device management can do for you, check out http://ift.tt/1j95I0c.
New episodes of Happy Hour are available every Wednesday. As mentioned, you can download this podcast via iTunes or plug in our RSS feed link into your favorite podcasting app. Send an email to listenermail@9to5mac.com (or click here) and your question/comment may be featured in an upcoming episode of Happy Hour.
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Hosts:
Here’s what we discussed in this episode:
- Tim Cook says new Apple TV coming next week, reveals 6.5m paying Apple Music subscribers
- Review: Apple’s Magic Keyboard + Magic Trackpad 2 add precision and power, lose compatibility [Video]
- Apple launches larger Magic Trackpad 2 with Force Touch, Magic Mouse 2 & Magic Keyboard
If you missed our 36th episode last week, you can subscribe and find every episode or start off from the previous episode here.
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Filed under: Happy Hour Tagged: Apple, Apple Music, Apple TV, Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, Podcast
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Ferrari chairman believes Apple will build a car amid growing EV rumors
Ferrari’s CarPlay integration
Speaking today on CNBC, Ferrari chairman and Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne spoke affirmatively when asked if he believes Apple will make a car. The Ferrari boss explained that he believes the automobile space is one in which Apple can exhibit its skills, clarifying that he believes Apple will have a car assembled rather than building it on their own. Marchionne added that Apple has not approached Fiat for being its partner for assembling a car.
When asked if Fiat could become the Foxconn in Apple’s car supplier equation, the Ferrari chairman reacted negatively to the thought of being a low margin supplier in the car space for Apple, but admitted that car markers are positioned to work with partners like Apple and Google as the industry changes. Interestingly, Apple’s Eddy Cue has had a seat on Ferrari’s board for nearly three years.
BREAKING: Ferrari’s chairman tells CNBC he thinks that Apple will market an Apple car. $RACE
http://ift.tt/1GTTi1T
—
CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) October 21, 2015
The Ferrari chairman’s remarks come just days after Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly stated that the auto industry is at an “inflection point for massive change, not just evolutionary change” during an interview at the WSJD conference. The answer came when Cook was asked about increasing evidence that Apple is developing an electric vehicle under the codename Project Titan. Cook said Apple is focused on CarPlay and bringing the iPhone experience to the car in the short time, but certainly left the door open with this teaser: “We will see what we do in the future.”
Filed under: Apple Car Tagged: Apple Car, Ferrari, Fiat Chrysler, Project Titan, Sergio Marchionne
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Twitter for Mac is officially getting a much-needed overhaul, but not just yet
Twitter doesn’t exactly have the best track record in supporting its loyal third-party developers, which is something that could be forgivable if it built half-decent first party applications. The company’s official apps for the iPhone and iPad have dramatically improved as of late, but the official Twitter for Mac client has felt almost abandoned for years.
Today, at the Twitter Flight developer’s conference, the company has confirmed that a much-needed overhaul to the Mac app is on the way…
While the most-current version of the official Twitter for Mac app doesn’t even support embedded Tweet quoting (which was added to the official iPhone client six months ago, and added to Tweetbot for Mac four months ago), the updated version will apparently add that feature as well as many others including inline Vine playback, highlights in the notifications tab, group DMs, photos in DMs and more. If you’re a regular Twitter user, most of these are probably features you’ve already been using on the web — and in the iOS app — for quite a while.
The image you can see above shows the app running in standard mode, but based on a tweet from the co-founder of Vine (which is now owned by Twitter, for those that don’t know), the app will also bring a dark mode.
New Twitter for Mac in dark mode looks so good https://t.co/OnDukgtslx
—
Rus (@rus) October 21, 2015
Perhaps even more important than the long-awaited app update, however, now-CEO Jack Dorsey took the stage to apologize to developers for the last couple of years. The company’s relationship has been messy and confusing at times, but Dorsey seems set on mending that.
“Somewhere along the line, our relationship with developers got a little bit complicated, a little bit confusing, a little bit unpredictable,” Dorsey said, according to Variety, adding that the company is sorry and needs to have better transparency going forward. “We want to come to you today, and first and foremost apologize for the confusion.”
Twitter says that the app won’t be out for “a few months” at the very least, so if I were you, I’d just keep on using Tweetbot for Mac (even at $10). It was already one of best Twitter clients for Mac when it got a big update earlier this year, but it has seen significant improvements since — and it already packs most of the features that users that Twitter.app die hards are going to be waiting a few more months to use.
(Image via TechCrunch)
Filed under: Apps Tagged: App Update, Apple, Apps, Mac, Mac OS X, Twitter, update
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