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China Iphone The Almighty Buck United States Apple

Foxconn Denies Plans For New US Operations 96

pigrabbitbear writes with an update to the story, based on a DigiTimes report, that iPhone maker Foxconn would be opening a new factory in the U.S. "Foxconn makes a lot of stuff, but as it's one of Apple primary manufacturing partners, lots of people jumped to the salacious conclusion that a U.S.-based Foxconn factory could finally produce an American-made iPhone. Foxconn denied the DigiTimes report today. A company spokeswoman told CNET that the company actually 'already has multiple facilities based in the U.S.' but that 'there are no current plans to expand our operations there at this time.' Foxconn doesn't make iPhones in the existing U.S. factories, and they don't plan to."
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Foxconn Denies Plans For New US Operations

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  • slightly off-topic (Score:5, Interesting)

    by tloh ( 451585 ) on Friday November 09, 2012 @09:25PM (#41939005)

    I've always been curious why the manufacturing outfit is named "FOX"conn. In Chinese folklore, (which is apolitical and applies equally to mainland as well as Taiwan) foxes have a notorious reputation as agents of evil. In stories, the fox spirit, "hu li jin" often takes human form as a young, nubile, seductress and sets out to corrupt scholars and governing officials. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it. Afterall, the most successful tech company stateside is named after the fruit that caused Man's expulsion from paradise according to the bible.

    • by ThatsMyNick ( 2004126 ) on Friday November 09, 2012 @09:38PM (#41939115)

      I am not sure if you can really split up a word like that. But in answer to your question, fox is known for in cunningness (it is the same as the west).

      • by jhoegl ( 638955 ) on Friday November 09, 2012 @10:53PM (#41939539)
        Except the Fox News.
        When the Fox News is seen in the wild, it shows its ability to ignore all threats by assuming it is the alpha of everything around it.
        It is an interesting defense mechanism which seems to work on 47% of the people in the USA.
      • Except in many American Indian's folklore where they are evil and thought to be the animal embodiment of shape-shifters/Indian sorcerers.
    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      What company is named "Fruit of The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil"?

    • by DNS-and-BIND ( 461968 ) on Friday November 09, 2012 @10:36PM (#41939459) Homepage
      Uh, hello, because "FOX"conn is the English name of a Chinese company? It's just a trade name. In Chinese it means something like "wealthy healthy scholar technology group". The company's real name is Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. where Hon is a kind of goose and Hai means ocean. Jeez, for someone who supposedly thinks a lot, you sure don't do much thinking outside the box.
      • Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)

        by tloh ( 451585 )

        Think a lot doesn't necessary mean think profound or even think sensible. :-p It's Friday and I've got nothing better to do. Damn, slashdot! I can't believe you gave my brain fart a +5 interesting. Does this mean I'm really good or really bad at trolling?

        • Think a lot doesn't necessary mean think profound or even think sensible. :-p It's Friday and I've got nothing better to do. Damn, slashdot! I can't believe you gave my brain fart a +5 interesting. Does this mean I'm really good or really bad at trolling?

          Points deserved. I have also sometimes thought about the origins of the company's name, thanks for bringing it into the discussion.

      • It was still named by a chinese speaker though. If Fox was evil in chinese folklore, no way would they have named it foxconn.

    • by Scarletdown ( 886459 ) on Friday November 09, 2012 @10:58PM (#41939583) Journal

      Afterall, the most successful tech company stateside is named after the fruit that caused Man's expulsion from paradise according to the bible.

      There are no references within canon Christian or Jewish mythology that identifies what the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil actually was.

      • There are no references within canon

        That's OK, because there are plenty of references in Kanon to marrying fox spirits manifesting as teenage girls.

      • by _xeno_ ( 155264 ) on Saturday November 10, 2012 @03:44AM (#41940761) Homepage Journal

        Although there is a reason that apples are identified as that fruit: it's a horrible Latin pun [wikipedia.org].

        Unfortunately the difference is in the diatric marks over the letter and Slashdot can't figure out how to deal with UTF-8 because they might have to look up the BIDI control characters, but basically "apple" and "evil" are both "malum" (but with a different sounding "a", I guess) in Latin.

        It can also be traced to Greek mythology, but I like the idea of it being a bad Latin pun that everyone latched on to.

    • I know of no mighty company named "Quince"... maybe it's because I'm foreign?
    • by poity ( 465672 )

      It's just a phonetic approximation of Fu Shi Kang

    • by dbIII ( 701233 )

      In stories, the fox spirit, "hu li jin" often takes human form as a young, nubile, seductress and sets out to corrupt scholars and governing officials.

      Maybe "salacious" is the correct word then :) Foxy lady!

    • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      Except the Chinese don't refer to it as Foxconn. It's known has Hon Hai Precision Electronics. That's the real name it does business as. Foxconn is its English branding name it uses for the western world because "Hon Hai" may get distorted when translated. Plus it's also way easier to spell over the phone with someone whose only language is English.

      If you ever get anything assembled at Foxconn, your assemblies come back on boxes marked with Hon Hai on them.

    • Well, that would explain the actions of Foxconn that are less than honest or honorable towards their workers.

  • by CajunArson ( 465943 ) on Friday November 09, 2012 @09:26PM (#41939015) Journal

    OK, so all those snarky posts about how the U.S. is a worthless third world country because Foxconn was going to open factories here?
    GUESS WHAT: Now the U.S. is a worthless third world country because Foxconn isn't going to open factories here!

    That's the beuatiful thing about already have a predetermined conclusion, the facts always fit.

    • by Anonymous Coward
      What's your point? That type of human behavior and modeling the world with preconceived notions and ideas is pretty common to the human psyche. At least a century ago it was shown that the same event would be perceived differently by a group of observers. To believe it only exists in an opposing group. In any event, make an actual argument about something instead of attacking. Even your sig is just a bunch of whining and buzzwords with no real substance.

      Consider your observation. Surely there were a
      • by poity ( 465672 )

        Many of us liberals tend to claim the intellectual/rational high ground. If that is indeed the case, then we should expect to hold ourselves to a higher standard as well. And when we are wrong we should be the first to admit it, not the first to point out how often others are wrong.

    • by AK Marc ( 707885 )
      The truth is the truth, even if it is inconvenient or undesirable. Attacking the messenger doesn't change the truth, even if it makes you feel better about it.
    • by dbIII ( 701233 )

      worthless third world country

      That seems to be the plan. You don't get a Congo sized difference in wealth between the rich and poor without the majority losing their standard of living.

  • by TaoPhoenix ( 980487 ) <TaoPhoenix@yahoo.com> on Friday November 09, 2012 @09:27PM (#41939027) Journal

    So who Watches the Market Watchers?

    Someone trolled Digitimes well apparently. Everybody got their ad clicks in already. I don't know if anyone "loses face" in events like this. Does the media care about posting incorrect stories?

  • by SampleFish ( 2769857 ) on Friday November 09, 2012 @09:31PM (#41939063)
    he went on to say "The only thing we manufacture at U.S. facilities is the hate a greed required to continue pushing our sweatshops to new productivity levels."
  • "...lots of people jumped to the salacious conclusion that a U.S.-based Foxconn factory could finally produce an American-made iPhone..." Including freaking /. itself at http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/11/09/0136211/foxconn-sees-new-source-of-cheap-labor-the-united-states [slashdot.org]. I've watched this site slowly assimilate into the blogspam world, and here is a perfect example.
  • by manu0601 ( 2221348 ) on Friday November 09, 2012 @09:43PM (#41939153)
    Given that iPhone assembly require human work, it was quite unlikely that Foxconn could find cheaper manufacturing costs in US rather than in China. The only hopes to bring back production in the US are a huge raise in transport costs (as if we ran out of oil for instance), or to give up on worldwide free trade.
    • The only hopes to bring back production in the US are a huge raise in transport costs (as if we ran out of oil for instance), or to give up on worldwide free trade.

      Or human rights tariffs, which bring goods from countries competing by abusing their workers into cost parity with goods made in countries where workers have rights.

      • Or insert pro-union agitators into China.

        • Or insert pro-union agitators into China.

          Then market invisible hand will move factories to Vietnam, North Korea, Niger, or whatever. Whatever salaries workers ask, there is always someone poorer ready to bid for lower

      • give up on worldwide free trade.

        Or human rights tariffs, which bring goods from countries competing by abusing their workers into cost parity with goods made in countries where workers have rights.

        I assumed that US workers would not accept to sleep at the factory, cut meat in their diet by a factor ten (or more!), work 60 hours per weeks while exposed to hazardous chemicals, and have children as coworkers. I assumed that facing such a situation, people would elect someone that would fight free trade, but I could be wrong

  • by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) on Friday November 09, 2012 @09:48PM (#41939183) Journal

    The plan was that if Mitt Romney was elected president, Foxconn would start building dormitories in the US.

    They wanted to "partner" with the new private prison industry and have a two-fer.

    Now those dreams are shattered because Americans are getting all uppity again that Obama's re-elected. Thinking that workers deserve "rights" and "safety" and "dignity" and all that liberal crapola. So Foxconn's going to go all Galt on our ass and keep their operations in a country that really understands the endgame of capitalism: China.

    No joke.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Please just shut the fuck up. It's really gotten old.

      • Please just shut the fuck up. It's really gotten old.

        I'm sorry, you're right. I should have been more sensitive, Mrs Romney.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    2010 Terry Gou: 'If I can automate in the US and ship to China, cost-wise it can still be competitive. But I worry America has too many lawyers. I don't want to spend time having people sue me every day.'

    Nothing about this situation has changed in two years.

    • He should be worried more that the US government wouldn't care about silly things like national borders and treat him like he was a part of Al Qaeda.

  • by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) * on Friday November 09, 2012 @10:13PM (#41939313) Homepage Journal

    Quote: [nytimes.com]

    When an Apple team visited, the Chinese plant's owners were already constructing a new wing. "This is in case you give us the contract," the manager said, according to a former Apple executive. The Chinese government had agreed to underwrite costs for numerous industries, and those subsidies had trickled down to the glass-cutting factory. It had a warehouse filled with glass samples available to Apple, free of charge. The owners made engineers available at almost no cost. They had built on-site dormitories so employees would be available 24 hours a day.

    The Chinese plant got the job.

    "The entire supply chain is in China now," said another former high-ranking Apple executive. "You need a thousand rubber gaskets? That's the factory next door. You need a million screws? That factory is a block away. You need that screw made a little bit different? It will take three hours."

    • That boils down to large and pliant labor pool that won't ask questions about bad conditions.

      • by Anonymous Coward

        That boils down to large and pliant labor pool that won't ask questions about bad conditions.

        Did you know that working at Foxconn makes for a better salary and conditions than most other manufacturing plants in China? This is why workers line up for hours whenever they're hiring and also probably why the suicide rate for Foxconn workers is lower than the national average; and that comparison is indeed valid because their factories are so big they're more like cities.

  • Are there ANY Chinese companies that chose to open a factory in the US, where they would have to deal with employee unions?
    • by AK Marc ( 707885 )
      What do the unions want, softer suicide nets? There is no problem with unions in the US. You hire workers, and if they unionize, you refuse to negotiate. No union has ever negotiated a contract that the management didn't sign. So unions are the fault of the management.
    • As opposed to employer-formed unions such as contract labor, which are used in conjunction with and not covered by RTW?

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Could you imagine how much an iPhone would cost if it was build with unionized American labor?

    My guess would be about $12,000 for a crap model.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Economists estimate it would cost $70 more. We get it, you hate american workers. Could you at least be close to reality, though.

  • by gelfling ( 6534 ) on Friday November 09, 2012 @11:05PM (#41939627) Homepage Journal

    To watch the lemming herd of slacktards at Occupy Wall St tweet on their new $2,000 US built iPhones that they didn't pay for either about the fucking evil that is money.

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