On August 28, a surprise announcement surfaced that Hugo Barra was leaving Google and taking up position at the Chinese handset maker Xiaomi. In light of this, it isn’t surprising that Barra took to the stage at Xiaomi’s event earlier today alongside the maker’s CEO Lei Jun, helping to introduce the company’s new smart TV […]
A New York based non-profit released a report today accusing one of Apple’s suppliers in China of mistreating workers. The same non-profit, China Labor Watch, also accused Pegatron of worker abuse a couple of months back. Apple has now released a statement regarding the matter. The company says that it has already sent a team of experts to the facility which will look into the claims regarding workers being mistreated. The company’s spokesperson also said that Apple takes concerns about its suppliers “very seriously.”
The factory belongs to a U.S. based company, Jabil Circuit, which has its headquarters in St. Petersburg, Fla. The Jabil Green Point factory is located in Wuxi, China. The report released by China Labor Watch claims that this factory manufactures the casing for Apple’s rumored budget iPhone, the iPhone 5C. Apple didn’t reveal what it has tapped the factory to manufacture. It said that three audits of the Wuxi factory have been conducted in the past 36 months alone while Jabil has its own auditing program with an “excellent track record of meeting Apple’s high standards.” Jabil has released a statement as well, saying that the company is committed to “ensuring every employee is provided with a safe working environment.”
Apple Sends Team Of Experts At Factory Accused Of Labor Violations original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Yet another manufacturer contributing to Apple’s supply chain has been accused to labor violations. Back in July one of Apple’s biggest suppliers, Pegatron, was accused of worker abuse in China. A non-profit based in New York has made these allegations, its called China Labor Watch. The allegations against Pegatron were also made by this non-profit. China Labor Watch claims that the Jabil Green Point factory in Wuxi, China, is committing various labor violations. This factory apparently manufactures the casing for iPhone 5C, Apple’s rumored low cost iPhone.
The factory is owned by Jabil Circuit, which is a company based in the U.S. with its headquarters in St. Petersburg, Fla. China Labor Watch alleges that workers at the factory are made to stand for more than 11 hours every day, the only rest they get is during the half an hour meal break. This is over three times over China’s legal limit. Workers are also allegedly forced to complete more than 100 hours of mandatory paid overtime per month apart from 11 hours of unpaid overtime. CLW’s report also alleges that living arrangements are not satisfactory, one dorm apparently houses eight workers. Lack of proper training, safety information and audi fraud is added to the list of violations as well. Apple hasn’t issued a comment as yet, but when the report about Pegatron came out, the company said that it is “committed to providing a safe and fair working condition” throughout its supply chain.
iPhone 5C Casing Manufacturer Allegedly Mistreating Workers In China original content from Ubergizmo. 
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On this auspicious day for device announcements, Chinese company Xiaomi has chosen to unveil not only one, but two, interesting smart devices. The first is the rumored and much-awaited third iteration of Xiaomi’s popular smartphone, the MiPhone 3. But a surprise guest star has also arrived in the form of a 3D-capable smart TV, currently […]
We’ve had early previews thanks to leaks, but Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi — more recently known as the new home of former Google exec Hugo Barra — just took the wraps off of a new flagship Android phone and smart TV. The MI3 candy bar phone is available with either a 1.8GHz Tegra 4 processor (on China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA network) or Snapdragon 800 CPU (China Unicom and China Telecom, which are WCDMA and CDMA2000, respectively) that provide a 40 percent performance boost over the MI2S. It also sports a 5-inch 1080p IPS LCD built by Sharp or LG with “ultra sensitive touch” that works even when the user has wet hands or has gloves on. %Gallery-slideshow79640% %Gallery-slideshow79643%
Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, HD, Mobile
Source: Engadget Chinese, Xiaomi (MI3), (TV)
We’re less than a week away from Apple’s September 10th media event where it is expected to launch two new iPhones. It has been rumored time and again that Apple is looking to capture more market share in China. The iPhone 5C, Apple’s rumored budget iPhone, is expected to be big in markets like India and China. According to a Chinese news outlet, the company will release both new iPhones in the country on September 20th, the day it is expected to release them in the U.S. and other major markets. Initially the release is reportedly going to be with its two current local partners, China Unicom and China Telecom.
Earlier today Apple sent out invites for a separate iPhone event to Chinese media outlets, the event takes place nine hours after the one in California. It is said that executives from both local carriers will be there as well, China Mobile executives are reportedly going to be present too. Apparently the iPhone launch on China Mobile has been delayed until November due to issues with 4G licenses, once the carrier receives its license only then it can begin selling the new TD-LTE compatible iPhones. The carrier’s CEO recently said that they were keen on selling the iPhone, but were facing commercial and technical issues.
New iPhones Expected To Be Released In China On September 20th original content from Ubergizmo. 
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According to Digitimes Research, which apparently is the research arm of the infamous trade publication Digitimes, Apple saw iPhone shipments decline by as many as 6.2 million units in Q2, 2013. The drop is compared with the total number of iPhones Apple shipped in the previous quarter. Total revenues generated from iPhone sales is also reportedly down to $18.2 billion in Q2, one reason for revenue decline is claimed to be promotion of old iPhone models at discounted prices through telecom carriers.
Even if there has been such a substantial decline in shipments, its not like the iPhone has lost its charm. This is actually a trend that is witnessed almost every year. In the months leading up to the launch of a new iPhone, we see demand for the existing model go down. For months Apple has been rumored to announce the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C in September. The company finally confirmed yesterday that it will conduct the iPhone event on September 10th. The report also says that Apple can regain market share lost in China with the entry-level iPhone 5C, though the model’s future would count on its pricing. Analysts expect Apple to price iPhone 5C in a sweet spot for the Chinese market, where it is deemed to become a hit.
6.2 Million Unit Decline in iPhone Shipments Rumored For Q2, 2013 original content from Ubergizmo. 
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As this author was fiddling with his Xiaomi Phone 2S (or MI2S) in bed ahead of Xiaomi’s big event tomorrow, he spotted something odd: a thumbnail of an unfamiliar device — next to the entry-level Red Rice aka Hongmi — in the company’s online store app. Since it’s a high-resolution image, we’re able to zoom into our screenshot (full version after the break) to see this Lumia-like design but with a flatter back. The long flash strip also suggests that this could be a beefed-up dual-LED flash module. Other than that, there’s not much else that we can pick up here.
Given the clock on this mysterious phone matches the 2pm start time of tomorrow’s event, we’re pretty certain that this is Xiaomi’s third-gen flagship device, the MI3; and it’ll likely be announced alongside the Xiaomi TV. We also recall seeing the same back cover leaked way back in February, and the side-by-side shot with the MI2 (embedded after the break) is pointing to a 5-inch screen for this new phone. Judging by the pattern so far, we bet it’ll use Qualcomm’s beastly Snapdragon 800 SoC to follow the 600 on the MI2S. Ultimately, it’ll be all about the price, which is likely to be no more than CN¥1,999 or about US$330 off contract.
While the above product thumbnail appears to be stuck in the cache on our MI2S, the same spot is occupied by the proper MI2S image in the same app on our MI2A. Talk about perfect timing, eh? Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have some sleep to catch up on — we don’t want to scare Hugo Barra with our panda eyes.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
The latest development on the recent HTC saga reveals that Thomas Chien, the arrested ex-VP of Product Design, was possibly lured by the Chengdu municipal government to set up a phone company in China. According to Taiwan’s Next Magazine (pictured above by sister publication Apple Daily), Chien flew to Chengdu several times in the first half of this year, which got HTC suspicious since it doesn’t have any direct business there.
The alleged offer was that if Chien left HTC with some of the technology plus some money, then the municipal government would — through another company it set up — take care of the remaining costs for opening the factory, production and marketing. Previous reports say while still at HTC, the ex-exec had e-mailed some confidential Sense 6.0 files to external contacts, but there’s no confirmation on whether those people are linked to the Chengdu government.
Filed under: Misc, Mobile, HTC
Via: Reuters
Source: Apple Daily (Chinese), UDN (Chinese), ET Today (Chinese)
Apple is truly making history on its upcoming launch event. Not only is there talk of colorful iPhones, a huge move away from its traditional toned-down look, but now it seems that the company has scheduled a press event in China, the first ever standalone event that Apple has ever organized for the Chinese media. […]
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