‘iPhone 5′ is already for sale in China

Seth Weintraub

Those in China looking to get a head start on their Fall iPhone shopping are given the opportunity by sites like TaoBao, which, according to Reuters, (and the link we dug up) are already for sale.

Apple Inc’s next-generation iPhone has not even been released yet, but opportunistic sellers on China’s largest e-commerce platform, Taobao, are already accepting pre-orders, complete with mock-up pictures and purported technical specifications.

The hotly anticipated iPhone 5 is widely expected to be released sometime between August and October this year, although Apple itself has been tight-lipped about it. Sources have said the iPhone 5 would have a bigger screen than previous models, while Taiwanese media reported the phone’s voice recognition software, Siri, would have more powerful functions.

Buying Apple devices unseen shows what kind of confidence consumers have in the products that Apple makes. Would you put money down on Apple’s next iPhone without knowing anything about it? Read more

Apple could lose China iPad trademark, boasts Chinese govt official as groups enter mediation

Jordan Kahn

Apple’s iPad trademark dispute with cash-strapped display company Proview has continued to drag on despite the Chinese company claiming it was in negotiations with Apple as recent as February. Today, several reports suggested Apple and Proview are now involved in court-moderated mediation with senior officials who are boasting Apple could lose the right to the iPad trademark in China. The mediation would be the first confirmation of settlement talks between the two companies. The Associated Press reports:

Apple Inc. risks losing the right to use the iPad trademark in China, a senior official suggested Tuesday, as a Chinese court was seeking to mediate a settlement between the technology giant and a local company challenging its use of the iPad name… Yan Xiaohong, deputy director of the National Copyright Administration, told reporters in Beijing that the government regards Shenzhen Proview Technology as the rightful owner of the trademark for the popular tablet computers

If Apple and Proview are unable to come to a settlement in the talks, Guangdong High Court in southern China will rule over the case in the months to come. According to Deputy Director of China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce Fu Shuangjian (via The Wall Street Journal), Proview is still the legitimate owner of the iPad trademark in the country:

“Currently, Proview Shenzhen is still the legitimate registered owner of the IPAD trademark,” Mr. Fu said. But he indicated that officials are waiting for the Guangdong court’s final judgment, after which the industry and commerce sector “will deal with the case according to law.”

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Yet another reason Apple has to make its products in China: Rare Earths

Jordan Kahn

With all of the controversy and media attention Apple has experienced since The New York Times’  “How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work” article, a post from Motherboard (via iFixit) provides yet another reason why Apple makes its products in China—rare earths. While noting China’s cheap labor and lack of environmental regulations certainly contribute to Apple’s decision, the post explained how Apple’s use of rare earth elements might make it hard to move manufacturing elsewhere:

But there’s another important reason why Apple and other manufacturers have their heels stuck in Chinese mud. iPad manufacturing, like the manufacturing of other electronics, requires a significant amount of rare earth elements, the 17 difficult-to-mine elements used in all kinds of green technology. It’s hard to say exactly what rare earths are in an iPad, since Apple is really tight-lipped about their materials

iFixit ‘s Elizabeth Chamberlain spoke with Cambridge engineering professor Dr. Tim Coombs who “guesses that there may be lanthanum in the iPad’s lithium-ion polymer battery, as well as ‘a range of rare earths to produce the different colours’ in the display.” He also thinks the magnets in Smart Covers and the iPad itself contain neodymium alloy. So how does rare earths keep Apple tied to China? The report explained: Read more

Besides govts and the entertainment industry, Google cofounder sees FB and Apple as the biggest threat to the open Internet

9to5 Staff

In an interview with the Guardian over the weekend, Google cofounder Sergey Brin said:

[...]he was most concerned by the efforts of countries such as China, Saudi Arabia and Iran to censor and restrict use of the internet, but warned that the rise of Facebook and Apple, which have their own proprietary platforms and control access to their users, risked stifling innovation and balkanizing the web.” There’s a lot to be lost,” he said. “For example, all the information in apps – that data is not crawlable by web crawlers. You can’t search it.”

It is interesting that “lost” is defined above as “not crawlable by Google’s search engine.” Framing the argument—as “what is in the best interests of users” versus what Google wants—would probably have helped his case. We are supposed to think that it is just a coincidence the two biggest corporate threats to Google are also the two biggest threats to humanity/the Internet. (via Slashdot)

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First look at the assembly process of an iPad at Foxconn factory

Jake Smith

Marketplace reporter Rob Schmitz is the second reporter ever to get an inside look at Foxconn, the manufacturing plant where Apple’s products are made. Today, Schmitz posted a video showing our first-ever look at the assembly process of an iPad as it goes down the assembly line at the Foxconn plant in Shanghai, China. It is interesting to look at how machines streamline some of the process. Schmitz also noted a few other interesting points, such as workers switching positions every few days while making $14 a day when first starting.

 

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Five charged after Chinese teenager sells kidney to buy iPad, iPhone

E. Betters

Last year, a Chinese teenager sold his kidney in southern China to buy an iPad and iPhone. Now his renal deficiency is deteriorating, and five people have been charged with intentional injury related to the operation.

The teenager is known in reports by only his surname Wang. According to Reuters (via Xinhua News Agency), prosecutors in Changzhou city, Hunan province claim Wang is suffering from renal deficiency, which also means he is facing a potentially life-threatening decrease in kidney function.

“I wanted to buy an iPad 2 but could not afford it,” said the boy [...]. “A broker contacted me on the Internet and said he could help me sell one kidney for 20,000 yuan.”

On April 28th, the boy went to Chenzhou City in neighboring Hunan Province for the kidney removal surgery arranged by the broker. He was paid 22,000 yuan (an extra 2,000–) or $3,400 after his right kidney was taken out at Chenzhou’s famous No. 198 Hospital.

One of the five defendants earned 220,000 yuan (or $35,000 USD) to arrange the transplant, and then he paid Wang 22,000 yuan for the kidney and split the remainder with the surgeon, three other defendants, and various medical staff. The Xinhua report did not detail who received and paid for the kidney.

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