Chinese engineer kills self over lost '4G' iPhone

[Whisper]

A Chinese worker killed himself after a fourth-generation iPhone prototype he was responsible for disappeared.

The 25-year-old engineer, Sun Danyong, who worked for Foxconn, jumped from a 12-story building last week. A Chinese newspaper reported that his property had been seized and that he was held in solitary confinement, where he faced "unbearable interrogation techniques" for having lost one of 16 "4G" prototypes. Foxconn apologized, but questioned reports that police beat Sun.

Apple issued a statement this afternoon in response to a report by CNET. A spokeswoman said the Silicon Valley firm is "saddened by the tragic loss of this young employee and we are awaiting results of the investigations into his death. We require our suppliers to treat all workers with dignity and respect."

VentureBeat, AppleInsider and The Register are among the tech sites covering this story.

AppleInsider notes that it's the second piece of bad news for the company recently. Last week an investigation found that 45 of the 83 factories that built iPhones and iPods in 2008 weren't paying valid overtime rates, and that 23 weren't even paying some of their workers China's minimum wage.


EDIT
i knew i forgot something

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/07/a-chinese-worker-has-killed-himself-after-a-fourth-generation-iphone-prototype-he-was-responsible-for-disappeared---the-25-y.html?csp=34

[MoveAlong]

Oohh I heard about this. This is really sad. "Solitary confinement"? "Unbearable interrogation techniques"? Geez. Maybe the guy was crazy.

...♫I know who I'm not working for♫...

[scuba steve]

another piece of evidence why communism is generally a bad thing

even russia aint communist any more!!!!!

[tripolar]

Maybe apple wanted him "to accidentally fall" to make an example to never lose a prototype. But on a serious note this is very unfortunate and its a shame to see a man killed himself over losing a prototype ipod.

[TrekRider0320]

I feel bad for this man's family. Imagine how they feel about him killing himself over technology. I hear his company beat him over losing it and they are trying to cover it up. What has this world come to?

[INFERNO]

Well if he lost only 1/16 of the prototype phones, then I could see some reason for giving him some harsh interrogations. But on the bright side, perhaps someone found a nice nifty new phone :lol:.

[IAMWILL]

Well, they obviously weren't trying to cover it up by beating him, otherwise thus wouldn't have been released. Besides, everyone that's techy could anticipate this.

Meh, some idiot probably put it on eBay, so Apple can buy it back for 20 grand.

[YourFriend]

Poor guy, why did he do it?! That's a retorical question.

[JackOfClubs]

Haha, killing himself might have been juuuuust a bit excessive :). Besides, there are 15 more. :D

[Viral Death]

Okay? This is weird I did not kill myself over my stolen ipod! Maybe he needs to grow up! LoL

[Whisper]

i don't think you guys are grasping the circumstances or the context here...
nvm the accusations/implications against apple

[The Batman]

This is about more than just an iPhone they pretty much ruined his life because he lost it, he was probably upset that he lost it but he was tortured and lost everything because he lost it.

[Cromm]

Apple issued a statement this afternoon in response to a report by CNET. A spokeswoman said [...] "We require our suppliers to treat all workers with dignity and respect."
I'm goint to go ahead and call BS on this one! I gaurantee you there isn't a clause in any contract, anywhere, that states anything of the sort. That statement is a pathetic attempt by Apple to distance themselves from a potential scandal.

They don't care how their suppliers treat their employees... if they didn't they wouldn't be going to CHINA for crying out loud! They care about who can get their products to their markets cheapest, and fastest. Period.

...not that they're different from any other big company mind you, but this 'Quick! Cover our ass!' reaction could have been handled better.



Maybe apple wanted him "to accidentally fall" to make an example to never lose a prototype. I'm sure they'd be more pleased with that than what happened.

Well, they obviously weren't trying to cover it up by beating him, otherwise thus wouldn't have been released.Obviously they didn't release this themselfs.

i don't think you guys are grasping the circumstances or the context here...
nvm the accusations/implications against apple

A 25 y/o guy lost a rare prototype and was interogated by the authorities (possibly beaten) to the point where he took his own life.

As for the crap against Apple, I seriously doubt they really had anything to do with it. I'm sure the authorities questioned this guy well before the Apple people stateside even knew their thing was missing. Having said that, their reaction to the death of a (quite likely completely innocent) young man is at best, apathetic.

.

[Whisper]

As for the crap against Apple, I seriously doubt they really had anything to do with it. I'm sure the authorities questioned this guy well before the Apple people stateside even knew their thing was missing. Having said that, their reaction to the death of a (quite likely completely innocent) young man is at best, apathetic.



Well beyond apathetic and I'm not referring to just this case although that alone is severe. I'm talking about this aswell:


AppleInsider notes that it's the second piece of bad news for the company recently. Last week an investigation found that 45 of the 83 factories that built iPhones and iPods in 2008 weren't paying valid overtime rates, and that 23 weren't even paying some of their workers China's minimum wage.

they weren't paying proper overtime at over half of the plants and a substantial chunk wasn't even paying china's minimum wadge....do you have any idea how pathetic there minimum wadge is in china? and they weren't even getting that
They aren't monitoring anything for working conditions what-so-ever
meaning they are failing severely as a company

[Antares]

I understand why he killed himself but thats absolutely dispicable that he had to go to those lengths to avoid consequences of an accident