Slashdot Mirror

Oh, I think it'll more than double the cost per unit to build them, because you can't pay only a dollar a day to U.S. workers, and you have to give them health insurance, retirement packages, etc. So I stand by it ending up with a suggested retail price of $3000.

A 256 Gig iPhone 7 has a retail list price of $849, and it currently costs $224 to manufacture. What percentage of that $224 is actual human labor? 1%? 5%? Let's say it's 5% (but I'm pretty sure that's a high number), that means it costs $11.25 per phone for manual labor. Assuming Apple maintains it's $625 profit per iPhone, that means labor costs would have to ballon from $11.25/iPhone to about $2,151/iPhone, about a 200x increase in labor costs. If it is the 1% I think it is, then the labor costs in America would have to increase 1,000x current costs assuming Apple is content with $625 profit per phone.

If you look at the Android phones being sold in China, Africa, etc. they are not phones like the Galaxy models. They are basically phones that are just steps up from feature phones.

China actually has some pretty nice android phones that are on par with the iPhone 5 or the Galaxy S3.

The Xiaomi M2 has a 1.5GHz quad core, 2GB ram, 720p screen, and it runs MIUI 4.1 (Android 4.1 with a custom chinese rom). It costs $310, which is less than half the price of an iPhone 5 (and it has better specs than the iPhone). The Xiaomi M2 is basically on par with the newly released Nexus 4, but it costs $50 less.

There's also the Oppo Find 5 which will have a 1.5Ghz quad core, 2GB ram, 16 or 32GB storage, 1920x1080 resolution (1080p screen!), 2500mAh battery, and it runs Android 4.1. It might also be the thinnest smartphone to date.

They have cheaper phones too, like the Beidou Little Pepper which is only $156, and it has a 1.3Ghz quad core, 1GB ram, 5MP camera, 800x480 screen, and runs Android 4.0. There's also the older dual core variant for only $110.

What a bunch of wazzocks!

A search with your favourite search engine (in Image), using "chinese android blackberry clone" will return an Android phone that is mighty like the motherboard in the teardown. If the clueless technologists had done that, they wouldn't have had to puzzle about which key did what....

Can I have their job please?

Some more information on
this page
Apparently 10 deaths.

Just because Apple can't make a rugged phone doesn't mean others can't. There are many good rugged smartphones now. Nokia, Motorola, HTC, Samsung, Sonim, Casio, and even Caterpillar now have rugged smartphones.

Here's a Samsung phone being used to crack walnuts. Here's an HTC phone being used as a hammer. And here's an IPhone 4 broken by a 1-foot drop.

Go to http://android-sale.com/hdc-galaxy-s3-i9300-phone.html

You can get some nice S3 clones, on par to a S1, but using ICS.

more here http://www.chinaecarts.com/samsung-galaxy-s3-12ghz-dual-core-48inch-mtk6577-android-41-16gb-phone-p-3095.html

http://micgadget.com/28057/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-knockoff-unveiled-with-720p-display-and-android-4-0-videos/

Um, yeah, if I was going to make an "app", I'd make it for a real tablet. It's called the fucking IPAD.

You mean the Internet Personal Access Device?

You mean like this?

They are paid so terribly, that thousands of Chinese line up and wait for hours for a chance to work at Foxconn. And the job ad even says the starting wage is $261:
http://micgadget.com/21420/thousands-line-up-for-foxconns-jobs-in-zhengzhou/

Franklin did not have a license from Apple for anything at all. They just copied Apple's ROMs and OS on the theory that copyright would not apply, and they lost that gamble in court.

The only licensed use was Bell and Howell's Apple II clone. You can find them around (they're in black cases).

Franklin's case is a bit muddy since Franklin claimed that since Apple published the schematics and ROM listing, they were free to take it and build their own. Which of course isn't true (otherwise it would doom Open Source as well - publishing the source code allows anyone to take it? No GPL advocate would go for that)

Well, if Psystar had sold "OS X ready" machines with instructions on how to get OS X installed and running, they might have been OK. But instead they modified OS X and sold the modified versions. Regardless of whether or not you think this should be legal, it clearly is not.

The other thing is the whole Hackintosh community was also against Psystar - they had to change their licensing of all the tools required from some freeware to explicitly "no commercial use allowed".

Anyhow, back on topic - the ProView "iPad" was actually an iMac-styled (this was back in 2000, remember, so it was the bulbuous one) appliance computer. Not even a tablet - just an iMac ripoff design for an internet appliance.

(Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/02/18/proviews-ipad-was-it-an-imac-or-an-ipaq/ images (marketing materials from Proview): http://micgadget.com/22151/proview-has-manufactured-20000-%E2%80%98ipad%E2%80%99-devices-this-is-what-it-looks-like/ ). Funny, apparently Compaq would have a much better claim against Apple with the iPaq...

Here’s what the email has told us: “Unauthorized use of a person’s name and/or likeness constitutes a violation of California Civil Code Section 3344, which prohibits the use of any person’s name, photograph or likeness in a product without that person’s prior consent”

Thus http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/cacode/CIV/5/d4/1/2/2/3/s3344

a)Any person who knowingly uses another's name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness, in any manner, on or in products, merchandise, or goods, or for purposes of advertising or selling, or soliciting purchases of, products, merchandise, goods or services, without such person's prior consent, or, in the case of a minor, the prior consent of his parent or legal guardian, shall be liable for any damages sustained by the person or persons injured as a result thereof.

Not suing is setting a precedent that you can sell, literally, Apple branded merchandise without Apple's involvement.

But the same company is, literally, already doing that!

This one is awesome. Steve Jobs vs Bill Gates

When did a cease-and-desist letter become a lawsuit? And when did trademark enter into the story? According to MIC's own website, the letter states "Unauthorized use of a person’s name and/or likeness constitutes a violation of California Civil Code Section 3344, which prohibits the use of any person’s name, photograph or likeness in a product without that person’s prior consent” bla bla bla" As a previous poster said, it's not a trademark issue.

Ah, well. Who needs to go to the orginal site when rumours and hearsay will suffice? Boycott Apple! Boycott Apple!

whatever.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheedl/sets/72157624448891934/
apple wouldn't be there if there was no market.

http://micgadget.com/8615/beijing-apple-store-closed-due-to-scalpers-reselling-iphone-4/
the one in Beijing had to close temporarily because people were buying up to 30 iphone4's at a time.

http://www.physorg.com/news204955403.html
100k sold in 4 days.

what are you talking about? there's plenty of disposable income for plenty of people.

For those who want to live a little more dangerously, you should try Shenzhen, right beside Hong Kong. It's the new Akihabara and all the new bleeding edge mix & match gadgets the rest of the world hasn't seen before is there. It's now also the electronics manufacturing hub of the world since Everything now's made in China :)

Check these sites out for some of the goodies:
http://shanzai.com
http://micgadget.com
One of the most interesting non-knockoff gadgets to come out of there last month is the Apple Peel, a smart jacket you can slip over an iPod touch that turns it into an iPhone.

Not everything over there is fake knockoffs and Shenzhen China's Shanzhai garage hardware hacking & remixing culture is very interesting.

You should also check out the blog of Andrew "bunnie" Huang, said to be the first guy outside Microsoft to hack the X-Box & wrote the book on it. He co-founded & created the Chumby (open source hackable hardware gadget) and his adventures in Shenzhen are pretty cool.

For those who want to live a little more dangerously, you should try Shenzhen, right beside Hong Kong. It's the new Akihabara and all the new bleeding edge mix & match gadgets the rest of the world hasn't seen before is there. It's now also the electronics manufacturing hub of the world since Everything now's made in China :)

Check these sites out for some of the goodies:
http://shanzai.com
http://micgadget.com
One of the most interesting non-knockoff gadgets to come out of there last month is the Apple Peel, a smart jacket you can slip over an iPod touch that turns it into an iPhone.

Not everything over there is fake knockoffs and Shenzhen China's Shanzhai garage hardware hacking & remixing culture is very interesting.

You should also check out the blog of Andrew "bunnie" Huang, said to be the first guy outside Microsoft to hack the X-Box & wrote the book on it. He co-founded & created the Chumby (open source hackable hardware gadget) and his adventures in Shenzhen are pretty cool.

http://micgadget.com/3935/breaking-foxconn-10th-jump/

How many Foxconn workers offed themselves at home?

All of them - they all threw themselves off their dormitories. Well, one was found dead inside the dormitory, and one probably wasn't a suicide, but still died at his dormitory. http://micgadget.com/3935/breaking-foxconn-10th-jump/