Should You Feel Guilty Owning an iPhone?

Toms Hardware ^ | 5/28/2010 | Wolfgang Gruener

[Star Traveler]

You were saying ...

Sheesh I sure hope I don’t get traded in for a newer model.

Well, I hope you do know that's why they're putting them on sale -- there's a new model right around the corner ... :-) They're clearing out the channels so that they'll be empty just before the new model arrives.

[Political Junkie Too]

I wonder how many liberals used their $400 iPhone to write a diatribe about how Obama should kill the space program and divert NASA funds to more "humane" endeavors.

-PJ

[TexasNative2000]

No. Next question.

[MEGoody]

I don’t own an iPhone, so I guess I have no reason to feel guilty.

[JFC]

LOVE LOVE LOVE my IPHONE. My grown son likes to try to make me feel guilty.... but it doesn’t work. NOT GUILTY! Love my iphone, mac pc.. although I can do everything I need to do on my iphone!

[xjcsa]

I wouldn’t attribute care for others as liberal.

Right, because that would be ridiculous, since liberalism is responsible for a huge proportion of human suffering in the world.

Here I will speak for myself: I am willing to pay an extra $100 for my future I-Pad if it is made in the U.S.A.

Good for you. I am not, and the difference would probably be quite a bit more than $100 anyway.

I want alternatives to Chinese-made goods. I buy Newbalance shoes (if they are USA-made), but run out of options quickly.

Then start making goods. You do not have the "right" to have options provided to you.

By the way, those sweat shop workers would NOT be better off if we pulled our manufacturing. They would probably have to revert to subsistence agriculture, which is NOT a better living than the factories in question.

Free trade is good for America and good for the world.

[Political Junkie Too]

I like the recent radio ads for Motel 6:

"Hi! This is Tom Bodett for Motel 6. Remember when there was only one ring tone, and it sounded like the "telephone?"

-PJ

[JFC]

I have the 3G, but only paid $99 for it.
Its a great phone.

ME too. This is my second one!

[MEGoody]

Here in SoCal are loads of people who would love such a job.

You can get more than $10 per day on unemployment or welfare. Unless maybe you're talking about illegals.

[Aria]

well maybe all those crowding our taxpayer paid expensive prisons could make themselves more useful than just making license plates.

[throwback]

Think positive. Is Japan or South Korea at some bottom dwelling wage?

[night reader]

Looks like a Viking Kitten!

Brave Beocat!
Hearthpet of Hradmin Moderator in whose high halls;
He slayed ten thousand DemonRats;
Whose lies and rants fell from besotted lips.

Lapkit of the Valkyrie, Shield Maidens of Valhalla;
Battlecat of a thousand tales of glorious victory;
Wielder of Thor’s Hammer;
He hurls bolts of Zot as mortal man doth cast spear and battleaxe.

Fiercest of a fearsome brood,
Broodmate of the heroes of sagas and runes yet unwrit;
But boasted of in the high halls of fame and glory,
And hissed in caves of dread and darkness.

Grandsire of all the Kits of Viking lore,
Whose sharp ears stand like spear tips;
Upraised, erect, listening for evil-sounds,
The lies that fall from lips of trolls not good.

Fangs of iron; claws of steel;
Maw dripping with the black blood of evil doers;
Terror of Trolls, ruiner of Rats, destroyer of Dims;
His muzzle darkened with evil Gore.

Now he purrs;
Brave Beocat!

[Cementjungle]

I don’t buy iStuff, it all gives me the creeps. The liberals all fall over themselves to get the latest iThing, which naturally repels me.

[Teacher317]

There is no reason to feel guilty at all. You're buying a legal product (helping our economy), manufactured abroad (creating jobs for the poor), by people working jobs at wages those people are willing to accept (if they had better options, they'd go), and under conditions that people are willing to accept (ditto). Just because we wouldn't accept those conditions or wages does not mean that others wouldn't. Clearly, if the workers are not leaving under those grueling circumstances, then the job is worth the wage to them. Let us let them be free to make their own choices, without having to answer to our cultural norms. (What, is it okay now to be cultural Imperialists??)

The ONLY entity that ought to feel shame in any way is the Chinese government. Their laws and rules are being ignored by Chinese manufacturers, and it gives their country and government a bad reputation. Personally, I won't be holding my breath for them to actually act on human rights or workers' rights issues. I hope they get to it, and right quick... but I won't feel bad because a foreign government is childish and ineffective. Ours is bad enough on both counts as it is.

(By the way, I don't have an iPhone, despite my sister's protracted attempts to get me to switch. I'm still anti-Apple, and I'm curmudgeon-y enough to stay there for a while longer.)

[Yo-Yo]

Ask the lib how much black ink was used to print that pretty iPhone box.

[Star Traveler]

You were saying ...

well maybe all those crowding our taxpayer paid expensive prisons could make themselves more useful than just making license plates.

I hear they've already upgraded some of those prisons to processing credit card purchases for call centers ... what a deal! LOL ...

But, Steve Jobs is more discriminating than some of those calling centers are, and he would prefer poor Asian peasants to drug dealers, murderers, thieves, pimps and the like ... :-)

[GulfWar1Vet]

Nope, I don't feel guilty at all owning an iPhone AND an iPad. Some people just get jealous over the simplest stuff.

[PugetSoundSoldier]

And even then, the wages are good for the area. People travel vast distances to leave the agricultural areas to work for Foxconn.

100% correct. I work half my life in China, and this is the absolute truth. Factory work is coveted because it's ten times easier and 10 times more lucrative than farm life.

Most of the young people come from the farms, work at the big factories (yes, they jump between factories) for 5-7 years, save 90% of their income, then move back home to take over the farm but with a new tractor, or a new house. Or start their own business.

Foxconn has no shortage of eager workers.

Absolutely. For every entry-level position there are 5 applicants. And once you have a year or two experience under your belt, you get courted by other factories with bonuses, raises, and gifts.

Foxconn provides dorms for the workers, food and clothing.

Yep. It's dorm food, it's not the best, but it's not terrible either (yes, I do eat with the workers when supporting production).

I believe they sign on for several months, and get 1 day a week off.

Well, you sign up for a year to get the annual bonus, but you can leave at any time (and forgo your bonus). The bonus is usually paid out after Golden Week (Chinese new year) to encourage you to come back to work.

And you get weekends off if you want them; but the demand for production is high enough that you can take all the overtime you want, including working 7 days a week. Many do take that option for 2-3 months straight, as they an earn double their base salary working that much overtime. Allows you to earn in 5 years what normally would take 7-8 years.

The work hours are ~10hrs a day (I believe) ... but the pay is better than anything else in the area.

Typically 10 hours a day Mon - Fri, but that includes your 30 minute lunch and two 15 minute breaks. So it's a 45 hour work-week. And yes, it's better than working on the farm in manual labor.

[puppypusher]

I love my IPhone but I dislike Apples aggressive conrol of what software operates on it.As a result its the Only Apple product I will be buying.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

"I have the 3G, but only paid $99 for it. Its a great phone."

I have a 3G too, since about week 2 of its life as a product. Fabulous machine, and it's served me well around the world. Of course, I'll be dumping it like a hot rock for the new one, though! ;-)