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Aaron Sorkin Rips Apple's Tim Cook Over 'Steve Jobs' Critique: "You've Got a Lot of Nerve"
Hollywoord Reporter ^
| 9/25/2015 11:35am PDT
| by Alex Ritman
Posted on 09/26/2015 1:03:12 AM PDT by Swordmaker
"If you've got a factory full of children in China assembling phones for 17 cents an hour, you've got a lot of nerve calling someone else opportunistic."
Aaron Sorkin has lashed out at Apple CEO Tim Cook's recent assertion that filmmakers were being "opportunistic" in making films about the late tech titan Steve Jobs.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter during a press junket roundtable for Universal's Danny Boyle-directed Steve Jobs in London, the writer claimed that he and those working at the top of the project had taken pay cuts to get it made.
"Nobody did this movie to get rich," he said. "Secondly, Tim Cook should really see the movie before he decides what it is."
But Sorkin's most stinging retort was reserved for last.
"Third, if you've got a factory full of children in China assembling phones for 17 cents an hour you've got a lot of nerve calling someone else opportunistic."
Starring Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet and Seth Rogen, Steve Jobs has been largely well-received following its world premiere in Telluride. It will be released in the U.S. on Oct. 9.
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: aaronsorkin; apple; applepinglist; china; iphone; sphincter; stevejobs; timcook
"If you've got a factory full of children in China assembling phones for 17 cents an hour, you've got a lot of nerve calling someone else opportunistic." Aaron Sorkin
First MAJOR problem with Sorkin's claims: Apple's assembly line workers are being paid approximately TWENTY TIMES more than 17¢ an hour and are among the highest paid factory workers in China. Sorkin either doesn't have c clue about what he is talking about or he is lying his fool head off.
Second MAJOR problem with Sorkin's claims; Apple's assembly line workers are not children, they are young adults, 18 to 32 years old. So once again, Sorkin is just plain wrong or lying.
To: ~Kim4VRWC's~; 1234; Abundy; Action-America; acoulterfan; AFreeBird; Airwinger; Aliska; altair; ...
Aaron Sorkin is ticked off at Tim Cook and came out swinging, with a claim that is totally made up out of whole cloth! Falsely claims Apple's Chinese Assembly line workers are children working for 17¢ an hour! PING!
Aaron Sorkin:
Hollywood's Prevaricatoring FUDster
Ping!
The Latest Apple/Mac/iOS Pings can be found by searching Keyword ApplePingList on Freerepublics Search.
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
2
posted on
09/26/2015 1:07:57 AM PDT
by
Swordmaker
( This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue...)
To: Swordmaker
Aaron Sorkin is given to silly statements about things he doesn’t understand. As he is a prominent member of the Hollywood community, that’s to be expected.
To: Swordmaker
20x.17=3.40, I get that that might be a nice wage IN CHINA, However Iphones are priced like they are made by 20.00 an hour workers.
4
posted on
09/26/2015 4:14:42 AM PDT
by
VaRepublican
(I would propagate taglines but I don't know how. But bloggers do.)
To: VaRepublican
However Iphones are priced like they are made by 20.00 an hour workers. Oh really? I didn't realize you had inside accounting info on iPhone's cost structure. But let me see....if the workers are happy (and apparently they are) and if the customers are happy (and most of them are) and Fed Ex is happy (and they certainly are) - isn't the conservative option to but out?
5
posted on
09/26/2015 4:40:15 AM PDT
by
C. Edmund Wright
(WTF? How Karl Rove and the Establishment Lost...Again)
To: VaRepublican
hence the 800 billion dollar valuation for Apple.
6
posted on
09/26/2015 4:42:52 AM PDT
by
smartyaz
To: smartyaz
7
posted on
09/26/2015 4:44:38 AM PDT
by
scooby321
To: VaRepublican
The value added in the final assembly is relatively small. Most of the cost is in the factories in Japan and Taiwan where the components are actually made, in highly automated factories. Screwing the pre-made pieces together is a low-level task.
The actual salaries in China are between $1.70 and $2.50 an hour, but lots of overtime is available, and the cost of living in China is much lower than in the US.
To: Swordmaker
He criticized the cult leader.
9
posted on
09/26/2015 5:43:03 AM PDT
by
DesertRhino
("I want those feeble minded asses overthrown,,,")
To: Swordmaker
Even if the material costs and labor to manufacture an iPhone is $100US, they are still way overpriced.
10
posted on
09/26/2015 5:44:29 AM PDT
by
Thumper1960
(A modern so-called "Conservative" is a shadow of a wisp of a vertebrate human being.)
To: Thumper1960
Even if the material costs and labor to manufacture an iPhone is $100US, they are still way overpriced. An item is overpriced if no one buys it. If they buy it, and in the case of the iPhone the public buys lots of them, then it is priced just right.
11
posted on
09/26/2015 6:06:49 AM PDT
by
Flick Lives
(One should not attend even the end of the world without a good breakfast. -- Heinlein)
To: C. Edmund Wright
Not a fan of Apple, but if that approximate figure of $3.40 an hour is accurate it’s a very nice living wage for a Chinese production worker. And as I made sure to teach my kids when we would talk about business and I would ask them what something should cost, it’s whatever the market will bear and not leave unsold product on the shelf, and the only people any company owes an explanation to about how it prices its products are the owners (share holders). Naturally, these simple facts would escape someone whose business is based on tricking suckers into a theater to watch his 90 minute dog and pony light show at $10 a pop.
12
posted on
09/26/2015 6:35:05 AM PDT
by
katana
(Just my opinions)
To: katana
And as I made sure to teach my kids when we would talk about business and I would ask them what something should cost, its whatever the market will bear and not leave unsold product on the shelf, and the only people any company owes an explanation to about how it prices its products are the owners (share holders). Well put katana....we taught our kids similarly. This is called conservative free market economics. As you know of course.
Naturally, these simple facts would escape someone whose business is based on tricking suckers into a theater to watch his 90 minute dog and pony light show at $10 a pop.
Unfortunately, these simple facts are proving too complicated for a lot of Freepers and some presidential candidates too.
13
posted on
09/26/2015 7:48:54 AM PDT
by
C. Edmund Wright
(WTF? How Karl Rove and the Establishment Lost...Again)
To: VaRepublican
20x.17=3.40, I get that that might be a nice wage IN CHINA, However Iphones aror e priced like they are made by 20.00 an hour workers. Samsung's top of the line flagship phones sell at retail unlocked for MORE than unlocked iPhones. The same companies that assembled Apple's iPhones also assemble Samsung's cellular phones, but actually pay their assembly line workers LESS than what Apple assembly line workers are paid. Yet, Apple, it is well known, maintains a higher profit margin than does Samsung. . . but Samsung's suggested retail price for it's unlocked top tier flagship phone is up to $100 more than Apple's similarly placed iPhone model.
What can we learn from this? That you are ignoring the fact that there are more economic inputs in top-tier cellular phones than assembly line labor. For example:
- Samsung doesn't even have to pay for its own operating system, not even royalties or licensing, while Apple puts hundreds of millions of dollars into developing iOS upgrades each year which have to be amortized into the cost.
- Apple develops and designs its own processors while Samsung buys its from ARM. even though both are amusingly manufactured by Samsung. . . but design and development are far more expensive than a manufacturing discount by eliminating the profit by buying from yourself.
14
posted on
09/26/2015 1:20:29 PM PDT
by
Swordmaker
( This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue...)
To: proxy_user; VaRepublican
The actual salaries in China are between $1.70 and $2.50 an hour, but lots of overtime is available, and the cost of living in China is much lower than in the US. Those are average salaries for most workers. Apple contracts specify even better pay. . . those jobs runs to $3.40 per hour. It's one of the reasons that when openings occur for Apple assembly line jobs that thousands of workers queue up for the openings, even though they may already be working at he same plant. It's the equivalent in China's economy of earning $24 an hour in buying power for most commodities since one can rent an apartment in the city for about $70 - $100 a month. Dormitory space with board at the factory is $50 a month. Typical workers can work up to 60 hours, adding 20 hours of overtime (they don't pay time and a half in China, unfortunately).
Apple's contracts have been one of the primary sources of upward pressure on factory wages in China for the past ten years. . . and pressure for improved worker conditions. Apple maintains paid monitors in its supply chain to assure compliance with its worker safety and condition policies. These monitors are Apple employees, not employees of the contract companies.
Contractors know that Apple means business on these contracts' worker conditions. They've seen Apple follow through with the contract conditions requirements to both Apple's and the contractor's detriment. Apple has actually pulled a $2 billion contract in mid-contract and gone with a higher bidder when a supplier did not clean up its act after several stern warnings from Apple about worker maltreatment. Pulling that contract even delayed release of an Apple product, and affected the bottom line of Apple for that quarter and year.
15
posted on
09/26/2015 1:37:11 PM PDT
by
Swordmaker
( This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue...)
To: Flick Lives
16
posted on
09/26/2015 1:53:39 PM PDT
by
Swordmaker
( This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue...)
To: DesertRhino
A highly successful business is a cult.... If that is the case, I wish the United States could get a lot more cults.
17
posted on
09/26/2015 2:26:06 PM PDT
by
coon2000
(Give me Liberty or give me death!)
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