china

Apple has severed its relationship with a China-based third-party labor supplier after discovering a conspiracy to employ dozens of underage workers there, Apple reported in its latest Supplier Responsibility report, which was released this evening.

The iPhone maker said it discovered the violations during an audit of the supplier, Guangdong Real Faith Pingzhou Electronics (PZ). In addition, Apple reported the labor agency that knowingly provided the child labor to PZ to local authorizes.

The agency, which allegedly conspired with the children's families to falsify age-verification documents, had its license suspended and was levied a fine.

"The children were … Read more

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will be establishing a digital dispute-resolution center to deal with disagreements over intellectual property and online copyright issues.

According to the Sina Tech news site yesterday, the plans had been unveiled at an annual meeting by the Internet Society of China and the Mediation Center Internet Legal Professionals held in Beijing last week.

The dispute-resolution center will be an arm of MIIT responsible for IP disputes, and will provide third-party mediation services and dispute-resolution services to technology companies involved in disputes.

If everything goes according to plan, the center is likely to … Read more

Having secured the trademark for the iPad name in China last year, Apple is now going after rights over the tablet's likeness.

In a new trademark application, spotted earlier today by Patently Apple, Apple aims to trademark the likeness of the iPad, as depicted in both color and black-and-white photos. The filing shows a simple front shot of the device with a standard set of application icons, though not the sides or the back.

The move follows a short but intense legal battle with a Chinese company named Proview over the rights to the iPad moniker trademark. Proview took … Read more

The cellular edition of the iPad Mini debuted in China today, but buyers will have to wait two weeks before it ships.

That delay also applies to the Wi-Fi only version, which has been out for about six weeks. A check of the Apple Store in China finds that all capacities of both the Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + Cellular models are stuck with a two-week ship time.

iPad Mini buyers in the U.K., Japan, and other countries face the same delay, though the wait time in the U.S. is only one week.

Apple has been battling to meet global … Read more

I fancy you've been tempted. I also fancy you have feared it might happen to you.

The vast open graph that is the Web allows those who have been hurt -- in one way or another -- to bite back, bile-style.

So it has reportedly passed in the ill-illuminated corridors of power in the Chinese Communist party.

Yi Junqing, the 54-year-old director of the Communist Party's Central Compilation and Translation Bureau, has had his extra-marital laundry washed in public by a lady who is not his wife.

Indeed, Chang Yan, a 34-year-old post-doctorate research student, is someone else'… Read more

The Wi-Fi and cellular versions of the iPad Mini and the fourth-generation iPad with Retina Display will be available for purchase in China on Friday, Apple announced today.

These iPad models, which are now available in more than 100 countries, will be available through Apple's online store, Apple retail stores, and select authorized resellers, Apple said in a statement. Earlier reports indicated that the cellular versions would be designed to work on China Telecom and China Unicom networks.

The announcement comes less than a week after Apple CEO Tim Cook promised during an interview that an iPad Mini with … Read more

Foxconn Technology Group, the Taiwanese contract manufacturer that assembles products for Apple and several other tech giants, acknowledged a "workplace issue" at a factory in Fengcheng, China, run by one of its suppliers, Jiangxi Xin Hai Yang Precision Components Co.

A Hong Kong watchdog group -- Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour, or SACOM -- called it a strike of more than 1,000 workers who took to the streets to demand better pay and dignity. While Foxconn did not disclose the products or components made at the factory, a Sacom representative said she believes workers there produce … Read more

LAS VEGAS--We've seen more than a few innovative, stylish keyboards at CES this year, but few can claim to be pieces of furniture.

Meet uChair, the keyboard that lets you type in true comfort. It's basically a recliner with a split keyboard embedded in the armrests.

You sit back, adjust the headrest, pull up a screen, laptop, or tablet attached to an articulated bracket, and get to work. Or fall asleep, depending on how comfy you find it. … Read more

The mystery of whether Apple will come out with a lower-priced iPhone has taken a new twist.

The Reuters news agency this morning cryptically withdrew a story it had written yesterday pegged to remarks purportedly made by Apple's Phil Schiller in China. That story had been based on a report in the Shanghai Evening News, which Reuters said, ever so tersely in a short replacement post, "was subsequently updated with substantial changes to its content."

That was it -- "substantial changes," with no elaboration. Intriguing, yes. But also frustratingly vague.

We spent a good part … Read more