It's no secret that young adults are taking extreme measures to get their hands on Apple products. It wasn't long ago that the story of the kid who sold one of his kidneys to buy an iPad 2 made its way around the internet.
Offering an organ for an Apple product seems pretty drastic, until you hear what this next girl is offering. The Korea Herald is reporting that a young Chinese woman has posted an "ad" offering to trade her virginity for an iPhone 4...
The iPhone just won't quit. After five years of being on the market, Apple's smartphone is now available on 200 carriers worldwide. Sales are estimated to stay strong, and Apple should be on track to unveil a new iPhone this fall.
Since March of this year, Apple has gone from 186 carriers to 200 worldwide. The iPhone is available on the two largest carriers in the United States, AT&T and Verizon, as well. Apple is making aggressive moves to get the iPhone on as many carriers as possible across the globe.
If you have more invested in Apple than just what you paid for your MacBook, you've probably already heard the news. MarketWatch is reporting that China Mobile has reached an agreement with Apple regarding a future iPhone on their network.
China Mobile is home to over 600 million customers and has yet to offer Apple's smartphone. It seems though, that chairman Wang Jianzho doesn't expect that to be the case much longer...
Following other reports that Apple won't introduce an LTE-enabled iPhone until at least 2012, Digitimes has chimed in to affirm that there won't be an iPhone introduced with 4G speeds this year.
Besides the fact that Apple stated it wasn't planning on LTE adoption in the near future, the industry has indicated that bringing 4G to the iPhone simply isn't feasible right now. After the fifth generation iPhone is released this fall, it is expected that the sixth generation iPhone will have LTE support in 2012.
This has to be one of the silliest ideas I've seen in what, like a day?
Fearing being nabbed by the authorities, cell phone counterfeiters opted to try to get rid of the evidence by tossing 656 fake iPhone 5 boxes out of an 18th story apartment window. Yeah, nobody's going to see that.
The counterfeiters have an obvious fondness for the iPhone, but they weren't discriminating. Among the items tossed were 284 Nokia phones, and 60 Sony Ericsson phones as well.
Shanzhai factories, as they are known, refer to operations that produce counterfeit goods that closely imitate the real deal. Unfortunately, it looks like these four dealers didn't get the message that the iPhone 5 won't be here until September.
The factories -- especially prominent in the gadget crazed Shenzhen -- are facing increasing scrutiny from local authorities as they try to clean up the area's foreign perception.
Thus, it's getting more difficult for shanzhai operations to go about business the old fashion way, with many opting for more covert means of distribution.
Something tells me that tossing 1,000 cell phone's, cases and all, out of an 18th floor apartment window, is anything but covert.
The counterfeit goods smashed cars and fences, but thankfully, no one was hurt by the sudden deluge of iPhones.
Oh, and as you may have guessed, the foursome was still apprehended by the po-po.
The good news is that the people standing below the window got their hands on an "iPhone 5", and it was free no less.
How many of us can say we got an "iPhone 5" for free, and it's not even summer yet?
[M.I.C. Gadget]
The iPhone is selling very well in China. In fact, China is Apple's fastest growing market for the iPhone.
According to a recent survey by UMeng, a Chinese statistic firm, 34.6% (roughly one third) of the iPhones in China are jailbroken. The iPhone accounts for 8.3% of China’s 850 million mobile customers.
Closer look after the break...
This is one of the saddest stories in Apple's epic saga. They continue to do business with large manufacturing companies that just can't figure out how to treat their employees. It seems like we are always hearing about employees of Apple's suppliers being poisoned or working in insufferable conditions.
To be fair, Apple is one of largest electronic manufacturers in the world. That kind of notoriety would put a target on anyone's back. But it is concerning that Apple still pays Foxconn money, even with the ongoing reports of their lack of compassion for their employee's well-being...
In Apple's Q1 earnings call, the company released very impressive numbers for its sales in the first three months of 2011. The iPhone's fastest growing market is China, with an over 250% increase in iPhone sales since this time last year.
China is a major hub for technology and smartphone innovation, and most iPhone knockoffs are Chinese-made. 10% of Apple's revenue comes from China (to the tune of about $5 billion). The iPhone is doing extremely well; now accounting for 8.3% of China's 850 million mobile customers.
With rumors flying about the iPhone 5, little attention has been paid to the iPhone Nano rumors that surfaced months ago. While the U.S. has remained quiet about a future iPhone Nano device, Chinese dealers are beginning to sell knock-off iPhone 4 Nano's to the tune of about $60 U.S.
These fake, mini iPhone devices run a Java-based iOS ripoff and behave a lot like the original iPhone. Most notably, these Chinese knock-offs are about 2/3 the size of the real iPhone 4...
We told you last year about the workers in Suzhou, China suffering from health problems due to toxic chemicals. The employees were poisoned in 2009 using a hazardous chemical to clean iPhone LCD screens.
Their employer is a subsidiary of Wintek corporation and is the number one producer of small to medium sized LCD screens in the world. Although Apple has since released information that the workers have fully recovered, a special report by PBS Newshour scheduled to air tonight tells a different story...
If you have been coming to the blog for a while, you definitely recognize the name Foxconn. The infamous manufacturer of popular Apple products has certainly had its share of bad publicity.
For those that don't recall, Foxconn has made the headlines multiple times over the last couple of years due to its poor working conditions. This time they aren't garnering attention for worker suicides, they're in the spotlight because they're looking to make a very public move to Brazil...
The latest in iPhone 5 rumors comes from a Chinese supply chain. Macotakara.jp has claimed that Apple hasn't even started ordering components for its next gen iPhone.
We've already heard that the iPhone 5 probably won't be announced this June at WWDC, and that the release date could be pushed back to a fall 2011 date. If Apple hasn't ordered parts for the iPhone 5, there's almost no way that we'll see a new iPhone this year...