Tech in Asia: Our Picks for News of the Week [Sept 7, 2012]

Steven Millward

8 September 2012 at 9:00 am

In homage to the 100th birthday - if he were here - of the iconic American composer John Cage, let’s sit in silence for four minutes and 33 seconds before starting to read this week’s list.

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OK, let’s begin…

Charlie’s pick: Forced student labor at Foxconn to build iPhone 5

On the eve (sort of) of the iPhone 5’s unveiling, we learn once again that Apple supplier Foxconn is violating labor ethics, and this time, local schools and the government are also involved. As WTF-worthy a story as we’ve come across recently.

Willis’ pick: The feature phone market in Indonesia

If you wanna know more about the feature phone market, you can get a ton of information from this article. People, including myself, doubted for a long time that the feature phone market in Indonesia couldn’t make money. But I guess we’re proven wrong. If TMG (the startup that’s the featured example within the article) can do it, then I guess there should be a way to get things done in Indonesia’s feature phone market.

Steven’s pick: Shit gets real, and personal, as Chinese business leaders slam short sellers Citron

The war of words between local tech luminary Kai-Fu Lee and financial blogger Andrew Left carried on into this week - but escalated significantly as the whole thing get very personal. It’s turning into a battle between local business leaders defending US-listed Chinese tech stocks and US-based short sellers who sometimes attack Chinese companies they see as over-valued or even dangerously off-the-rails. But there are some deep ethical concerns about the short sellers. To get the other side of the story, we also talked to Citron’s Andrew Left to hear about his background in analyzing - and trading - Chinese stocks.

Rick’s pick: Student ‘interns’ forced to build Apple iPhone 5 at Foxconn; now returning to schools

I have to agree with Charlie this week. Here’s yet another disturbing Chinese manufacturing story, which should (assuming that it’s true) give us some pause for thought as we approach the launch of Apple’s iPhone 5. Local media reports cite some students’ online postings that local authorities ordered schools to provide students as ‘interns’ to offset a worker shortage. While Apple has been trying to ensure good labor conditions in China, I think the reality is that most western companies just don’t extend their reach down to this level.