I have always been curious with the markings you’d found behind every iPod. It’s the ambiguous ‘Designed by Apple in California, Assembled in China’ thingy. Were Steve Jobs refering to the Republic of China, or the People’s Republic of China?

You see, those pretty MP3 players were assembled in Taiwan, by a lesser known company called Foxcomm, which happens to employ 60,000 people in Shenzen. A report by the Mail newspaper revealed that the workers were underpaid, which—of course—Foxcomm and Apple later denied.

This leads us to wonder, why couldn’t Apple put ‘Taiwan’ instead of ‘China’, if those iPods is really are produced in Taiwan?

Thats half of the story. In January 9th, Apple repeated their hidden political gesture when Steve Jobs announced his new toy: The Almighty and also The Alcontroversial: iPhone.


If you look closely to iPhone’s demo video, you’d notice that Apple used a page from NYTimes which happens to display a news on US’s Democratic Party’s recent winning in the midterm election. Complete with a huge picture of Nancy Pelosi, the current US’ Speaker of The House (thats Ketua DPR to you Indonesians). They could have used a different story, but they go with this one. Why? Thats something you’d have to ask Steve Jobs. Politely.

Conclusion: Apple make pretty phones; doesn’t recognize the Republic of China as a nation; and is a pro Democrats. :)

The Politics Behind Every iPod
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15 thoughts on “The Politics Behind Every iPod

  • January 13, 2007 at 9:48 pm
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    horeee pertama. wuih…. setelah bertahun tahun akhirnya pake english lagi. tapi aku gangerti politik je….

    Reply
  • January 14, 2007 at 2:45 am
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    Congratulations you deserve a star!

    *basa inggrisnya ‘anda layak dapat bintang’*

    Ini bukan soal politik kok, saya cuma bertanya-tanya kenapa Apple pakai berita politik yg itu. Kekalahan Republik itu kan titik balik bagi pemerintahan Bush.

    Reply
  • January 14, 2007 at 5:45 am
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    *ngecek ipod anak tiriku…

    Reply
  • January 14, 2007 at 10:34 am
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    betul juga, kok made in taiwan?

    tapi china adem-adem aja tuh

    Reply
  • January 14, 2007 at 11:25 am
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    iPod + Phone (iPhone) keren euy. Bakal ngegeser gadget yg lagi in gak yah?? :-D

    Reply
  • January 14, 2007 at 8:06 pm
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    momon wrote:
    >Congratulations you deserve a star!

    *basa inggrisnya ‘anda layak dapat bintang’*< ini namanya mBantul English … bandingkan dengan : the hot is veri potato-potato these days … terjemahannya : hari-hari ini panasnya ngenthang-ngenthang

    Reply
  • January 15, 2007 at 4:29 am
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    atau menganggap taiwan bagian dari RRC?

    Reply
  • January 15, 2007 at 9:52 am
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    #arka
    hus..huss… SARA tau, pake nyebut nama daerah… hehe :)
    gak pinter bhs inggris e..

    Reply
  • January 15, 2007 at 5:43 pm
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    Ada typo sedikit tuh mas herman bukan foxcomm tapi foxconn. Foxconn yang lebih dikenal dengan nama Hon Hai merupakan salahsatu produsen OEM (Original Equipment Manufacture) di bidang komputer terbesar di dunia, sekaligus merupakan perusahaan terbesar di Taiwan. Pelanggannya merupakan nama-nama besar di dunia komputer seperti Apple, Dell, HP maupun Intel. Di bidang Motherboard Hon Hai merupakan produsen Motherboard terbesar di dunia.

    Hon Hai Headquarter-nya memang di Taipei Taiwan, tetapi Hon Hai memiliki beberapa pabrik di daratan Cina (RRC) dan Ipod diproduksi di pabrik tersebut tepatnya di Longhua dan Suzhou. Seperti kebiasaan yang dianut vendor lain “Made in” yang dicantumkan adalah negara lokasi pabrik pembuatan/perakitan yang dalam hal ini adalah RRC bukan Taiwan jadi pengertian China di badan Ipod adalah RRC bukan Taiwan. Vendor lain pun seperti Asustek, DFI dll mencantumkan lokasi Made in China untuk produk mereka yang dibuat di RRC dan Made in Taiwan untuk produk mereka yang dibuat di Taiwan, Hon Hai pun menganut prinsip yang sama.

    Untuk berita detilnya soal situasi pabrik Hon Hai di RRC bisa baca link berikut :
    http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=14915

    Tanggapan resmi Apple atas insiden ini bisa dibaca di :
    http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?home&NewsID=14935

    BTW Blog yang bagus.

    _____SALAM_____

    Reply
  • January 15, 2007 at 9:10 pm
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    Bukan berita yang ‘enak’, tapi aku tetep suka Macintosh :D
    *komentar gak penting banget sih*

    Reply
  • January 15, 2007 at 9:47 pm
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    Kok Nggak enak sih mbak? Partai Demokat kan lebih progresif dan menghargai keberagaman dibanding Republik yang kolot. Demokrat juga berusaha memaksa Bush menarik pasukan AS dari Irak. Apple mengendorse Demokrat, menurut saya lebih baik dariapda mengendorse Republik. IMHO

    Andi Vicky: Terimakasih atas koreksinya. Salam kenal juga ;)

    Reply
  • January 17, 2007 at 9:02 pm
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    Err… maksudku bagian ‘Cina’-nya. Setidaknya sebelum aku baca komentar dari Andi Vicky dengan lebih teliti :p

    Reply
  • January 18, 2007 at 9:12 am
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    eee… “designed by Apple in California? ndak suka Pemerintah Federal atau sekedar arogansi lokal?

    Kebayang kalo ntar PTDI bikin pesawat tulisannya “made in Bandung”… direkturnya bisa dikemplang oom presiden

    Reply

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