Apple has opened a secret production lab in northern Taiwan, developing screens for future iOS devices, a new report claims.
The company has reportedly hired talent from display makers AU Optronics and Qualcomm — the latter company having previously operated the building. By running its own display manufacturing facility, Apple hopes to reduce its reliance on third party suppliers such as Samsung, LG Display, Sharp, and Japan Display.
Many of Apple’s manufacturers may be based in Taiwan, but that hasn’t stopped a Taiwanese court from finding the company guilty of engaging in anti-competitive practices.
Apple’s crime? Making its telecom partners in Taiwan run their pricing plans past Apple prior to making then available to the public.
“Apple limited telecoms from setting contract price for its 4, 4s, 5 and 5s models, which is against the law,” says a spokesperson for Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission.
When it comes to Asia, Apple’s increasing foothold in China has been the big Cupertino-related story of the year. However, mainland China’s far from the only Asian country that’s big into Apple devices.
According to a new report published today, Apple stormed the smartphone market in Taiwan for the month of November, capturing a 24.6 percent share in sales volume, and a massive 48.9 percent in sales value.
Of the 10 top-selling phone models sold in Taiwan last month, different configurations of the iPhone 6 represented four of them, with the most popular models being the 64GB iPhone 6 Plus, the 64GB iPhone 6, and the 16GB variants of both devices.
Apple is taking on “hundreds” of new engineers and supply-chain managers in China and Taiwan in an effort to speed up product development and offer a greater range of devices, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The Cupertino company has reportedly poached staff from HTC and other rival firms to create new teams in Shanghai and Taipei.
Apple has been fined 20 million New Taiwan dollars by the country’s Fair Trade Commission for illegally fixing iPhone prices with Japanese carriers. At only $670,000 U.S, the fine is chump change for Apple, but the allegations are serious.
Samsung has been fined $340,000 by Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission for an Internet campaign against HTC that violated fair trade rules. The South Korean company paid students to praise its own smartphones in online reviews while slamming those of rival HTC.
If you take a trip to the local laboratory supply store, and then follow it up by dropping into the vintage camera shop (or just a thrift store) then you could make your own beautiful lamp, just like those fashioned from dead photo gear by the Taiwanese Ystudio. It sure beats the usual crap you get from Ikea.
Apple is in the early stages of building a new R&D facility in Taiwan which will house an engineering development team to work on the next-generation iPhone, according to internal communications from Apple viewed by VR Zone.
Right now, the facility is just in the recruiting phase of the process, but rather than advertising the job listings, Apple has chosen to hunt for candidates via word of mouth alone. Apple is looking to hire a number of experienced and junior level engineers who will work out of Taipei on next-gen tech for the iPhone and report directly to the Apple spaceship in Cupertino.
Foxconn has been forced to make preparations for life after Apple following reduced demand for the iPhone and other iOS devices which has caused the company’s revenue to nosedive, The New York Times reports.
The manufacturer has been doing well off the back of Apple’s hugely successful devices in recent years, which have been contributing at least 40% of its revenue, according to analyst estimates. But after suffering a 19.2% drop in revenue during the first quarter of the year, thanks to declining iPhone and iPad orders, Foxconn is now looking at ways in which it can be less reliant on Apple.
Yeah, this is one of the least surprising rumors you’ll hear all day. But it’s sure to delight those who are holding out for an iPad mini with a Retina display. According to industry sources in Taiwan, Apple will indeed be “enhancing” the display resolution of its second-generation iPad mini, introducing a 2058×1536 panel with 326 pixels-per-inch.
Looks like iOS 6 users aren’t the only ones unhappy with Apple’s new Maps app. The Taiwanese government is also complaining about the service, which reveals its new $1.4 billion early warning radar station in satellite view. The Defense Ministry is now asking the Cupertino company to obscure the images.
Apple’s much-anticipated iPad mini is expected to make its debut in mid-October, but it may be a little more difficult to get hold of than other iOS devices. According to sources in the Cupertino company’s Taiwanese supply chain, iPad mini shipments are already stumbling due to the low yield rates of the tablet’s aluminum chassis.
Just days after opening the App Store to 32 additional countries, Apple released a press release this morning to announce that the iTunes Store is also extending its reach to another nine countries in Asia today, including Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan.
Proview’s legal battle against Apple over the use of the “iPad” trademark continues to drag on, but things haven’t quite gone to plan for the Chinese company. A Hong Kong court has sided with Apple and agreed that some of Proview’s evidence should be excluded from the case after it failed to comply with the court’s instructions.
DigiTimes reports that Apple’s manufacturing partners in Taiwan are said to be bending over backwards to secure orders for the company’s latest devices by constructing specialized plants that will be dedicated to producing parts and components for the iPad mini and the next-generation iPhone.
Kids – iPads should not be used as chew toys. They’re made of metal, and glass. Both of which don’t like to play friendly games inside your mouth. Apparently this whole thing needs to be stated for children and parents alike, because some people like putting their iPad in their mouth to hold it.
A little girl from Taiwan obliterated her front teeth while she was laying on her bed playing with her iPad. She got tired of holding it and slipped down to her mouth and found out the iPad treats teeth like sledgehammer would.
Remember those funny animated videos from Taiwan, one of which depicted Steve Jobs as a throwing-star toting ninja? The videos were always silly yet slightly informative, but recent news about the company behind them says they might be a thing of the past. Next Media Ltd is trying to sell off their animation division for $500million after suffering heavy cash losses over the past year or so, which may spell an end to funny animated news.
For a company named after nature’s candy, Apple’s releases a surprising lack of edible products. That’s not likely to change any time soon, but if you’d like a cake or a bit of pastry with Apple’s eye for style and incredible packaging design, look no further than this incredible Taiwanese bakery.
If you’re reading us from Asia, great news: the Asian continent’s own answer to Black Friday starts tomorrow, January 6th, and as rumored. Apple’s now having a Lunar New Year Sale to celebrate, offering discounts on most of their popular products in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
The discounts are basically similar to those U.S. Apple Store customers saw in November, with discounts of between 6-8% on iPads, 10% discounts on iPods, and between 5-10% off all MacBooks.
If you’re in one of the aforementioned countries and want to start the New Year right, get hopping: this sale will only continue for 24 hours.
Can’t wait to get your hands on Steve Jobs official biography later this year? How about biding your time with a tome of wisdom handed down from The Man himself? Then Steve Jobs Gives 11 Advices To Teenager! by Steve Jobs might be just the book for you!
In an attempt to comply with pro-consumer laws, Apple is going to allow customers who mistakenly purchase an iOS app or get burned by a shoddy one the ability to get a refund within seven days of purchase. Don’t get too excited, though: you’ll have to live in Taiwan to take advantage of the revised return policy.
Apple has decreased its order of the iPhone 4 in anticipation of the fifth-generation device, strengthening those rumors that claim a new iPhone will launch before the end of this year.
Apple is still yet to announce an official launch date for the iPad 2 in Taiwan, but some sources are claiming the device is set to hit the country before the month is out, while Android tablets in the country are suffering from its delay.
When Steve Jobs himself was queried on the possibilities inherent in the seven inch tablet form factor, he replied that they were “dead on arrival” and declared them to be “tweeners: too big to compete with a smartphone and too small to compete with the iPad.”
Despite this, rumors have persisted that 2011 will see the introduction of a 7-inch iPad Mini… and now a famous Taiwanese celebrity and race car driver is claiming to own a prototype.
