Apple and the human costs of production

Abstract

Apple is the world’s most valuable company. Based on market capitalisation value, it was worth over US$539 billion in early 2012, which makes it worth more than Google and Microsoft combined1. At the start of 2013, its shares were trading around US$500 per share, having started 2012 at $424. In February 2012 it reported a quarterly profit of $13.06 billion on sales of $46.3 billion, which according to the New York Times was “one of the most lucrative quarters of any corporation in history”2. Its products are ubiquitous – the iPhone, the iPad, the iPod – symbols of coolness and chic. Many of its customers see these products as not just electronic gadgets, but as extensions of their personalities. When new models of the iPhone and iPad are released there are queues outside Apple stores in cities all over the globe. And yet, despite this remarkable success, Apple has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons, its brand tarnished by growing criticisms over inhumane working conditions in the factories in China that make these products.