Meeting the Future:Apple CEO Emphasizes China's Importance

Apple CEO Tim Cook has emphasized just how critical he considers China's importance to his company's growth is by visiting Beijing and meeting with the Vice Premier,Li Keqiang on Wednesday.Mr.Li said that China will strengthen intellectual property rights protection-a key Apple concern-and continue its economic transformation.
To be more open to the outside is a condition for China to transform its economic development,expand domestic demands and conduct technological innovation,Mr.Li continued.
For his part,Tim Cook promised that Apple will strengthen comprehensive cooperation with the Chinese side and conduct business in a law-abiding and honest manner.
Cheap Chinese knock-offs of Apple products have been a long-standing irritant to the tech giant.China,with its vast population still largely unconnected to the Internet,is a major prospect in Apple's future,the company has made clear.One of the company's major outsourcers,FoxConn,assembles countless Apple products in China.
Apple currently operates five retail outlets in China.The potential for expanding that side of the business alone is truly significant.It is estimated that 60% of China's population is unconnected to the cybernetic realm.
Apple is a massively successful company and stock,and it could be more successful,according to David Kirkpatrick,author of "The Facebook Effect."Its price to earnings ratio is not high for the industry,such as Amazon's.If for some reason this extraordinary growth should slow,they might want to make a strategic acquisition such as Twitter or Adobe,Mr.Kirkpatrick speculated.
With the untapped hordes of the upwardly mobile Chinese before them,that doesn't seem too likely in the near future,however.
Apple Computer,Inc.(AAPL)

Chinese Workers Get Raise

Workers at the huge Fox Conn electronics factory in mainland China will reportedly be getting a 30% salary increase.The factory has been troubled by a cluster of worker suicides lately.There have been 12 attempts at suicide,10 of them successful.Terry Gou,Taiwan's wealthiest man,owns Fox Conn,which does work for tech titans Apple,Hewlett Packard and Dell.
Asked why there were so many suicides at his plant,Mr.Gou replied that he didn't know why.Each individual had a different story.There are 300,000 workers in the vast factory.One of them said he works 12 hours a day,with two hours off for lunch.He described it as a boring job and said some workers have romantic problems,but he didn't think that was enough to cause suicides.One victim's family has been protesting outside the factory for more than three months,determined to continue until they are satisfied.
Mr.Gou bowed in a public apology for the tragic events at his enterprise.He spoke in a humble tone of voice,seeming genuinely concerned.Fox Conn has been criticized as being a sweat shop,and workers at a Honda plant have been complaining about poor wages.
Mental health has been much in the news in China in recent months.In addition to the worker suicides,there have been a series of brutal attacks on children,resulting in many deaths.