The Reach - Podcasting and other Portable Media Strategies

Apple wins the battle of dealing with crises with this reponse to the Chinese manufacturing issues that were raised a few months ago and written about in this blog here but originally reported on MacWorld UK.

General response (and I agree) has been tremendous at the transparency and hard work of Apple to diligently investigate and report both the good and the bad of this situation.  Don’t just take my word for it - check it out Gizmodo, Boing Boing or The Unofficial Apple Weblog to name a few others that have supported their efforts, findings and general response to the issues raised.

Good job, Steve and the crew at Apple.  Thanks for showing us how to deal with a crisis.

GigaOM reports a new online TV launch for Tibetans.  This continues to give life to the concept of reaching out to various cultures, regardless of their geography.  Obviously, in past 100 years or so years, many cultures have been spread around the world, largely due to ease of travel.  The Internet, probably more than any other tool, can be leveraged to create ties back home, wherever home is.  The culture can thus be preserved.  If the country in question is not a safe place to live, these people can at least have a “taste” of home, while they are living in safety and freedom.

Monday, Macworld UK uncovered a story of Apple’s iPod manufacturing partner in China - originally published by Mail On Sunday and the blogosphere went nuts. At issue was living conditions, monthly pay, and hours worked. Apple was quiet initiallly and now has responded.

Considering that we just returned from a business trip to SE Asia, where a portion was spent in Shen Zhen, China, it’s necessary that I read these articles with an open mind. I wrote about that portion of the trip here. I should read with an open mind, consider what I personally saw in the factories which we buy from, and then act accordingly.

While the factories we were in weren’t the cleanest places I’d ever seen, I didn’t see any evidence of poor treatment of the workers or conditions that were unreasonable. When we arrived, the factory workers were taking a lunch break, and since ostensibly we were there to see the working factory, it was decided that we would go and eat lunch ourselves. Lest you think cynically of us that maybe we were naive, we did see the factory workers leaving the building en masse as we drove up.

We asked questions about working conditions and hours, but didn’t ask specific questions about monthly wages. We generally were satisfied with the responses and attitudes of the people we spent time with.

Now, my response to those that are up in arms about Apple - let me ask you this: In the U.S., we demand ever increasing profits so that share prices and company value will rise, therefore lining our pocketbooks or nests or whatever you want to call them. In order to accelerate that (and keep the buying public consuming at prices they are willing to pay), U.S. companies have been driven offshore to find the lowest possible cost of goods sold. Now, when they do, we have heart attacks over where the companies choose to have their products manufactured. Is that completely fair?

Now, let me be clear. I am FOR HUMAN RIGHTS. People should have the right to work, they should have the right and choice to work in decent conditions and make a decent wage (btw - those wages mentioned in the articles are somewhat reasonable for that area of the world, depending on what neighorhood you live in - just like here in the U.S.). Workers shouldn’t be required to work long, unhealthy hours. I didn’t see anything conclusive in the articles to state that these workers were being abused. If, in fact, they are being forced to work 15 hours days, particularly without reasonable compensation and choice as to work those hours or not, then I agree - that is abusive and Apple has the power to change that. One way is to threaten to end its relationship with Foxconn or completely sever it, if the relationship breaches Apple’s own code of conduct, mentioned here (same link as the response above, but included here for convenience), referring to the EICC.

It is a global economy and we do have to ask the question “What is the cost of low cost?”. And, we do have to ask if we’re closing a blind eye as consumers in order to fatten our bank accounts and get new toys at a lower cost. Hmmm.

In a WSJ Online article posted today, Zuo Tao is taking on an interesting role.  While this is not related to podcasting, I can understand his perspective, having returned recently from a business trip that included his home town, Shenzhen.  He is a blogger and has used his internet voice to turn up the heat on the local real estate community by saying that prices are out of control.

The supply of apartments and high-rise real estate seemed to be growing by leaps and bounds when we were there.  If, in fact, there is plenty of supply and the prices are sky-high, then the real estate community in Shenzhen is truly attempting to make unfair profits.  On the other hand, if the building and growth that we saw are just an attempt to keep up prices are being temporarily pressed upwards, that is another very real challenge of being in a popular, high-growth city.

I hope the people of China can resolve this issue without unfair treatment of individuals.  This is an interesting opportunity for free speech.

6 days after returning from SE Asia, I turned around and flew to London for 2 days of a 3 day conference. I was asked to speak on a panel regarding technology and specifically on our efforts to podcast in “out of the way places”. I met people interested in utilizing this new trend (which obviously is newer in most other places in the world than it is here in the U.S.) as well as possibly funding some of the MPReach capital needs. Time will tell as to the overall interest, but I believe it was time well spent, both in terms of education and visibility. Thanks to those that made it possible for me to attend.

We were treated to nice digs, first class speakers, such as The Baronness Cox, former Deputy Speaker of The House of Lords, and great food. 1st class treatment from a 1st class organization.

Another podcast while on location (actually on the way out, while waiting for my flight at Gatwick), is over at The Media Swamp.

In this post, I’ll not mention the name of the country we were in, but do a best efforts attempt to describe the environment and experiences.

We arrived after our time in Hong Kong and China, and entered a hot, dirty country that has beautiful people in it. This was only my second time to be in a third world country, and was still getting used to what to expect and what to plan on doing without. There really is no middle class - just the haves and the have nots. As you can guess, the have nots outnumber the haves. We were in a city of 5 million that had almost every type of transportation - bicycles (individual or as a taxi of sorts - rider standing up and passenger on the seat), scooters, taxis, buses (which were packed like sardines), to name a few.

We had a 30 minute commute each morning to where we were meeting, from the hotel near the airport. The hotel itself had good food and great service. Internet access was dialup and was frustrating for an addicted broadbander. No TMobile hotspots or Starbucks to be found here. (The last day we were there I finally found a broadband Internet Cafe, but too late to do anything about it). We stayed 6 days and really missed the people when we left. Some things just were not able to be found, but then again, we were able to purchase 2 HP/Compaq computers while in the country to give to people we did some work with - about the same prices as we would find here in Dallas, so I was pleased that we were able to contribute to the work these people were doing in such a way.

This is a country with many oral learners in it - and those that can read don’t have much access to printed material, in that it can be very expensive. Many different cultures and points of view exist here - learning to navigate the differences and work together is an interesting challenge - one that is somewhat unexpected. Racism exists almost everywhere in the world, I’ve come to learn. I do hope they can learn from us, but I do hope that we have an example that is worthy of learning from. We may not be the best example, but the U.S. has worked hard to acknowledge the issues and make some attempt to change. We have a Civil War in our history to mark the beginning of the battle for human rights. May others not have to go to that extent.