If you think Apple’s development and production initiatives follow a secretive approach inside the company’s four walls only, guess again. Apple takes as much interest in how its supply chain partners guard information as it does in how its own employees do. A recent Reuters exposé on the subject provides a case in point. In this article, the authors describe the employee environment at Apple supplier Foxconn, where individuals have “little reason to venture outside,” which “reduces the likelihood of leaks, which in turn lessens the risk of incurring the wrath of Apple and its chief executive, Steve Jobs, whose product launches have turned into long-running, tightly controlled media spectacles.” But control of employee physical location tells only part of the story. Reuters cites a source in the article who suggests, “Security is tight everywhere inside the factories … They use metal detectors and search us. If you have any metal objects on you when you leave, they just call the police.” (Of course, the obvious irony is that in the US, we search employees for metal when entering certain facilities, but don’t get me started on that.)…
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