Looks like Tim Cook should start worrying about the latest ad campaign for the next iPhone. Hon Hai Precision Industry’s (also known as FoxConn, the company that manufactures Apple’s much loved products) CEO Terry Gou’s has begun the latest round of publicity for Apple’s much awaited product by bad-mouthing rival Samsung and the Korean people.
Samsung, has just released its own flagship phone, the Galaxy S III which has a quad-core processor much faster than Apple’s iPhone 4S.
A Taiwanese publication Focus Taiwan quotes Gou as saying that consumers should wait for the launch of Apple’s iPhone 5, saying that the new model will put Samsung’s Galaxy III to shame.
Gou also said he has made it his lifetime goal to defeat Samsung — ‘a company with a track record of snitching on its competitors.’ He was referring to Samsung’s action in 2010 of exposing four Taiwanese companies in an investigation by the European Commission on price-fixing in the flat panel industry.
CEO Terry Gou. AFP
But he didn’t just stop at abusing Samsung and its phone. Gou apparently also took shots at all Koreans in general, saying that he respected the Japanese much more since ‘they won’t hit from behind like the Koreans.’
The last bit was totally not cool. Gou could get into trouble for these remarks, especially as there are reports that this remarks were toned down in press reports and that he actually used harsher slur words to describe the Korean people.
Also this isn’t the only time his comments have caused a stir. In the past he had to apologise for comparing Foxconn workers to animals. He was quoted as saying:
“Hon Hai has a workforce of over one million worldwide and as human beings are also animals, to manage one million animals gives me a headache.” A Very, very bad statement to make especially in light of the worker suicides and alleged abuse of labour rights in Foxconn’s China factories.
The next iPhone is likely to be released this October and is rumoured to have a bigger 4.0 inch screen, breaking from Apple’s minimalistic design tradition. It will also run Apple’s latest OS, iOS 6 which was released just last week.
The new iPhone is also likely to sport a faster processor and Near field communication (NFC) capabilities. NFC allows smartphones to transfer data between devices touching them together or bringing them close to each other without using the Wi-fi or data connection.
