So, it turns out those

reports

last October about Foxconn making the new Apple tablet (renamed iPad) were probably true. But it also seems that some of those folks who couldn't quite keep a lid on Apple's secrets may be in very bad positions over in China. A report stemming from the country and coming just days after

Apple

announced that it had sold 300,000 of their tablets on the first day in America has shocked the collective tech world, and not in a positive way.



Foxconn's Longhua plant is veiled in secrecy. It's said that around 300,000 workers both live and work at the plant, which makes consumer electronics for Apple, Dell, HP, Nokia and tons of other companies that brand the goods you buy and enjoy each day. It's a strange situation; the company keeps a curtain around their methods in order to keep others in the dark, yet no one really asks questions so long as the quality of product is high and we keep getting them cheap. It's a Catch 22, of sorts.









But now, reports from the Chinese media have found that four workers have attempted suicide in the last month alone. Some say they were and are under great amounts of pressure, and when you consider the demands that are likely being placed on them to produce goods that are in high demand elsewhere in the world, you can probably start to share in the pain.







Electronics Manufacturing Assembly Line - China

Of course, no actual explanation has been given yet, and it's not likely that the truth of the matter will ever be revealed. Reporters who have tried to gain access into the Foxconn plant have been assaulted, leading us to think that something may not be quite right just inside those locked doors. We know 300,000 is a large population, but what other employer of any size have you heard of having four suicide attempts in a month? Something doesn't smell right...