Apple's Jobs Backs Chinese iPad Maker Foxconn

Steve Jobs has come out in full support of Foxconn, the Taiwan-based company that provides manufacturing and packaging services to Apple, following the recent string of suicides at its Chinese factories.

Speaking during a conference in California, the CEO of Apple insisted that Foxconn was not a sweatshop.

Fearing a public relations disaster, Apple sent a team of investigators to look into the matter,  after the spate of deaths placed Foxconn under heavy scrutiny from human rights activists around the globe.

Reuters reported that the investigative team cited low wages, long working hours and increasing pressure on workers as the main reasons behind the suicides. 

The Apple CEO says his company has initiated further investigations into the matter, and will be unable to reach an accurate conclusion until they are completed.

He also announced that financial incentives of 1-2 per cent of profits made on the products would go to the Foxconn employees working on Apple devices.

The issue has shed light on the working and living conditions of more than 200 million migrant workers in China, working on products they cannot afford to own.