While we might mainly hear about Android, iOS, Blackberry OS and Windows Phone – there are actually quite a few other mobile operating systems in the works including Sailfish OS, Tizen, Ubuntu (touch) and Firefox OS.

All of these later projects are still in the early stages of rolling out onto hardware, but we do have some news on Firefox OS. It seems that Mozilla and Foxconn have teamed up, sending out press events for an event on June 3rd, where they plan to reveal something Firefox OS related.

But what exactly? Just another Firefox OS budget smartphone? IF an anonymous source that “has knowledge of the matter” proves correct, it’s actually a tablet.

Up until now, just about everything we hear about Firefox OS seems geared at budget-end smartphones. Still, branching out to tablets makes a great deal of sense. The budget tablet market continues to grow with devices like the Nexus 7 doing quite well in the sub-$250 category. If Mozilla and Foxconn could take Firefox OS and optimize it to run well on extremely cheap tablet hardware – something with a MediaTek processor, maybe – perhaps they could create a solid device that aims around the sub-$150 mark.

For now, all of this remains rumor and speculation. There’s also the question of whether anyone would consider a Firefox OS tablet, when Android devices are already relatively cheap and yet compliant with a large array of apps.

Growing partnerships for Firefox OS

Keep in mind that Firefox OS isn’t geared at the same crowd as iOS and even Android. Sure, Android has budget devices but that’s not its sole (or arguably even primary) focus. In contrast, Mozilla aims to use Firefox OS to reach out to markets that are interested in making the switch to smartphones but can’t afford the Galaxy S4 or iPhone 5. This mainly includes emerging markets, but Mozilla also has plans for the low-end segment in countries such as the United States.

The goal is to create something as cheap, or cheaper, than budget Android devices but with optimization that makes them perform much faster.

It still remains unseen whether this will work for Mozilla, but apparently quite a few companies have at least some faith in the idea: Foxconn now makes for the 19th partner with Mozilla for their Firefox OS project.

And for Foxconn, Firefox OS could be a move forward for a company that has expressed interest in moving beyond just creating parts and devices for other companies like Apple. With Mozilla’s Firefox OS, the door could finally be open to creating their own hardware, aimed at the emerging world, including China.

What do you think of Firefox OS as a smartphone and tablet OS? Does the idea of a low cost, HTML5-based OS appeal to you? Can Mozilla pull off the idea of a “fast yet cheap” platform?

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Protests are still going on against Google Glasses, but the search giant is going ahead with their plan and will start manufacturing their wearable computers. Following Apple’s plans to invest $100m in American manufacturing and President Barack Obama’s actions to promote the same, Google is going to make their glasses in the US.

The Google Glasses are going to be produced in a Foxconn factory in Santa Clara, California. At first, the numbers manufactured will be small. If it is found to be a success, the product could be mass produced in China, with the components produced in Asia and assembling happening in California. Moving the manufacturing from the far east to the west for the small scale production will allow them to closely monitor their product for making improvements.

They are planning to churn out prototypes each with a price tag of around $1500 to 8,000 people. Worried about that price tag? Well, Google might go lower than that price, although the “Made in USA” tag will keep the price pretty high (remember Nexus Q?).

So, are you interested in getting one for yourself? Or are you having mixed feelings?

[Source]

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This is just the initial deployment of Foxconn’s human-replacing robot army and they plan on having a much larger deployment in the coming years. In fact, Foxconn is planning to have 20,000 more of these “Foxbots” in their factories by the end of the year, leading up to a robot apocalypse-sized squadron of one million iPhone-creating bots within the next three years.

To be fair, these Foxbots can’t replace all of the human employees; they’re only good for repetitive tasks like “lifting, selecting and placement,” since the mechanical arms can’t really handle the incredibly intricate assembly of something like an iPhone. It’s only a matter of time, but it looks like many Foxconn employees could be out of the job. It’s like the industrial revolution all over again, except it’s not Detroit; it’s Shenzhen.

[Source]

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A new rumor has surfaced suggesting that Foxconn could be preparing to make its own tablet and smartphone hardware in the near future.

The new rumor comes from DigiTimes, who has a history of spreading rumors that aren’t always 100 percent accurate. Still, they’ve had some good calls too. Does this sound completely crazy? Not really. While building devices like the iPhone and iPad is very lucrative for the company, having their own hardware could help expand their presence even further. Many techies also know that Foxconn builds great phones for other companies, so that might give consumers some confidence that these would be quality products. Of course Foxconn is also known for treating employees badly, and so many consumers outside of China might possibly be leery of buying their stuff.

If they did make such a move, odds are it would only be in the Chinese market and perhaps a few other parts of Asia. This would help them expand without stepping on the feet of its parnters like Sony, Apple and countless others.
Foxconn already has a chain of retail stores in China and plans to open them up in Brazil as well. These stores currently carry PCs, motherboards and other components. Adding smartphones to the mix doesn’t sound that crazy. It’s still hard to say whether there is any merit to the rumor or not.

Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a small line of Chinese-only devices hit the market running local operating systems like Aliyun OS. If any of this is true, Foxconn just needs to tread carefully and not risk existing partnerships with the bigger phone producers out there.

What do you think? Just a pointless rumor, or something that could prove to be true?

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Samsung says that it will go in and re-inspect the factory, but I’m sure that other infractions can just as easily slip by unnoticed. As with Apple, the factory isn’t really Samsung’s. Instead, it’s from a supplier named HEG, which is used to manufacturer such products as phones, MP3 players and stereo equipment. Even so, Samsung has to have some responsibility and accountability here.

Child Labor Watch has a 31-page report on the matter, citing multiple infractions. They say that the undercover CLW investigators found at least seven workers under the age of 16. The report goes on to talk about physical abuse, “sometimes hitting workers on the factory floor,” as well as excessive overtime, dangerous working conditions, and failure to treat work-related injuries. Apparently, HEG is even fining employees (up to 500RMB or $79.40) who report product defects.

Adding salt to the wound, CLW says that the working conditions at HEG are “well below those general conditions in Apple’s supplier factories.” This probably doesn’t put a feather in Tim Cook’s hat, but it does go to demonstrate that the Apple isn’t the only one who should be under the magnifying glass.

[Source]

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When it comes to future Apple products, such as the iPad Mini and iPhone 5, we as consumers get excited about the idea of new products heading our way to America or Europe, but what about those on the other side of the fence? Apple gives us shiny new toys to play with, and that’s exciting- but in China the idea of upcoming new Apple products means that plants like Foxconn will need more seasonal workers to help push out these upcoming units and for those that are currently unemployed, nothing is more exciting than having income, even if there have often been accusations that Foxconn’s conditions are less than desirable.

Many of us take our situations for granted, but looking at the picture above, think about it, have you ever had to wait in such a massive line during a rainstorm just for the possibility of a job? Of course some of you might have had to go through something close to this situation, considering our economy.

What’s even crazier is that these would-be jobseekers all have to pay Foxconn 150 Chinese Yuan, about twenty-four bucks, just to apply. Sure, there are probably at least some of these people in line that are of college-age level that simply want a seasonal job and like the idea of possibly tinkering with a new iPhone or iPad as much as we do, but for the vast majority its just about having income coming in, no matter the source. Next time you are waiting outside in a long line for the next iProduct, remember the picture above and think about just how different things are on the other side of the world.

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The Mac Mini isn’t the only mini-PC in town. Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn has formally announced its new AT-5250 and AT-5600 fanless nano PCs and they’re looking pretty slick. The brushed black finish is a little different than what we saw back in May, but the input/output ports look much the same.

There’s a couple of USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0, Gigabit ethernet, headphone/microphone jacks, multi-card reader, 801.11n Wi-Fi, and HDMI and VGA for video, but there’s word of a possible DVI connection too. The “quiet” Foxconn Nano is said to be up to 40 times smaller than a standard PC, but you obviously can’t expect it to outperform a high-end gaming PC. It is just a nettop, after all, but you do get the convenience of a VESA mount.

The $260 AT-5250 gets a Intel Cedar View D2550 processor (1.8GHz) with integrated Intel GMA 3650 graphics, whereas the $280 AT-5600 gets the AMD Brazos E450 APU (1.65GHz) and Radeon HD 6320 graphics under the hood. Both are expected to use either 2.5-inch/1.8-inch hard drives or 2.5-inch SSDs, but storage is not included. Look for these to ship in September.

[FanlessTech via Foxconn ]

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Bloomberg was told by “two unnamed sources” that Amazon is working with Foxconn to build the upcoming Android smartphone. The so-called Kindle Phone would likely run the same modified version of Android as its larger Kindle Fire cousin. In the meantime, Amazon has been going around acquiring wireless and mapping patents to protect itself against lawsuits down the road. Remember that Amazon currently doesn’t have any GPS-enabled devices.

The play here isn’t to make money on the hardware. That’s not the case with the Kindle Fire and it’s not the case with the Kindle Phone either. The play here is to sell consumers on all the content–books, music, movies, apps–and that’s where Amazon really makes its money. Getting more Kindle devices in more hands aids in that goal.

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This is not something that Steve Jobs really wanted to do, but it looks like it’s going to happen anyway. Reports coming out of the “Taiwan technology supply chain” that Foxconn has been tasked with manufacturing a 7-inch iPad mini. More specifically, the rumors are pointing toward a 7.85-inch display with a resolution of 1024×768. That’s the same resolution as the iPad 2, which is still being supported by Apple. They’re saying that the smaller iPad, which might better compete against the Kindle Fire and other less expensive alternatives, could launch as early as this August.

In the same report, there’s word that Pegatron has been given the contract to manufacture the new iPhone. Pegatron is already an OEM for Apple, handling both the iPhone 4S and the new iPad. The next-generation iPhone is rumored to launch in September.

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This comes by way of an “anonymous source” to CultofMac, but this insider has come through with some juicy details before. In this instance, the upcoming Apple HDTV is going to look mostly like the existing LED backlit Apple Cinema Displays, except much larger. We can probably expect a small handful of models in the 40-inch to 60-inch range.

What’s interesting is that we’re hearing the new Apple HDTV will feature an iSight camera for FaceTime as well as the Siri personal assistant (from the iPhone 4S) for some navigation. Aside from that, details are sketchy, but we have heard that Foxconn has invested $1.6 billion in Sharp’s TV unit. There has to be a reason for that.

I don’t really expect Apple to make a TV just for TV’s sake. It’s going to be like the iPod or the iPhone in that they’ll create some sort of closed environment to “revolutionize” the experience. You can probably expect heavy integration with the iTunes Store, possibly at the expense of ousting “alternative” entertainment sources like conventional cable TV. We will see, but according to TV analyst Paul Gagnon, we should see this come to light some time in 2013.

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