Switcheroo: Apple Asks Outside Group to Inspect Factories

According to a NY Times’ blog, responding to a growing outcry over conditions at its overseas factories, Apple said Monday that an outside organization had begun to audit working conditions at the plants where the bulk of iPhones, iPads and other Apple products are built, and that the group would make its finding public.

For years, Apple has resisted calls for independent scrutiny of the suppliers that make its electronics. But for the first time it has begun publicly divulging information that it once considered secret, after criticism that included coordinated protests last week at Apple stores around the world and investigative news reports about punishing conditions inside some factories.

Corporate analysts say Apple’s shifts could incite widespread changes throughout the electronics industry,…

Read all about it at http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/apple-announces-independent-factory-inspections/