The Top10 Stories of 2010

One of the most read article on evertiq this year has to be Now it is Jabil’s turn for soul-searching. But a young man from New Jersey also made it on this list with his White iPhone Conversion Kits. The funniest story of 2010 has to be the one about the iPed sold in China. If you have some other suggestions, let us know. • The True Cost of Outsourcing (June 7) - Foxconn and Apple have been in the national business press recently over human rights issues related to worker suicides. CBA has commented on several occasions on the topic, including recently in a response to our 5Q/5A column. • Now it is Jabil’s turn for soul-searching (June 30) - Hands up. Anybody who thought Foxconn was alone in this entire Chinese production mess? Well, now it seems Jabil’s turn for a little bit of soul-searching. • Nokia N8 and iPhone 4 match in costs (October 14) - Despite major differences in features and component selection, Nokia's new N8 smart phone carries a Bill of Materials (BOM) cost nearly identical to that of the iPhone4, according to market researcher iSuppli. • List: Top10 EMS-providers for 2009 (April 7) - Sales of the Top50 EMS providers for 2009 totalled an estimated USD 134.4 billion. For the 49 companies that provided sales for 2009 and 2008, aggregate revenue declined by an estimated 14.9%. Without the contribution of the largest provider, Hon Hai, sales would have fallen by 21.8%. • iPad look-a-like iPed on sale in China (June 1) - Just two months after the release of Apple's iPad, a Chinese look-a-like called “iPed” has hit the market in China. • 2010 ushers in a new decade in EMS (February 5) - What a decade the “00’s” have been: boom and bust followed by a mild boom and a giant bust! The decade was ushered in by a “tech wreck” led recession and ushered out by the greatest global recession in a generation. But through it all consumers kept consuming gadgets, businesses kept investing in IT, capital equipment and communications technology, and the EMS engine continued to crank out the products the world uses. • Elcoteq: 'Future will be bright' (May 6) - Tomi Saario, Senior Vice President New Sales & Business Development at EMS-provider Elcoteq, sees the company marching towards a bright future. He spoke to Evertiq about the current situation, new investments and future plans. • ASM buys Siplace (July 29) - Siemens is selling its SIiplace placement equipment business to ASM Pacific Technology Ltd., Hong Kong (ASMPT). • Hacker makes fun of Foxconn (May 26) - A hacker has made fun of Foxconn’s Human Resources site and created a new ‘Hiring Page’. • ‘Zombie Companies’ – danger & opportunity for UK electronics manufacturing (July 7) - 102 EMS companies in the UK are in fact ‘Zombie Companies’—caught in a catch 22—existing to pay off debts to keep on existing to...