iPhone News Updated

A tale of Apple, the iPhone, and overseas manufacturing

A new report on Apple offers up an interesting detail about the evolution of the iPhone, and gives a fascinating–and unsettling–look at the practice of overseas manufacturing.

The article, an in-depth report by Charles Duhigg and Keith Bradsher of The New York Times, is based on interviews with, among others, “more than three dozen current and former Apple employees and contractors–many of whom requested anonymity to protect their jobs.”

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Apple starts selling interactive iPad textbooks

Apple Inc. on Thursday launched its attempt to make the iPad a replacement for a satchel full of textbooks by starting to sell electronic versions of a handful of standard high-school books.

The electronic textbooks, which include “Biology” and “Environmental Science” from Pearson and “Algebra 1” and “Chemistry” from McGraw-Hill, contain videos and other interactive elements.

But it’s far from clear that even a company with Apple’s clout will be able to reform the primary and high-school textbook market. The printed books are bought by schools, not students, and are reused year after year, which isn’t possible with the electronic versions. New books are subject to lengthy state approval processes, making the speed and ease with which ebooks can be published less of an advantage.

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