Reports about the treatment of workers at Apple Inc. (AAPL) Supplier factories in other countries surfaced on Thursday, revealing that the companies ignored many issues with their workers, many cases which led to suicide in a Foxconn factory. On Friday, AAPL CEO Tim Cook responded to the reports, suggesting that Apple takes any and all employee issues seriously and is now investigating and addressing any issues or concerns. 9to5Mac reported Tim Cook’s reponse on Apple’s efforts to oversee compliance with company standards for workers’ rights.

As a company and as individuals, we are defined by our values. Unfortunately some people are questioning Apple’s values today, and I’d like to address this with you directly. We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain. Any accident is deeply troubling, and any issue with working conditions is cause for concern. Any suggestion that we don’t care is patently false and offensive to us. As you know better than anyone, accusations like these are contrary to our values. It’s not who we are.

Cook also goes on to thank employees who are focusing and helping with these issues and that Apple is taking this very seriously and will continue to increase its efforts.

We will continue to dig deeper, and we will undoubtedly find more issues. What we will not do — and never have done — is stand still or turn a blind eye to problems in our supply chain. On this you have my word.

The New York Times has also gathered statements from Chinese readers, who suggest that this issue is not specific to Apple and is rather a widespread issue, which should be addressed with governmental regulations. This issue appears to be very prevalent in manufacturing factories, such as Apple’s Foxconn supplier and many other companies who outsource manufacturing.

{via Mac Rumors}

Apple’s cables and wires for its iOS devices and Macs are all supplied by one company that manufactures them and ships them in large volumes. On Friday, in a report from The London Evening Standard, it was revealed that Apple is now requiring cable supplier Volex to spend an extra $6 million dollars in order to change its manufacturing process in order to eliminate halogens from the power and USB cables.

This change will positively affect the dangerous chemicals found in wires and cables in many computers and electronic products, and also allows Apple to reduce its carbon footprint.

Apple is the biggest customer of Volex, 23%-owned by billionaire financier Nat Rothschild, which makes the power cables and USB leads used in everything from laptops to iPhones and iPads.

But the US firm is on a drive to move its products towards halogen-free power cables, which are less harmful to the environment when disposed of.

The start-up costs in designing and making the new cables will cost it up to $6 million in the current financial year, Volex said today, although, stripping out these one-off costs, profits will be in line with market expectation.

Apple has been criticized in the past by many environmental groups such as Greenpeace, who claim that many companies are not doing their part to reduce the use of harmful chemicals in electronics.

However, Apple has been doing very well in recent years, opting for greener practices and safer options for materials used in their products. Apple launched an environmental footprint section on their main web site, showing customers their involvement in the clean up of chemicals in Apple devices.

With this new push for more environmental friendly cables and wires, Apple is slowly spreading eco-friendliness through all of their devices, including the iPhone an iPad, which currently use BFR free glass and a number of other eco-friendly materials.

{via MacRumors}

A local Chinese-language newspaper reported Friday that iPad3 might be launched on Feb. 24 to mark the anniversary of the birth of Apple’s late co-founder Steve Jobs.

Citing sources close to Taiwanese makers in the iPad3 supply chain, the Economic Daily News said the gadget could be launched in mid-first quarter of next year or by the end of next March.

It has also been reported that workers at iPad component suppliers as well as workers at Foxconn will have limited time off during the usual Lunar New Year holiday and may be working over time in order to get the iPad 3 available in the market in time.

The lunar holiday is usually January 23rd, and workers receive several days off around the time, however, with the iPad 3 now pegged for a February 24th announcement to honor of Steve Jobs.

The iPad 3 is expected to receive new features including Siri, and other hardware changes. The third ten tablet from Apple could feature the all-new A6 chip and a higher resolution display.

A new DigiTimes report claims Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is currently looking for a new supplier to provide ambient light sensors for the iPhone. Industry sources claim that Apple is currently in talks with Capella Microsystems – the manufacturer who supplies over one million ambient light sensors to HTC every month – to become the new component supplier.

Capella has reportedly delivered its products to AAPL for testing and verification. It is believed that the ambient light sensors currently used by the Cupertino company have been critisized for their problems.

Though a deal with the new supplier is far from being reached, Apple is expected to have it in place by the end of the year. It would make Capella the first Taiwan-based manufacturer to supply components to Apple, though rumor has it Apple is also in talks with Memory Logic.

We certainly won’t see a new ambient light sensor in the iPhone 4, but will Apple have a deal in place in time for the iPhone 5. The fifth-generation device is expected to launch later than its predecessors with many betting on a September launch.

For those unaware, the ambient light sensor is component located above the iPhone’s display that allows the device to detect the level of light and adjust the brightness on the display accordingly. If you have auto-brightness enabled, the brightness on your iPhone will increase in bright environments and decrease in low light levels.

Everlight has been supplying Taiwan-based companies with its tablet backlighting LEDs – which boast a brightness of 2,000 millicandelas – since March. Consequently the company saw revenues rise 32.6% in March, with revenues for the first three months of 2011 up 4.3% from 2010.

I believe there are two reasons why Apple may be trying to source a new components supplier for its iPad 2 backlights; either the company is trying to meet the overwhelming demand by expanding its component supply, or it is trying to tackle the backlight bleeding issues early iPad 2 adopters have been reporting.

Many of those that are lucky enough to have gotten their hands on the second generation tablet already have reported issues with light leaking into the device’s display. Known as “backlight bleeding,” the issue is noticeable when the iPad 2 displays a dark image – and a white glow noticeably emanates from the edges.