This past May on a Friday evening, there was an explosion at Foxconn Building A5 which is the factory that the iPad was manufactured. Two people were killed immediately and dozens of people were injured. Two years ago 137 workers at an Apple supplier in eastern China were injured after they were ordered to use a poisonous chemical ot clean iPhone screens. Apple’s growth is leading to unfair working conditions in China.

“Hon Hai has a workforce of over one million worldwide and as human beings are also animals, to manage one million animals gives me a headache,” stated Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou at a recent party. Gou pointed out that he wants to learn from Taipei Zoo director Chin Shih-chien about how animals should be managed. Gou invited Chin and all general managers in the group to listen to Chin’s lecture at the company’s annual review meeting.

Yesterday I wrote about how Microsoft was investigating a mass suicide threat at Foxconn Technology, the Chinese company that is known for manufacturing Xbox 360 consoles, iPhones, iPods, iPads, HP computers, etc. Foxconn said that they have resolved a pay dispute with their workers. In the process about 45 workers had resigned.

Microsoft Corporation is investigating a mass suicide threat at Foxconn, the Chinese manufacturing company that is known for putting together Xbox 360 consoles. The employees are reportedly demanding a higher pay. The mass suicide threat could be a complete fabrication or it could be a very real, making this is a very dangerous and sensitive issue. Several employees at Foxconn committed suicide recently due to what is believed to be unsanitary conditions at the factories. Apple also had investigated the suicide issues in recent years at Foxconn, who also manufactures iPhones, iPods, and iPads.

The next generation of iPads are rumored to be available in the next 3-4 months. OEMs and suppliers have started reducing parts for the iPad 2 and focused on the new tablet according to sources with DigiTimes. OEM’s are still expected to manufacture at least another 14-15 million units of the iPad 2 in Q4 2011, but it will decline to 4-5 million in Q1 2012.

Kai-Fu Lee is the former head of Google China. Lee has raised $180 million for his startup incubator company founded two years ago known as Innovation Works. Innovation Works is an early-stage accelerator company.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is planning to start mass production of the company’s 10.1-inch tablet PC in the first quarter of 2012. Amazon.com is rumored to work with Foxconn Electronics for handling the orders. Amazon.com currently works with Foxconn on the manufacturing of the Kindle e-book readers. Amazon.com’s 7-inch tablet PC is expected to start shipping in October. [DigiTimes]

This graphic from Thomson Reuters shows just who is suing whom in our current patent wars.