Some Apple Users Protest, While Others Line Up for iPad 3 Launch

While consumers lined up Friday to purchase the latest iPad, demonstrators also gathered near Apple store locations to raise concerns over unfair labor practices in Apple factories

Apple users supporting the Change.org campaign, demanding the company to focus on worker safety, demonstrated outside Apple store locations in Georgetown, New York City and San Francisco, according to the Washington Post. 

Demonstrators asked that Apple create a worker protection strategy to prevent workplace abuse, injury, and death—including how to keep workers safe during labor-intensive releases of new products like the iPad 3.

Local consumers armed with banners, handouts and posters, with comments from Apple users around the world, joined the lines of those waiting to buy iPads, asking Apple to commit to implementing a worker protection strategy with a clear timeline.

Apple user Mark Shields launched the campaign in February after learning about poor working conditions in Chinese factories where the bulk of Apple products are manufactured, including the iPad. According to CNN.com, workers complained of a miliatry-like atmosphere where they are surveyed and not allowed to questions authority. These conditions were linked to a string of suicides at Shenzhen plant, CNN.com reports.

After Mark delivered 250,000 petition signatures to six Apple stores around the world, Apple announced the results of their factory investigations would be transparent, and Foxconn raised wages for workers.  

Meanwhile, customers lined up near Apple stores around the world awaiting the launch of the iPad 3. Apple fanatics spent the night sleeping outside the store in Tokyo just to be among the first to get their hands on the third generation iPad—which has an improved retina display, a 5-megapizel iSight camera and 4G LTE speed among its features.

Click here to see a photo gallery of Friday’s iPad launch.

So what do you think?

• When buying products it may be easy to not think about the conditions under which they were made—is this something that would change your mind about standing in line outside the Apple store for the latest gadget?
• Will you still buy the iPad 3?
• Do you think about fair labor practices when you purchase products?

Let us know in the poll!