No, they’re not selling the the iPad Mini and the iPhone 5 early in China. They’re lining up to build it.
Chinese technology website MIC Gadget reports that Foxconn’s plants in Chengdu are seeing thousands of hopeful jobseekers lining up for summer jobs to help manufacture the the iPad Mini:
“Heavy rains have battered Chengdu over the past few days, but this won’t stop young jobseekers lining up for Foxconn summer jobs at the Foxconn plant in Chengdu. Thousands of people were lining up, and they were armed with rain gear and umbrellas, standing out in the rain just for a chance to audition.”
MIC Gadget reveals that there’s a fee to apply for these jobs and applicants are required to have good eyesight:
“Apparently, the Foxconn plant in Chengdu is hiring now for summer jobs – and according to our sources, the plant is hiring a large number of summer workers, which may still have openings. What’s more, the young jobseekers are required to submit a registration fee of 150 Chinese yuan (about $24) before he/she could apply for the summer job. And there’s a requirement for applying the job, you need to have good eyesight.”
Meanwhile, the Foxconn plant in Zhengzou is seeing a deluge of eager applicants. Sources reveal that these workers will be working on the iPhone 5. According to reports, the plant has already produced 5 units of the iPhone 5 on a trial production run.
The number of people lining up for jobs at Foxconn is a bit of good news for the company considering that it was recently under fire for the “mistreatment of factory workers assembling Apple products in China.” Despite those reports, there’s still a lot of people excited to be part of the company and help churn out iOS devices.
Apple has yet to unveil any official details on the iPhone 5 and the iPad Mini but rumors suggest that they will be coming out at the same time sometime between September and October of this year.