{"id":2634,"date":"2010-07-19T23:04:37","date_gmt":"2010-07-19T23:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ietransfer.wpengine.com\/?p=2634"},"modified":"2010-07-19T23:04:37","modified_gmt":"2010-07-19T23:04:37","slug":"does-steve-jobs-really-read-and-respond-to-his-own-email-also-why-do-tech-companies-claim-that-it-is-virtually-impossible-to-determine-if-they-are-sourcing-conflict-minerals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inspiredeconomist.com\/articles\/does-steve-jobs-really-read-and-respond-to-his-own-email-also-why-do-tech-companies-claim-that-it-is-virtually-impossible-to-determine-if-they-are-sourcing-conflict-minerals\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Steve Jobs Really Read and Respond to His Own Email?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>While \u201cconflict diamonds\u201d are known throughout much of the developed world, the idea of \u201cconflict minerals\u201d has barely breached consumer\u2019s consciousness. However, that\u2019s beginning to change. Nicholas Kristof over at the New York Times<\/em>, who writes articles mainly on African development (with varying degrees of success), popped his head in on \u201cconflict minerals\u201d with an article on June 26<\/a>. Aside from the basic \u201cthis causes that\u201d simplification of the issue presented in the article, the truth stands that some tantalum comes from Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and some of that tantalum ends up in phones and some of the money from those purchase may indirectly fund rebel groups in the region.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Almost all phone\/computer\/semiconductor manufacturers are aware of this (or should be), however when presented with concern, each representative states, \u201cit\u2019s virtually impossible to determine the origin of the natural resources used in our products\u201d or something to that extent. This has always been the case when it comes to the CEO of one of the biggest and most well known consumer tech companies, Apple. While Steve Jobs does not necessarily discount that conflict minerals are in his products, nor does he think this is not an issue, he often says it\u2019s impossible to know (read: we can\u2019t really do anything about it).<\/p>\n

This came to light again due to the Kristof article mentioned because following the article a letter was sent to Jobs<\/a> regarding the situation from someone concerned about the sourcing of materials in the iPhone 4. Once again, Jobs wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cYes. We require all of our suppliers to certify in writing that they use conflict few materials. But honestly there is no way for them to be sure. Until someone invents a way to chemically trace minerals from the source mine, it\u2019s a very difficult problem.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sent from my iPhone<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, while the answer to this question surely needs to change, I wonder, does Steve Jobs really read and answer his own email and if so, how come he hasn\u2019t figured out how to master the auto-correction?<\/p>\n

More on both of these questions to come…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The bigger question… why do tech companies claim that it is virtually impossible to determine if they are sourcing conflict minerals?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":2637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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