Apple stores across the world are facing possible demonstrations against allegedly poor labor ethics. Apple’s manufacturing partners in China have faced a lot of bad press for allegedly poor work environments in factories building Apple devices.

Siri is rumored to be getting support for new languages. The new languages rumored to be coming include Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and Russian language.

Apple has landed a new retail chief who came over to Cupertino from European retail chain Dixons. The new retail chief is John Browett.

A new rumor has surfaced claiming the iPhone 5 will have strong NFC support. NFC is required use contactless payments and many other phones already support NFC.

The NYT recently issued a report that talked to current and previous execs at Apple and at Chinese factories. The claims allege that Apple and others knowingly work with Foxconn even though workers often complain about conditions.

Cook wrote:

“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.
For the many hundreds of you who are based at our suppliers’ manufacturing sites around the world, or spend long stretches working there away from your families, I know you are as outraged by this as I am. For the people who aren’t as close to the supply chain, you have a right to know the facts.
Every year we inspect more factories, raising the bar for our partners and going deeper into the supply chain. As we reported earlier this month, we’ve made a great deal of progress and improved conditions for hundreds of thousands of workers. We know of no one in our industry doing as much as we are, in as many places, touching as many people” Tim Cook, CEO Apple

[via SlashGear]

After the Chinese launch issues that went on at the iPhone 4S launch with eggs thrown and violence one analyst said the violence was in part Apples fault. Canalys’ Nicole Peng said that Chinese fans don’t want to have to wait for new gadgets.

NASA has launched a cool new app for the iPhone. The app is called Mars Images and shares photos from the Opportunity rover as soon as NASA gets them.

The official price for the smartphone in the other countries is unknown at this time. Apple is optimistic about selling the smartphone in China, it is a huge market. The growth of internet and smartphone uses in China is predicted to be higher than most other countries. You can see the full list of countries that will get the phone on the 13th below.

Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, China, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Grenada, Guam, Guinea Conakry, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Niger, Senegal, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos and Uganda.

[via SlashGear]

China has discovered a bunch of new fake Apple Stores. Apparently, there are 22 more fakes in the country and I doubt any of us are surprised.

A new patent app has surfaced that shows all sorts of Apple gear with integrated projectors. The iPhone and iPad are among the devices on the app.

An ex-Apple manager named Paul Devine has admitted that he accepted bribes from Asian suppliers and leaked confidential Apple information to them. The bribe totaled $2 million and Devine was originally arrested back in August of 2010.

Apple is looking to expand market share by making lower cost products according to reports from analyst Tony Sacconaghi. Apple has affirmed that it will develop cheaper offerings and that they will be aimed at emerging markets like China.

I mentioned this week that scalpers in China were the only way to get an iPhone 4 for most shoppers. The flagship Beijing Apple store has been forced to close due to scalpers that purchased all of the devices. There were no limits set on how many iPhones people could buy and some took as many as 30 phones out of the store.

New market research from ChangeWave has surfaced that shows the popularity of the iPhone fell in September. At the time when the iPhone popularity slipped, Android popularity grew according to the research.

Napster has launched a new iPhone app that is available for free. The app will let the user stream 10 million full-length songs and save them for offline listening and the app will cost $10 monthly after a free trial.

Credit Suisse has raised the outlook on AT&T to outperform. This is in part due to one of the firm’s analysts saying that the loss of iPhone exclusivity could be much less of an impact than thought.

China Unicom, the second largest mobile carrier in the country will reportedly get the iPhone 4 starting next month. The carrier will also be offering the iPad with no set time frame for it to land.

Rumors claim that the iPhone for Verizon is set to go into field testing soon. The rumor stems from hints uncovered in blocks of code that are in previous releases of the iPhone and other Apple gear and allows the iPhone to be activated without needing iTunes.

The WSJ reports that the iPhone 3GS with WiFi is set to go official in China next week on China Unicom. The move is also setting the carrier up to offer the iPhone 4 says the WSJ which will be a big deal for Apple.

Another Foxconn worker has died from injuries resulting from jumping from the roof of the factory. The worker landed in the new safety nets, but still died from injuries.

Reuters reports that if AT&T loses iPhone exclusivity early next year it won’t necessarily spell doom for the carrier. Reuters figures most people would not switch and the resulting decline in new users changing from carriers could be offset by less need for new infrastructure to support data demand.

The demand for the official iPhone in China and not been that great, mostly because the official handset lacks WiFi and is more expensive than gray market alternatives. The official iPhone with WiFi has reportedly cleared a hurdle to be offered in China with the device reportedly being granted a network access license in China last week.

iPhone sales in China out of the gate were embarrassing with only 5,000 sold the first four days. Sales are now picking up with 100K of them sold since the device debuted in China.

Apple has launched a new RSS feed for developers that lets them get tips on submitting apps to the App Store. The RSS feed also offers info on approvals of new apps.

CNN Money reports that the deal with China Unicom for the iPhone is not exclusive. Apple’s Natalie Harrison wrote, “I can confirm it is not an exclusive deal.” She did not say though which other company Apple was in talks with.

China Unicom’s Chang Xiaobing said that China Unicom is likely to be the only carrier in China to offer the iPhone because it has the necessary technology. You can be sure Apple is looking at other large carriers for the device.

[via CNN]

According to the new rumblings, China Unicom is signing up for a three-year exclusive agreement on the iPhone. Shipments of the device are expected to start in Q4 2009. Details of the handset are unknown and there is no word on the cost of the device in China.

Details that surfaced on the China Unicom website a few months ago pegged the device to operate on the 3G/WCDMA network. The WSJ reports Apple has confirmed the deal, but offered no details.

[via SlashGear]