Mistake makes China worker a celebrity

August 27, 2008 - 5:13PM

A Chinese factory worker has become a celebrity after her smiling face was accidentally loaded onto an Apple iPhone and shipped to the other side of the world.

The unidentified worker flashed a smile and made a peace sign to a co-worker whose job was to test the device's camera in the southern city of Shenzhen, said a spokesman for Foxconn, which assembles the phones for Apple.

The woman's colleague apparently forgot to delete the photo from the phone, which was sold to a consumer in Britain, who posted it on the internet, Foxconn spokesman Liu Kun told AFP.

He said so far only one phone was known to be affected.

"Small mistakes are unavoidable," Liu said. "I would call this a beautiful mistake."

The photo created a stir on internet forums after the British consumer, who identified himself only as Mark M, shared his discovery on the MacRumors.com website.

Some customers joked on the website that they were considering returning their phones because they did not come loaded with the woman's photo.

Liu said the factory worker was unsettled by the sudden fame after her photo appeared on websites and newspapers, and that her bosses had assured her that her job is safe. He said the company would not release her name or any details.

"Even passers-by recognise her face and can't help noticing her," Liu said. "She is quite nervous right now because she never experienced this much attention."

The photo was taken in the testing department as part of normal procedure and no rules were broken, Liu said.

He said Apple was very understanding and that the Taiwan-based manufacturer was working with the computer giant to prevent similar incidents from reoccurring.

But that might come as a disappointment to some.

As one person wrote in an internet post: "It would be great for every Chinese worker who makes your iPhones to take a snap of herself or her factory friends ... a hello from a person you would never otherwise meet.

"Globalisation in practice."

© 2008 AFP

Source : theage.com.au

Read what people have to say about this pretty girl

Cute face of 'beautiful mistake'

By Chen Hong (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-27 07:55

She might have done nothing more than flash a smile to her colleague testing an iPhone camera on a Chinese production line. But her "angel-like" smile has attracted the attention of iPhone users across the world.

The "iPhone-girl" frenzy began last week when her photographs appeared on MacRumors.com, a popular forum of Apple product fans.

Markm49uk, a British netizen who posted the photographs, said he found the mystery girl smiling at him from the screen when he unpacked his new 3G iPhone. He found two more of her photographs in the photo album.

The round-faced Chinese girl, in pink-and-white uniform, makes a "V" sign while working on an assembly line and smiles from the iPhone screen.

The girl's beautiful face has become a permanent fixture on the new iPhone because one of her colleagues apparently forgot to delete it from the memory of the master copy.

Then began netizens' search for her, making her instantly popular and prompting even the global media to report the incident.

Many people fear that the girl could be penalized by her employers for posing for the home screen. But her employers Foxconn, a Taiwan-funded company that makes iPhones for Apple in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, has given an assurance that she or her supervisor would not be penalized.

In fact, Foxconn has described the incident as a "beautiful mistake".

"She is an assembly worker in the mobile phone testing department and she is still working there. But she has requested us not to make her name public and we will respect her decision," Liu Kun, Foxconn Technology Group spokesman, said. He, however, told China Daily that the girl was a native of Hunan province.

Her photograph appeared on the iPhone screen because of "a small mistake during our working process but the outcome has not been negative". On the contrary, "her lovely face has become popular on the Internet and we would rather call it a beautiful mistake", Liu said.

Every iPhone's built-in camera will be tested from now on, and any such photographs deleted, Liu said. "Apple and Foxconn staff have started a joint probe into the incident."

But most of the netizens seem to like the girl with a "very cute" face.

A netizen named Chris Meadows has written: "If I knew my iPhone would come with a photo of a cute, smiling girl, I would almost be willing to pay extra (especially if it also included her email address)."

Netizen ASH has even suggested that Foxconn make the girl its ambassador because her smile shows even assembly line workers can have fun at work.

Source : China Daily

The road that takes forever to built

This is about something that really annoys me and lots of people in Sibu.

It's frustrating ! For anyone who has to make regular trips to the Sibu airport and for those who live at Sibu Jaya and surrounding areas, driving along that stretch of road approaching the airport is something to dread about.

The reconstruction of the that short stretch has taken more than 2 years if I can recollect correctly. During my trips to the airport over this period of time, there were little or no work activities. Not a single worker was in sight. What I saw were steam rollers and some machineries idling about.

The condition and slow progress of the road construction pose great danger to road users. Road lamp posts had been removed due to the road construction. At night, that stretch is pitch dark and the lack of hazard lights and necessary road signs compound the danger faced by road users. Try driving there especially on a rainy night (i had the unfortunate necessity to do that) , and you would understand and experience the danger you are being exposed to.

In fact, accidents and loss of lives have resulted due to the slow progress of the work and the pathetic condition of the road, the poor safety standard/road signs and the bad visibility at night. The reconstruction of that short stretch of road has taken unreasonably far too long.

i have ferried many visitors to and from the airport, and they are appalled at this sorry state of affairs. The condition of the road leaves them with a very bad first impression of Sibu.

How am i going to feel proud of my town?

Quote of the Day:
Fear is something to be moved through, not something to be turned from.
--Peter McWilliams