is this true?

Was at the Apple store and overheard a store employee talking about how Apple truly values charity and etc and the reason Apple products are so expensive is because 50% of the profit goes to countries like Africa and they got things like everytime somebody here in America buys a Mac, a kid in Africa gets one too??

Thats pretty cool I think - now Apple should make a GAMING system like the Apple - APPLE....make it shaped like an apple and the games could be small apples that go in the big apple and the controller is an apple that we can attatch to our brain and control the game with our minds!! sure we may get an annoying ad every once in a while, and be used as sleep walking weapons - but at least its APPLE!! lol jk

but the africa thing, is it true??

I'd be heading back to that Apple store and reporting that employee to the manager.

Uh no. A lot of companies participate in charities but the BS that employee is spewing is just that. You might want to do what "bobtomay" suggested..

Anyone that bought a computer based on that nonsense will be extremely ticked off when they find out it's a load of bs. And not at the employee that spewed it, they'd be mad at Apple.

It is true, that if you buy one of the iPod/iPad "Red' products, a "portion" of the sales price goes to fight Aids in Africa.

Sento said:

Was at the Apple store and overheard a store employee talking about how Apple truly values charity and etc and the reason Apple products are so expensive is because 50% of the profit goes to countries like Africa and they got things like everytime somebody here in America buys a Mac, a kid in Africa gets one too??

Click to expand...

If that were true, Apple wouldn't have a $137 billion cash reserve (source). And really, of all the things that impoverished regions need, a shiny new Mac is somewhere between a rock and a bag of dirt on the list of "important things I need."

Then there's Jobs, a man who thought giving money away was a waste of time (source) and, by all accounts, gave away no more than a few million from his multi-billion dollar fortune (source). Any new charitable orientation on the part of Apple then is because of Cook (aside from Product RED) and even then, the money has stayed local (not that this is a bad thing but rather to point out that it isn't Africa).

So, any charitable work is a recent phenomenon and at some point it might extend to helping those in need in Africa but it's not even close yet (aside from Product RED).

Sento said:

Was at the Apple store and overheard a store employee talking about how Apple truly values charity and etc and the reason Apple products are so expensive is because 50% of the profit goes to countries like Africa and they got things like everytime somebody here in America buys a Mac, a kid in Africa gets one too??

but the africa thing, is it true??

Click to expand...

I've learned a longgg time ago. Don't believe anything you hear...and only half of what you see! Especially when it comes to "tall-tales" like this!

- Nick

Wow. I feel like such a stuck up brat now. I read your links vansmith and I'm beginning to see what people mean when they say Apple is evil.

Also i hate the stuck up blonde chicks who - forget it.

Companies are in the business of making money. That's what they do. A lot of them also donate to charities, but that's a side mission, not a primary one..

That's capitalism my friend..

Raz0rEdge said:

Companies are in the business of making money. That's what they do. A lot of them also donate to charities, but that's a side mission, not a primary one..

That's capitalism my friend..

Click to expand...

True. BUT I THOUGHT HE WAS BUDDHIST!!

Separate the man (Steve Jobs) from the company (Apple)..they are not one and the same..

Sento said:

True. BUT I THOUGHT HE WAS BUDDHIST!!

Click to expand...

Just because someone is Buddhist doesn't make them a good person. That goes for every religious domination.

vansmith said:

If that were true, Apple wouldn't have a $137 billion cash reserve (source).

Click to expand...

This was my thought exactly when i read the OP. . . . . .

Would be nice if it was true, but yea Apple wouldnt be the most valuable company in the world if they did that.

Jobs might have been a buddhist when he was young, and it's quite clear he learned a lot from his encounter with buddhism, but he was not a practicing buddhist at any point in his Apple career.

Contrary to myth, Apple has been involved in a number of charitable endeavours over the years. I worked with a nonprofit group for the visually impaired that routinely got computers from Apple under a grant program. Steve Jobs personally approved (with development help from his wife) a program that offered to refurbish used iPads and give them to teachers in lower-income areas (source). The (Product) RED campaign at Apple started at Jobs' direction, after Bono made a case that persuaded him to do it. Contrary to what vansmith said, most of the money raised by (Product) RED goes to fight AIDS in Africa (source).

Charitable giving has definitely increased under Tim Cook, but portraying Jobs as a miser is also a very slanted view -- he didn't care much for established charities, and only occasionally donated or had Apple involved in something that got any attention (such as donating Macs to the survivors of 9/11). But there were definitely charitable efforts -- quiet ones -- at Apple before Cook took over.

That said, this line of BS the employee was spewing is exactly that, and his manager should be engaged to correct him. I don't like it when PC salesmen lie to me (their lips are moving), and thus it's not appropriate for Apple employees to do it either.

chas_m said:

Steve Jobs personally approved (with development help from his wife) a program that offered to refurbish used iPads and give them to teachers in lower-income areas (source).

Click to expand...

True but Apple didn't donate anything of their own - they depended on the general public to donate the devices. The cost to Apple would have been marginal at best. This doesn't detract from the program but to call this a charitable program of Apple's belies the fact that they were a conduit at best.

chas_m said:

Contrary to what vansmith said, most of the money raised by (Product) RED goes to fight AIDS in Africa (source).

Click to expand...

Methinks you didn't read my whole post:

vansmith said:

So, any charitable work is a recent phenomenon and at some point it might extend to helping those in need in Africa but it's not even close yet (aside from Product RED).

Click to expand...

chas_m said:

Charitable giving has definitely increased under Tim Cook, but portraying Jobs as a miser is also a very slanted view -- he didn't care much for established charities, and only occasionally donated or had Apple involved in something that got any attention (such as donating Macs to the survivors of 9/11).

Click to expand...

This is a man that thought developing high margin products was more valuable that charitable endeavours (source) and never made any public effort to promote charitable involvement (which doesn't disprove it but there's a lack of proof consequently) (source). Yet, beyond all of this, we have a man who ostensibly didn't care for money which, if that were true, he'd have no problem giving it away. So, was he good at doing what he did at Apple? Sure. Is he deserving of the title miser when he not only oversaw a company that hoarded its wealth but made little effort to demonstrate the expenditure of his personal wealth? Absolutely.

Raz0rEdge said:

Companies are in the business of making money. That's what they do. A lot of them also donate to charities, but that's a side mission, not a primary one..

That's capitalism my friend..

Click to expand...

Aaaaaaaaand hoping that all donations will really go to charity. hihihi ;P

Sento said:

I read your links vansmith and I'm beginning to see what people mean when they say Apple is evil.

Click to expand...

Care to elaborate ??

Sento said:

Wow. I feel like such a stuck up brat now. I read your links vansmith and I'm beginning to see what people mean when they say Apple is evil.

Click to expand...

I certainly didn't want to suggest that Apple is evil. A lack of philanthropic work doesn't make you bad (not to mention that Apple is getting better at it). However, I'm still on the fence about Jobs' personal character.