Chinese worker Sun Danyong was responsible for handling the prototypes of one of the world’s hottest products — the iPhone. When one of the gadgets went missing and his company began investigating him, he jumped off his apartment building and killed himself.
The death — which involves allegations that security guards roughed up the worker — prompted Apple Inc. on Wednesday to issue a terse statement, insisting that all the company’s contractors must treat workers with respect and dignity.
The 25-year-old Sun started his new job last year after earning a degree in business management. He moved from his native Yunnan province — a poor region sharing a border with Myanmar — to the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, home to the sprawling factory complex run by Foxconn Technology Group. The Taiwanese manufacturer has long been one of Apple’s key suppliers.
Sun’s job involved shipping iPhone prototypes to Apple. It was an extremely sensitive position for a company like Apple, known for shrouding its new product launches in secrecy and suspense — a strategy that’s consistently helped whip up the just-can’t-wait-to-buy-it feeling among consumers worldwide.
Although Apple and Foxconn confirmed Sun’s suicide, they would not provide much information about the circumstances of his death. Many details have been reported by the state-run Southern Metropolis Daily, one of the region’s most popular and aggressive newspapers.
The paper’s account, which hasn’t been disputed by the companies, said: Sun reported on July 13 that he was missing one of the 16 fourth-generation iPhones in his possession. Foxconn security guards searched his apartment, detained him and beat him. In the early morning of July 16, a distraught Sun jumped from the 12th floor of his apartment building.
Jill Tan, an Apple spokeswoman in Hong Kong, issued only a brief statement about the incident.
“We are saddened by the tragic loss of this…