Inside the Phone Factory

I was expecting a load of photos with text in some kind of tour, but this is pretty lame. It's hardly an "Inside the Phone Factory" special tour, unless I've missed a link.
Your guys really need some sort of quality control on your posting. I'd rather have quality than quantity. TUAW seems to be running towards quantity.

Efficient supply chains such as the one utilized by Apple entail customizing the product to the final destination country as the very last step. This gives them the ability to determine and react to demand for different markets, instead of marking products for purely US only when demand becomes clear. Every iPhone 3G is essentially the same hardware and software with different model numbers to indicate enclosed SIM card or unlocked model.

Some people say the phone needs to be activated. But maybe they flash some parts just before the phone leaves the factory. Shipments go to different countries and some countries have no SIM-lock. Those phones are SIM-lock-free out of the box. That means somewhere in the production line it has to be decided what things to flash or lock or whatever.

Or could be a quality check model, but got in the process back on the wrong way.

Would be nice to have more of these pictures and a place where everybody can dump pictures...

That's really cool. I agree with the speculation that it's probably a problem area of the production line. . but I think it adds a personal touch.. and knowing where your iPhone came from is pretty interesting. The only surprises you usually get in your purchases these days is a cockroach in your bag of chips.

I have factory photos as well. I exchanged my iPhone because of a bad speaker, the 'replacement' one was pre tested I assume. and has photos of assembly area and conveyor belt.

@Johnny, Maxwell is correct, as ridiculous as it sounds.

I heard on Buzz Out Loud (Friday's episode, I think) that TUAW's parent company is trying to save money, and so has directed that paid-by-the-post named bloggers not make posts until the end of July.

Since Erica posted this under these conditions, it shows her dedication to us readers, and leads me to say "up yours" to all those jack asses who used to accuse her of posting too many iPhone posts to jack up her pay.

Hat's off to you Erica!

I think this must be the rectification/rework line. Note the 'Red Dot' sticker on one unit - this usually indicates a faulty device. That would explain why the camera was being tested.

I find it unlikely that brand new 3G phones would be collected in such a haphazard fashion with bits of tape stuck on some of them. Looks more like a bunch of rejects waiting for diagnosis or destruction...

Yes... I'm sure QC at the factory sits down and activates each one it tests.

Really, I'm sure there is a work-around (different SIM) to test the phones at the factory, and I'm sure that's how these pictures got on there.

I say fake! The devices at the top of the image have silver backs, so are 1st gen, surely.

Mainly tho, it has to be activated to use - and I really doubt if someone's going to pull one out of the production line to snap with...