The Fair Labor Association said in a status report that Apple's largest supplier, Foxconn, was ahead of schedule in making improvements sought after reports of harsh working conditions at the Chinese plants making Apple devices.

Apple and Foxconn earlier this year accepted the group's recommendations and created a 15-month action plan.

Apple in January became the first electronics company to join the labor group -- a coalition of universities, non-governmental organizations and businesses committed to improving the well-being, safety, fair treatment, and respect of workers.

"Our verification shows that the necessary changes, including immediate health and safety measures, have been made," said Auret van Heerden, head of the Fair Labor Association.

"We are satisfied that Apple has done its due diligence thus far to hold Foxconn accountable for complying with the action plan, including the commitment to reform its internship program."

The review found that Foxconn had taken steps to bring its factories into compliance with Chinese legal limits on working hours by July 2013.

Foxconn has already reduced hours to under 60 per week including overtime with the goal of compliance with the Chinese legal limit of 40 hours per week plus an average of nine hours of overtime per week.

"The next phase of improvements will be challenging for Foxconn because they involve major changes in the working environment that will inevitably cause uncertainty and anxiety among workers" said van Heerden.

The verification teams found the factories were making changes such as adding health and safety breaks, improving the design of equipment to guard against repetitive stress injuries, and updating maintenance policies to ensure equipment is working properly.

The review came after international labor watchdog groups said workers in Foxconn facilities are poorly treated, and blamed a string of apparent suicides on the conditions.

Earlier this year, Apple chief executive Tim Cook visited a Foxconn plant in China's central city of Zhengzhou, where he viewed the production line.

California-based Apple is wildly popular in China, where its products such as the iPhone and iPad are coveted by wealthy consumers.

Apple agreed in January to allow inspections by the labor association following reports that employees were overworked and underpaid at Foxconn factories in China.

Teams also were to inspect factories owned by two other Taiwan-owned manufacturers, Quanta and Pegatron, which also make Apple products.

Data from three mobile providers quoted by Yonhap news agency showed the number reached 30.03 million on Monday, out of a total of 52.55 million mobile phone users.

The tech-savvy nation has more mobile phones than people. The population hit 50 million in June.

South Koreans fell in love with smartphones relatively late compared to some other countries. Regulators approved Apple's iPhone only in September 2009 because of privacy concerns about some of its features.

Since then the use of smartphones has been growing at a brisk pace, with free wireless networks and cutting-edge gadgets widely available.

South Korea is one of the world's most wired societies, with 95 percent of homes using broadband Internet. It also has the world's top Internet download speeds, according to a study by Pando Networks.

Dell profit slumps on 'challenging' PC market
San Francisco (AFP) Aug 21, 2012 - Dell said Tuesday profits for the second quarter fell as the US tech firm faced a "challenging" PC market and pursued efforts to shift into areas such as software and cloud computing.

Dell said its net income fell 18 percent from a year ago to $732 million, and lowered its outlook for full-year earnings.

Earnings translated to 50 cents per share excluding special items, above most Wall Street estimates. Revenues dropped eight percent to $14.5 billion, shy of forecasts.

Still, Dell said it was on track to become a more diversified tech firm, less dependent on personal computers, which are seeing slowing sales as consumers move to various mobile devices.

"We're transforming our business, not for a quarter or a fiscal year, but to deliver differentiated customer value for the long term," said Michael Dell, chairman and chief executive.

"We're clear on our strategy and we're building a leading portfolio of solutions to help our customers achieve their goals."

Brian Gladden, Dell chief financial officer, added, "We continued our progress in shifting the mix of our business to higher-margin enterprise solutions, led by solid growth in our server, networking, services, and Dell IP storage businesses.

"Growth in our PC business was challenging, as we saw a tough macroeconomic and competitive environment, and continued to focus on higher-value solutions in this business," Gladden said.

Texas-based Dell, once the biggest PC maker, has fallen to fourth place in global sales.

Dell has expanded its effort in the Internet "cloud" in the face of softening demand for traditional computing hardware and has also moved into software and other services.

Dell announced in June it will use some of its cash stockpile to pay dividends in a bid to boost shareholder value.

But in after-hours trade, Dell shed 3.5 percent to $11.90 on the earnings news.