Some of the best products in the world are made in China? I suppose that's true, but it's also true that some of the worst products in the world are made there too. They still can't make anything near cutting edge missiles and such and that is what they've been putting much of their resources to for the last decade or more. Anything good from them tends to be someone else's design that they've 'borrowed' or the foreign corporation has control from beginning to end. For the most part. I think that's Apple's situation too.

A better question might be which Chinese national corporation makes some of the best products in the world? They might get there one day.

Apple doesn't offer good quality... Hmm, OK then. Sounds like someone who's never designed or built anything, nor taken anything apart. Someone who doesn't know the cost of materials and machining, let alone specialized technologies to accomplish that machining.

Who cares about Chinese national corporations. We're talking about fabless manufacturing here. Anyone can design and have products built in China. I recognize a ton of crap comes from China. But honestly, people bashing don't know why.

It's not crap because it comes from China. It's crap because it's designed to be crap and CHEAP. The companies buying it to resell aren't concerned about the quality, they're concerned about the price. And it can't be made equally crap for the same price elsewhere. Even crap costs money to make. Try pricing out some of the stuff you consider garbage with the same level of quality in the US some time. I have - and know plenty of others who have also, dozens and dozens of times over the past 15 or more years.

Missiles? Seriously, who cares. That's more to do with politics than engineering. You know what though, I should just quit now. Why bother in the face of bigotry and xenophobia.

Bigotry? Gee man, get off your soap box.

macbook pro offers good built quality but other companies offers that as well, i am more scectical against other apple products like iphone and ipod.

there have been examples of companies moving back from china to Europe due to issues with quality control. another reason for companies to avoid china is the lack of IP right etc, just look at what happened to outlaw 978, seriously what did they expect from a Chinese company?

I think the situation that resulted in Outlaw being left up a creek without a paddle was not just the location of their "manufacturing partner" but the circumstances that brought them together in the first place. Outlaw likely did not want to get stuck pouring ten or hundreds thousands of dollars into a design effort. Firms that are willing to assume that kind of risk are pretty rare in the US, but when there is such a firm it generally either has some legal wizards to ensure that no one gets left holding the bag OR some "daddy warbucks" of financial backers to ensure that even if things go south the firm / team stays viable. Neither of those situations is currently the case in China. Outlaw made a decision that, when they embarked on the project, did not seem as risky as other partnerships BUT THE LANDSCAPE CHANGED and the inherent risks of doing business in China with the kind of firm that both has the capabilities to deliver such a product AND work with others came back to doom the project.

I suspect the competitive landscape may have AGAIN recently shifted and if Outlaw learned the lessons it needs from this episode AND can adapt quickly there is a strong possibility that there will be other products that offers value soon. If they can't adapt no amount of "boycotting the competition" will help Outlaw's bottom-line...

Agree renov8r. My thought is the fault lies with the managment at the manufacturing plant for assuming there was no conflict of interest instead of actually checking with their main customer. I can easily imagine that things were fine until their main customer showed up for a quality audit or product launch or something, saw the line being setup for the 978, asked "What's that?" then the proverbial fan and feces met. That can happen anywhere you have weak/clueless managment.

However there is the possibility the plant just lied to both Outlaw and their other customer, got caught and had to sack Outlaw or loose their big customer. I can see this happening in China more than elsewhere...

It could also be a mix of these. Based on personal experience with building owners during design of new buildings, I could see the manufacturing partner's other client deciding that they need to impose new restrictions prior to starting some new project(s) - either because they feel it is necessary for their business, or because they feel that they have enough authority to do it and it makes them feel better, or some other (possibly crazy) reason.