Steve Jobs has told his legions of Apple fanboys not to worry about the mass suicides at his Chinese's supplier's plant.

He told the assembled throngs that Foxconn's plant was not a sweatshop so no one should worry about where their shiny gadgets come from any more. Jobs said his company is “all over” Foxconn and the “very troubling” spate of suicides. But he said that Foxconn was not a sweatshop.

Foxconn said that it will raise workers’ salaries after at least 10 of its employees have died. The outfit has hired counsellors, and monks, and installed nets on dormitory buildings to cope with deaths.

"Apple does one of the best jobs of any company understanding the working conditions of our supply chain,” Jobs said yesterday in his first public remarks on the deaths. “We’re pretty rigorous about it.”