Taiwan’s Foxconn lauds Jobs as partner and friend

TAIPEI, Taiwan – The founder of Taiwan’s Foxconn Technologies Group, which makes iPhones and iPads for Apple Inc., has lauded the late Steve Jobs as a partner and a friend.

Terry Gou said in a statement Thursday that Jobs, the founder of Apple, was “an industry visionary, a true partner to our company, and a great friend.” Jobs died in the U.S. on Wednesday. He was 56.

Gou’s statement said the global electronics industry had been made better for Jobs’ contribution in “ensuring that technology is understandable, beautiful, and, most importantly, accessible.”

Foxconn employs hundreds of thousands of people at low-wage factories in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen and elsewhere in the country to meet the voracious demand for Apple Inc. gadgets