> The idea that a bank should outsource development is ridiculous, most of their interaction with customers is going to be through these systems. If they want to differentiate themselves from their competitors then they need strong IT.

I agree with this too. However, this arises 2 doubts in my head:

1. Is Apple outsourcing manufacturing to Foxconn any different from banks outsourcing their IT?[1]

2. Is hiring offshore talent the same as outsourcing? Can the talent still not be in-house and the company be a multinational?

[1] Yes, it is because a lot of times firms outsource their entire IT/System design to these outsourcing firms too. And this is because of lack of knowledge from the manager's part, laziness or just greed. But it is still comparable because they both have certain shared downsides in the long run.

Foxconn has a very direct impact on Apple's product, so any issues with quality would come back to them pretty quickly. Foxconn also has an ongoing partnership which I would expect to be worth a lot of money to them.

On the other hand, everything I've seen so far outsourced in IT in a standard way could come back in any condition. Worst case, it's unusable, but contractors get paid anyway and move to the next client.

Regarding Apple, they seem to have a very close and special relationship with Foxconn in order to ensure the quality of production. So while it is a similar arrangement, it seems very different to me.