That kind of attention comes with the territory for the wildly successful consumer electronics maker. But the episode also shows the dangers of when you hit too high and miss.

For Mike Daisey, an author and actor known for his full-length monologues, that's painfully clear.

Daisey, who said he was an eyewitness to poor worker conditions at factories operated by Foxconn in China, admits that some of his claims were untrue.

As a result, the radio program This American Life has called "Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory" that aired on Jan. 6. The New York Times has also removed a paragraph from an opinion piece Daisey authored last year.

The after Shanghai-based Marketplace reporter Rob Schmitz felt some of the things Daisey had said didn't ring true. Schmitz located the Chinese translator Daisey had used and asked her about the people Daisey actually spoke with during a visit to Shenzhen in which he claims to have seen Foxconn guards wielding guns, overstuffed factory dorm rooms and underage workers. Daisey also had said he met workers who were poisoned by the neurotoxin N-Hexane while assembling iPhones.