Three Chinese nationals have been jailed after it was revealed that they attempted to steal information regarding the new Apple iPad 2. It is not known which manufacturer the trio were working for. 

Yesterday, a Chinese Court sentenced the three people to prison terms for collaborating to steal information from Foxconn, a major supplier to Apple.

The Shenzhen Bao’an People’s Court, was told that the head of a Chinese electronics-accessories manufacturer allegedly paid a former employee and a then-active employee of Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Company for information about the iPad 2 in order to produce protective cases for the device.

The court was told that Xiao Chengsong, the general manager of Shenzhen MacTop Electronics, had offered $3,000, plus discounts on MacTop products to a former Hon Hai employee named Hou Pengna, for information about the iPad 2.

The court also heard that Ms. Hou then paid Lin Kecheng, a Hon Hai research-and-development employee, to get digital images of the device’s back cover from last September, six months before the iPad 2 was publicly announced.

The court said Mr. Xiao was sentenced to 18 months in prison, and fined 150,000 yuan. Mr. Lin was sentenced to 14 months and fined 100,000 yuan, and Ms. Hou was sentenced to a year in prison and fined 30,000 yuan.