San Francisco sours on Apple computers

Technology Jul. 13, 2012 - 01:37PM JST ( 25 )

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25 Comments

1

LostinNagoyaJul. 13, 2012 - 10:57AM JST

What I read in other sites is that Apple required EPEAT to modernize its rules to make room for more modern technology, i.e., the retina display feature. Apple is welding the battery instead of glueing it, as EPEAT rules demanded at the time it was created. So, it is more like we're seeing a 2012 version of Flash vs Apple battle. In the end Adobe accepted Jobs was right. My bet is that EPEAT will soon make an announcement it updated its rules to meet more modern technologies demands.
0

m5c32Jul. 13, 2012 - 01:14PM JST

What I read in other sites is that Apple required EPEAT to modernize its rules

Yes and no. Apple say they can recycle their parts (perhaps they can) but not all Apple parts go back to Apple for recycling. EPEAT would ensure that more recyclers were able to recycle parts. However, Apple's current mfg process makes recycling by others less standard and thus more difficult. Apple on the other hand is hoping that their clout (and brand goodwill) will be able to convince people to stay with Apple despite the shortcomings. Basically Apple don't want to subvert their design to recycling priorities.
-4

JapanGalJul. 13, 2012 - 03:56PM JST

Ship the junk to china when worn out.
3

basroilJul. 13, 2012 - 06:07PM JST

LostinNagoyaJul. 13, 2012 - 10:57AM JST

My bet is that EPEAT will soon make an announcement it updated its rules to meet more modern technologies demands.

What demands? Practically every single other phone/laptop maker does fine with user replaceable batteries (the actual reason for EPEAT conflict) and still produces lightweight machines that are just as thin or thinner. What apple has is under- spec parts that fall apart when removed, mainly that highly dangerous LiPo battery fluids leak when trying to remove the battery.

If the rest of the industry is perfectly able to do this, there is no reason why apple should need standards changed to suit a single tiny company's need. They need to start designing less and engineering more. Perhaps then they won't need to tell people that they are holding their phones wrong or that they are so green that an ecological protection standard is too outdated for them.
1

Thomas Michael LewisJul. 13, 2012 - 08:27PM JST

Steve Jobs hasnt even been gone a year and already the penpushers and moneymen are pushing Apple into an early grave
0

FadamorJul. 13, 2012 - 09:30PM JST

Basically Apple don't want to subvert their design to recycling priorities.

"Their design" didn't bother taking into account the guidelines that have been around for 6 years? Sounds like Apple just didn't feel like paying the registration fee anymore. What good is shafting your customers for every nickle you can pry out of their bank account, if you then have to spend some of the nickles to be listed on the Green registry?
1

ShimagaichaJul. 13, 2012 - 11:09PM JST

Ship the junk to china when worn out.

Surely you mean, "Ship the junk BACK to China," don't you?
1

ShimagaichaJul. 13, 2012 - 11:10PM JST

single tiny company's need

basroil, there's nothing tiny about Apple these days!
0

basroilJul. 14, 2012 - 12:13AM JST

ShimagaichaJul. 13, 2012 - 11:10PM JST

, there's nothing tiny about Apple these days!

Aside from profit, practically everything is tiny. They have a market share of about 5-8% in computers, and maybe 5% in cellphones (closer to 20% smartphone). Compared to the market and competition that is EPEAT compatible, they are tiny.
0

MeanRingoJul. 14, 2012 - 05:17AM JST

Most offices I've seen don't run on Mac's anyway, unless of course they are design agencies and whatnot. Funny that the article doesn't even give a ball park figure on how many are in use. Probably very few, unless of course the bureaucrats in San Fran are spending their budgets on top of the line computers.
1

MeanRingoJul. 14, 2012 - 05:19AM JST

Hey basroil, don't take this as snarky, but can you name five other tech companies that have higher market shares in all of those markets?
0

sfjp330Jul. 14, 2012 - 05:29AM JST

It really doesn't matter for Apple since San Francisco spent only $45K on Apple products in 2010. It's still a drop in the bucket. Leave San Francisco alone and let them buy Chinese computer.
-3

zichiJul. 14, 2012 - 06:39AM JST

Apple reverses their decision.
0

basroilJul. 14, 2012 - 07:47AM JST

MeanRingoJul. 14, 2012 - 05:19AM JST

Hey basroil, don't take this as snarky, but can you name five other tech companies that have higher market shares in all of those markets?

Dell, HP to name a few. You shouldn't underestimate the number of business oriented computers from those two, especially if you include servers.

sfjp330Jul. 14, 2012 - 05:29AM JST

It really doesn't matter for Apple since San Francisco spent only $45K on Apple products in 2010. It's still a drop in the bucket. Leave San Francisco alone and let them buy Chinese computer.

Apples are the Chinese computer. Dell/HP have long left the Foxconn camp, and most machines are assembled in the US (think Indiana). And while SF spent almost $50k on hardware, they spent double that in unnecessary second software licenses and technical support.
0

sfjp330Jul. 14, 2012 - 07:51AM JST

basroil Jul. 14, 2012 - 07:47AM JST. Apples are the Chinese computer.

No. Apple is U.S. company and that have headquarters in Cupertino, CA . Apple does R&D in the U.S. and assembled their computers in China with Foxconn and other third party companies. They are not Chinese computer made by Chinese company.
1

LostinNagoyaJul. 14, 2012 - 08:36AM JST

Aside from profit, practically everything is tiny. They have a market share of about 5-8% in computers, and maybe 5% in cellphones (closer to 20% smartphone). Compared to the market and competition that is EPEAT compatible, they are tiny.

Only that this 5-8% is worth 600 billion dollars and it's the most valuable company on Earth. EPEAT guidelines are 6 years old, and that's an eternity in technology. At the time it was created, ultrabooks was not even a word yet. Now we have them, retina display will soon everywhere, and once again Apple will win the battle.
1

smithinjapanJul. 14, 2012 - 09:08AM JST

What LostinNagoya said is correct, and I knew there was more to the story than being told here. Apple would never shoot itself in the foot so badly, as big as they've gotten with the iPod/iPhone/iPad as well as their computers in general, unless there was something wrong with the green product ideas themselves and/or they had another plan.
1

smithinjapanJul. 14, 2012 - 09:12AM JST

basroil: "Dell, HP to name a few."

Is that why HP had to spin off its computer business and drop out of the game because it could not keep up?

"Apples are the Chinese computer."

Yeah, as Chinese as apple pie, being created by Americans and based in California. Granted, a lot of their assembly goes on in China. Wow, you're WAY off the mark on this one.
-3

zichiJul. 14, 2012 - 09:19AM JST

Like I said, Apple will remain with EPEAT. All Apple BTO computers are built in the US.
0

Nullification_1798Jul. 14, 2012 - 10:12AM JST

The so-called progressives who have destroyed California are intent on chasing even Apple out of the state.
0

Nullification_1798Jul. 14, 2012 - 10:28AM JST

"Steve Jobs hasnt even been gone a year and already the penpushers and moneymen are pushing Apple into an early grave"

It's not the moneymen. It's the parasites who want to tax the makers and reward the takers. California has seen tens of thousands of businesses relocate to Texas, Nevada, Arizona and other right-to-work states (every US state that elected Republican governors in 2010 has seen employment rates RISE) because the Democrat "leadership" in Sacremento finds itself beholden to a consortium of lefty loser groups and voting blocs whose incessant, unrelenting demands that central government plunder the state's once-legendary weallth they can't ever satisfy. And that is America's future if the demented blue state model is allowed become the national norm. I hope Apple moves to Texas. How it would stick in the self-righteous noses of skinny soy boy hipsters, lefties and the arsty types who tink they are why Apple is number one.
-3

zichiJul. 14, 2012 - 11:25AM JST

Dell/HP are still doing business with Foxconn, which is an intetnational Taiwanese company with factories in Asia, Europe and South America. Even if computers are assemblied in the US like Apple BTO's, the parts are still made by Foxconn.

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2012/02/24/dell_hp_foxconn_wages/
0

lostrune2Jul. 14, 2012 - 06:48PM JST

How it would stick in the self-righteous noses of skinny soy boy hipsters, lefties and the arsty types who tink they are why Apple is number one.

Apple wouldn't have existed if not for a self-righteous skinny soy boy hipster artsy type.

Oh how we forget our history so quickly once laid 6-feet under.
0

lostrune2Jul. 14, 2012 - 06:52PM JST

Anyways, Apple accepted that EPEAT was right and came back to the fold, so the one-day war is over and move on.
0

MeanRingoJul. 15, 2012 - 02:51AM JST

Basroil, that would be only two, but I wasn't aware that Dell had a tablet and a smartphone with numbers bigger than Apple's. Sure they beat them in laptops and desktops, but I was asking you to name FIVE companies that have Apple beat in all of the markets that Apple is in. I don't believe the two companies you named fit the bill.