Apple have tried to foster an image of being something different, something special and innovative all at the same time in recent years. The I-Mac, the I-Pod, in fact anyone number of "I" related products seem to have become market leaders and turned what was once an ailing company in to a success story.
However, all is not what it seems at Apple. Yes, they are making lots of money, but is it all style of substance ?
Actually, what Apple is about is what every company is about. Making money and caring little for the consumer or the planet. Yes, corporate greed is alive and well at Apple inc.
When the I-Pod mini first came out there were major battery faults. They denied it in the UK, but in the US were issuing replacements. They treated UK and non American customers with disdain. So, they made a mistake ? No problem, except when the I-Pod Nano was launched, it too had a major fault. Its screen would scratch and break easily, and again, Apple denied there was a problem before reluctantly agreeing to issue replacements.
So is this all ? Well no. Only yesterday the EU decided to investigate why Apple charges different prices for its I-Tunes downloads in UK as compared to the rest of Europe. This has been an ongoing problem, raised by MP's , the press and just about everyone else, but did Apple take note ? No, they just wanted the money to keep rolling in and to hell with the customer.
Today, Apple inc have been shown to be top of the league again. Unfortunately, they are top of the league when it comes to making the most polluting computers. Again, Apple care little about anything other than making lots of money. Whatever your views on global warming, we are all agreed that we have limited resources on this planet and the environment should matter to companies as well as us.
What about an advertising campaign for the company entitled "Apple: I-Suck"
3 comments:
The whole point of market capitalism is that you can only make money if people buy their products and people only do that if they want them.
You cannot fault a company for fulfilling demmand like that.
If of course they were in a position to coerce you into buying their goods, then it becomes intolerable, but that is clearly not the case.
As for the green aspect - campaign on it, they will be forced to change or lose brand image - which is essential to the companies success.
Along with that tax pollution at cost and let people decide whether the pollution overcomes the advantages they get from the product.
What other system than market capitalism can you suggest? The command economies and state captialism of socialism and fascism are far far worse for the environment as well as for people?
Not wanting to sound like an Apple apologist or anything but they don't really make 'that' much money on the tracks sold through iTunes anyway - the money grabbing record labels take that honour.
I agree with you on the previous products and the pollution but I don't think Apple should be held accountable for the cost of song sales - the investigation should focus on the big four labels instead.
While I agree that it's a bit much that iTunes stores in different countries charge different amounts, I think it's a bit unfair to pick on Apple here. Pretty much everything costs more in the UK and most of the time there's not much of an excuse for it.
Oh, and as for the 1st generation Nano scratching, I think it was a bit exaggerated. Mine is still fine after living in my pocket on the walk to work and back every day for more than a year. I guess some people have less luck, but I imagine that there are quite a few gadgets that will scratch if you have them in your pocket with keys, coins and so on.
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