Why You Can't Manufacture Like Apple 408
HughPickens.com writes Medium reports that although many startups want to design something that mimics the fit and finish of an Apple product, it's a good way to go out of business. "What happened when Apple wanted to CNC machine a million MacBook bodies a year? They bought 10k CNC machines to do it. How about when they wanted to laser drill holes in MacBook Pros for the sleep light but only one company made a machine that could drill those 20 m holes in aluminum? It bought the company that made the machines and took all the inventory. And that time when they needed batteries to fit into a tiny machined housing but no manufacturer was willing to make batteries so thin? Apple made their own battery cells. From scratch." Other things that Apple often does that can cause problems for a startup include white plastic (which is the most difficult color to mold), CNC machining at scale (too expensive), Laser drilled holes (far more difficult than it may seem), molded plastic packaging (recycled cardboard is your friend), and 4-color, double-walled, matte boxes + HD foam inserts (It's not unusual for them to cost upwards of $12/unit at scale. And then they get thrown away.). "If you see a feature on an Apple device you want to copy, try to find it on another company's product. If you do, it's probably okay to design into your product. Otherwise, lower your expectations. I assure you it'll be better for your startup."
Me too. (Score:4, Insightful)
Simply, you can't manufacture like Apple, because if you manage too, you'll be just as expensive and the vast majority will want the name brand anyway. It's a me, too, that doesn't work.
But they had to buy 10k CNC machines to build 1M bodies? Doesn't sound right. Only 100 per machine.
Re:Me too. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Me too. (Score:5, Interesting)
It's not just the infrastructure but how Apple pulls people along. Before the MacBook unibodies came out, you couldn't get Al milling machines in quantity at any price. Once Apple made it cool, now everyone and their brother have an Al milling machine.
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Re:Me too. (Score:4, Funny)
Al. Not AI. You need to have a better font :P
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No, that would be Aluminium. Only Americans are lazy and call it Aluminum.
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Thinkpads used to have titanium frames, but those were internal and I don't think they were one-piece. The outside was black plastic, of course.
Milling a laptop body from a single piece of aluminum is over-the-top excessive and a bit silly. Of course Apple wanted to do it before everyone else.
Re:Me too. (Score:4)
Not only that, it is also structurally stronger, you don't need connectors, etc etc. But hey, haters gotta hate.
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There are a lot of companies in addition to Apple that have a manufacturing infrastructure that would be hard for a startup to emulate.
The point is that Apple's design choices inspire people and those design choices are near impossible to emulate.
Re:Me too. (Score:5, Funny)
And fuck you if you say Windows isn't stable
Oh, it's stable enough these days. Windows' real unforgivable sin is that it ships without bash, vim, and ssh pre-installed.
Re:Me too. (Score:4, Insightful)
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Except when they are copying Braun and others?
You are one fucking idiot.
The pictures that you are linking to are carefully staged photos taken from exactly the right angle to fake a similarity that doesn't exist. The Braun clock radio for example, sits on your table, six inch wide, three inch high, three inch deep. So it has been set to sit on its side in a way nobody would position it because it falls over. It has been photographed exactly from the front so that you don't see that it's actually three inch deep. It doesn't have a screen, it has a sp
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CNC machines (Score:2)
But they had to buy 10k CNC machines to build 1M bodies? Doesn't sound right. Only 100 per machine.
They were battery operated, and looked cool! No seams for battery doors or holes for pesky charger ports!
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plus, you'll get sued by Apple...
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We see this in other industries. The F150 is now aluminum, which required not only the entire production line to be redone, but also supplied of aluminum to be created. This is only profitable because Ford se
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Re:Me too. (Score:5, Funny)
they made 68 iphones to sell this holiday season.
Now I finally understand why Apple fans have to line up three days ahead.
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The problem with Apple is that you have to go to the very top if you want a desktop with a good GPU.
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Yes, the old MacPro towers were out of wack in terms of price, but that was pretty much it.
Except that people like me needed the horsepower and the software. It's a tool, and the price was right in line with other professional equipment.
As a matter of fact... (Score:5, Interesting)
it appears to be a very predatory way of doing business on my eyes.
I remember an article I read on the late 80's or early 90's about how some small companies of that era feared growing too fast and ended up catching the attention of Microsoft, that at that time was buying everything and everybody (prices are pretty lower at that times). Building something cool that Microsoft would need was the fastest way of going out ot business.
Re:As a matter of fact... (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think the problem was so much the fear of getting bought out, but the fear that if they didn't sell, Microsoft would make their own implementation that would put them out of business.
Re:As a matter of fact... (Score:4, Insightful)
"...Microsoft would make and BUNDLE their own implementation..."
Yep, that was a very real threat. I saw that happen to companies that didn't sell to Microsoft, and I was at companies that developed stuff with the thought of Microsoft taking us over in mind (that was usually a mistake).
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Re:As a matter of fact... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:As a matter of fact... (Score:5, Insightful)
With all the charity Bill Gates has been making press releases about lately, people seem to have forgotten that he received all that money in the first place by building a monopoly and using incredibly anti-competitive business tactics.
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They didn't buy you at fair value. They said that you could either sell to them at a severe loss, or they would make their own version of your product and put you out of business
Then you weren't worth "fair value". I find it interesting how Microsoft dumped all this money into software firms and all of the replies to my post are complaints that they could have dumped more. Well, it's not their job to do that.
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Which is fine if you don't mind selling. If you believed in your product and wanted to take it large scale, it could mean selling for a fraction of what the product was actually worth so that MS wouldn't find a way of stealing the market.
So what? That indicates your product was worth less than you thought.
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after someone with a monopoly engaged in predatory practices
A monopoly in buying start ups? This has nothing to do with Microsoft's market dominance in OS or Office, and everything to do with ridiculously high internal expectations and valuations for software companies of the time.
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Re:As a matter of fact... (Score:4, Insightful)
it appears to be a very predatory way of doing business on my eyes.
I remember an article I read on the late 80's or early 90's about how some small companies of that era feared growing too fast and ended up catching the attention of Microsoft, that at that time was buying everything and everybody (prices are pretty lower at that times). Building something cool that Microsoft would need was the fastest way of going out ot business.
Completely different. Microsoft would find a company that had a product that they wanted. That company had two options. Sell to Microsoft, or get destroyed. Sometimes it meant Microsoft finding a similar company, or developing in house. But either way, the masses would get a free product from Microsoft that sort of did the same thing, or pay for one that they don't realize is better. One prime example is Netscape. Microsoft bought Mosaic, called it IE, and gave it away for free. Bill Gates was renowned for "declaring war" on small companies. He is absolutely ruthless when someone says no to him, and lashes out like Stalin on steroids.
What Apple did was buy some companies that could be used to make better products. Notice that the Microsoft ones were never, or rarely, better than the other guy. They forced it down your throat using their monopoly. These are also not competing companies, just those that have something that they want to use in house, not resell.
Apple is an evil company, as are all companies. Microsoft at its peak was a criminal racket, and history will look back with an unbiased eye, and shake their heads that we let them run rampant like we did. If you want to know why, check out the history on the trade deficit in the 70's and 80's. Microsoft was one of the few companies that sold abroad. Also look at their campaign spending. They practically own the Washington state legislature. Now it doesn't seem like a big deal, since that's status quo. In the 80's, back when the US still had some integrity and a Constitution, it was cutting edge evil.
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No. It means that the spirit of Teddy Rosevelt needs to come along and whack them with a really big stick so that they can't abuse everyone and distort the market.
Bragging that your pet brand can act like an abusive monopoly is nothing to be proud of. It's blatantly anti-social.
basic logistics (Score:4, Insightful)
If your organization needs to be told these things then you are already completely screwed.
Google's storage (Score:3)
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I'm guessing because there's no compelling reason to do so. They put out a RFQ to the major disk manufacturers and they get competitive prices.
Re:Google's storage (Score:5, Interesting)
There are amusing efforts to sell disk drives to Google. Near Google HQ there is a movie theater complex. I once saw an ad run before a movie. Two minutes of sales pitch for bulk purchases of enterprise hard drives, with lots of technical detail. Clearly this was addressed to a very specific audience.
Re:Google's storage (Score:5, Funny)
Yes it was. The target audience was movie pirates.
Re:Google's storage (Score:5, Interesting)
economy of scale... (Score:5, Insightful)
Because stamping out 100 million copies of a single model (e.g., iphone) is a LOT more cost effective than trying to tool up to stamp out 10 million copies each of 10 different models. Which means that they can increase their profit margin or increase feature set at the same price as they see fit.
Re:economy of scale... (Score:5, Interesting)
Those many different models are often just variations.
It's always fun trying to read a service diagram for Toshiba laptops. The diagram is of a hypthetical super-laptop that contains the intersection of all the components of the various models that use that chassis - it'll have a flash drive and an HD fitted in the same bay, two devices in one mini-PCIe slot, and so on. You open it up and find that the diagram shows three wifi antennas, but the model you are working on only has one. Screws are especially fun, as it'll sometimes show two screws going into one slot. You get use to it after a while.
Product options always raise costs (Score:5, Insightful)
Those many different models are often just variations.
That's true but every different option adds cost and complexity to the supply chain. The fewer versions of a product you make the lower your costs will be. Every product variation has extra administrative overhead cost, engineering cost, manufacturing cost, freight cost, inventory cost, etc. Whenever you buy from a company offering lots of options you are paying extra for them even if you don't actually take advantage of them because some of the costs are shared.
Sometimes there are good reasons to offer products with extra options or multiple products but a lot of companies don't really think it through. My company produces a wire harness that goes into some SUVs. We produce two versions of this product which are identical except for a grommet. There was no technical requirement for the grommets to be different but two engineers in different wings of the company couldn't be bothered to talk with each other and so we now have to maintain two SKU numbers, two order books, two bills, get worse pricing on grommets because the volume on each is lower, pay more in freight, have to stock more inventory etc.
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It depends if having more models sells more devices. Apple clearly thinks that having two memory sizes will sell more iPhones.
Look at Samsung's Galaxy line. They do different models for Europe, the US and the far East. Slightly different cases, different CPUs all sorts of things. They must have concluded that tailoring to each market would boost sales enough to overcome the extra cost of having multiple models.
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The diagram is of a hypthetical super-laptop that contains the intersection of all the components of the various models that use that chassis
My God -- quantum computing has arrived!
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Further proof that Carl Icahn (Score:2)
just economics (Score:2)
If the startup made the same huge profit margins that Apple does, I don't see why doing any of these things would be a problem.
The real lesson is that you'll need your customers to pay *a lot* more than it costs to make something if you want to do silly, expensive things while making it.
Economies of scale (Score:5, Insightful)
If the startup made the same huge profit margins that Apple does, I don't see why doing any of these things would be a problem.
And if someone dropped billions of dollars in my hands I could do some pretty cool stuff too. What exactly is your point since that is a purely hypothetical conjecture? Startups don't have the kind of money that Apple does which is exactly the point.
NO startup can possibly match Apple's manufacturing costs. Very few companies of any size are able to match Apple when it comes to manufacturing costs on the products they make because Apple can buy stuff at such enormous scales. Read up on economies of scale [wikipedia.org]. Apple only produces a small number of products so even companies like Samsung are unlikely to be able to match their costs because they spread out their purchases among more products. Apple is able to economically do things that set their products apart that at smaller scales would be economically impractical. This makes the gap even harder to close since it gives their products features that actually differentiate them from the competition in ways other than price.
so they are like MS 15 years ago (Score:2)
the little guys can't compete in the same product space, until they decide to go make a new product category. like mobile devices that MS paid lip service to but didn't really do anything useful
Is there a point to this story? (Score:5, Insightful)
Next up, Apple has more money to throw around than a Startup! Full Story @ 11!
It's cute to see how much money they blow on their designs, but really, is this news, or stuff that matters?
Re:Is there a point to this story? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's cute to see how much money they blow on their designs, but really, is this news, or stuff that matters?
You would be amazed how unselfaware many startups are. In the late 90's, early 2000's time period I frequently had to remind people in companies with 2 - 200 employees selling niche products that "But Microsoft does it that way!" was an argument against doing it that way for us, because we were anything like Microsoft in terms of resources, product or market.
You'd think that no one would ever have to be told that, but the reality is that most people look at something as incredibly difficult to build as Windows (in software) or an iPhone (in hardware) and think, "Yeah, I could knock that out over a weekend and ship a few million units a year, no problem!"
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It's cute to see how much money they blow on their designs, but really, is this news, or stuff that matters?
It matters to the geek who thinks that a kickstarter and 3D printer is a viable business plan in market where style, design, fit and finish in hardware matters.
They want it but don't understand it. (Score:5, Insightful)
My current CEO says form and style are essential in our next product. The board and him agree that design is the key to success. He says he was an Apple like feel that oozes quality. He wants to be like Steve Jobs.
Then he says we're going to do that by hiring an undergrad design major part time from a local college once we finish our mechanical and board designs. He will polish it up and make it great.
He said all this within 2 mins. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The project manager then offers up design tips from his wife...
Also, I'm told we need to target Logitech's price point...
People completely underestimate what it takes to make an Apple-like product. This is especially true for engineers (of which I am one) who tend think to since it's not technically hard to do, it must mean that designers don't bring much to the table. "I can bevel that edge", "That rounded corner isn't hard to do", etc etc. We also tend to think that function is most important and that form is an afterthought... even though we don't actually say that.
Re:They want it but don't understand it. (Score:4, Interesting)
Careful with that word "we." I'm an engineer, but put a huge emphasis on industrial design. The form of my designs are integral to the function. They don't just hold the electro-mechanicals I'm designing (which is my specialty), they are the interface with my users.
So I fuss for days sometimes to get the right distances and sizes to fit 95% asian woman and 95% western men. Tweaking the curvature transition of complex surfaces to feel natural, give tactile feedback, and be able to be injection molded from a single pull mold (yeah, I do preliminary mold design too). While still containing and constraining internal mechanisms (which I also design). Choosing textures and colors that build on that base. And so on. Often I have people with industrial design or fine arts degrees consulting on the designs.
It's not rocket science, but you are right: it shouldn't just be slapped together at the last minute.
Bevels and rounded corners? Easy stuff. There's an optimum, but not a huge sensitivity. Where Apple and others excel is under the skin, as well as fit and finish.
20m holes in aluminum? (Score:2, Informative)
That's one heck of a sleep light.
In completely unrelated news, Slashdot's support of non-ASCII characters is refreshingly anachronistic.
Changes Cost Big Money (Score:2)
Brought to You by Apple? (Score:2, Interesting)
Reading this, you would think that Apple is the only large company making tech.
This is what all large companies do. For instance, Windows was built on hundreds of companies that Microsoft went out and bought because they needed the tech. Samsung builds shit from scratch all the time, and probably has more CNC machines at its disposal than Apple.
This is nothing more than an Apple puff piece. To remove the marketing content, one would have to replace Apple with "large corporation", then the article's title
Some info seems bogus (Score:2)
Some of that info seems bogus. 10,000 CNC mills? Unlikely. 10,000 CNC machines of all types across all of Apple manufacturing, maybe.
There's a nice video about how Apple machines a round can for their round desktop computer. They're going through a lot of steps to make a can, yet they're doing it in a low-volume way. Here's how soft drink cans are made. [youtube.com] Same shape, but much higher production volume.
Apple is doing this to justify charging $2700 for an x86-64 machine with midrange specs.
Re:Some info seems bogus (Score:4, Informative)
Some of that info seems bogus. 10,000 CNC mills? Unlikely. 10,000 CNC machines of all types across all of Apple manufacturing, maybe.
I was skeptical too, but then I looked up the numbers and turns out 10,000 is actually an underestimation:
Foxconn, the Apple supplier that doubled factory pay after a spate of worker suicides, buys 800 programmable Robodrills from Fanuc every month - for about $62,000 each - to make the stainless steel band that wraps around the iPhone. [sfgate.com]
The Fanuc Robodrill is the world's common CNC machine measured by installation numbers and by total value thanks to Apple.
Let me get this clear (Score:4, Insightful)
So, to recap, Apple wants a nicer looking sleep light, and as a result hip replacements just got a lot more expensive.
It is doable. (Score:5, Interesting)
We are a small family farm.
We're building our own USDA/State inspected meat processing facility - almost done.
I designed the facility myself from scratch.
We have done all the construction of our building.
We will do all the work in the facility ourselves.
We built much of the equipment for our butcher shop, mostly out of stainless steel.
We built many of the tools to build the above equipment.
We invented techniques, tools and processes to do what we need to do.
More people need to innovate.
It is quite doable.
Re:Apple REULEZ! (Score:4, Insightful)
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If only Apple took such pride in craftsmanship with iTunes, I would agree completely.
Buggy, non-intuitive, tons of undocumented features. "It Just Works" does not apply to that steaming load.
Re:Apple REULEZ! (Score:4, Informative)
>If you check the little box that says "let iTunes manage my music library" it does. It makes folders based upon ID3 tags and files that shit away proper. Now if you're one of those tards who thinks you can manage your library better than iTunes, maybe it will piss you off.
it does that now? winamp did that for years. In fact winamp could scan multiple directories and automaticly import music, videos and all media automaticly, with an array of options for guessing metadata if none was present.
Also, banshee, Rythmbox, and just about every other program does this too, and they all do if far far far better. ALL of these programs automaticly add and delete new music put in your Music folder, they can all sort your mp3s by filename, and you can turn that feature off. Banshee also has bulk ID3 editing modes, and also has a nice de-duplication feature to look through your library to help you find duplicate files to save disk space. Last time I used iTunes you had to import new music manually.
They all (banshee, winamp, rythmbox), sync with your iPod, android phones, MTP entabled music player, and the linux ones Banshee and Rythmbox follow the FreeDesktop.org format of being able to interpret any directory as a music player if you put a blank file named
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Re:Apple REULEZ! (Score:5, Insightful)
Nice way to interpret his intent into something base can prop your ad hominem upon.
There's nothing wrong with establishing an argument that claims you work in a particular field and therefore are accustomed to making educated choices about stuff related to that field.
If someone calls themselves a chef or a foodie, it may not make them right when they say how long you should boil pasta, but it means their opinion about it IS based on care, thought, and knowledge about the subject at hand. If someone random says "boil spaghetti for 20 minutes" then you may be more apt to consider their opinion as out of hand than someone who presents "credentials".
If slashdot wasn't such a fucking non-stop pissing-contest people might not feel the need to present "papers please" when offering their thoughtful opinions about stuff.
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Re:Apple REULEZ! (Score:4)
Wow, is that ever a crock. So, a person calling themselves a foodie means they've have exercised "care, thought and knowledge"? If I call myself a world champion surfer, does that mean I've ever waxed a board? Appeals to authority are one of the most dishonest forms of fallacy:
http://www.nizkor.org/features... [nizkor.org]
But maybe you're just not familiar with logical fallacies. Well, that's something about which I know a thing or two to snatch a phrase from esteemed computer tech Marlin Schwanke. And you will not find an "ad hominem" anywhere in my post. If you think you also know a thing or two about fallacies, I invite you to point mine out. The purpose of my post was to point out the fallacy via sarcasm. There was no ad hominem. I didn't say Marlin Schwanke was stupid, or that all computer techs are stupid or that he's somehow a bad person or a Republican. I just pointed out the absurdity of claiming this authority as if it meant something.
I'll just bet you're a computer tech, too. And that, my friend, you can take as an ad hominem.
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In your average real life scenario....socializing at the kid's little league game, at the bar, out on a cigarette break with random coworkers, waiting in line at a store, etc, it's a decent way to establish that you aren't the average "lol technology" user. If you have reasonable amount of authority in any random subject it isn't actually a dick move to highlight that fact to give your words more gravity.
Calm down.
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To some degree, I think it's an implied response to the latent, often heard criticism that people who use Apple are a bunch of idiots who don't know anything about computers. Especially in the context of responding to someone calling Apple fans "sheep", which implies that they're stupid followers and that their opinions are thoughtless and uninformed.
I've found that if you say anything positive about Apple in a public forum like Slashdot, there's a decent chance you'll get a response that implies that you
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As it is...
Maybe you don't know I think I am.
Re:Apple REULEZ! (Score:5, Insightful)
Last I checked blackberries don't allow tethering via bluetooth or wifi, and while they do email real well, they didn't do much else all that well. I'm not sure it makes one a "trend-jumper" to desire new features that are useful. Blackberries didn't evolve, and they died, a lesson Apple had best pay attention to.
I couldn't care less what the apple product LOOKS like, I care what it does and how much trouble I'm likely to have with it. I have been a rabid Apple hater my entire life, until perhaps the past 6 years. Right now they are the best products out there. While I'd rather have a high quality hardware device with higher end processing/graphics capabilities that also has high design and mfg quality and not be paying for bullshit like laser etched holes and other ID related nonsense, they are all low quality shit, and having bought several I refuse to do it again. I would rather have reduced specs and a higher price than buy something cheap, fast and a trash can ornament. You have Apple, or you have cheap chinese shitshop, even if it has a Dell/HP logo. Knowing what I know about computer design, something I did for a living for 15 years, I choose Apple, for now. If HP or Dell or company Q wants to step up their game and start making a computer that is not utter shit, the decision may change in the future.
For the same reason I buy Apple, I buy Honda. I've owned a lot of Fords, they were shit, I won't buy another Ford. My Honda's have been going strong for 10 years, and fuck it, they cost 15-20% more up front but the TCO is far less. If Honda burns me I will start looking again, but as long as they make good stuff they have my loyalty.
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Typed on my 17" MBP using an iPad Air as a secondary display.
Non-response (Score:3)
Because that wasn't the point. Are you actually annoyed by these labor practices - in which case you either live in a house free of electronics or ones of Walkman vintage - or are you just looking at an excuse to drink some Hatorade at one company? So, once again:
1) Which of your devices is not made by Foxconn or one of their competitors using the same labor practices?
2) Which tech companies have gone beyond Apple's token efforts at improving said practices?
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So why do you hate people for voicing their opinion on what is or is not common decency?
Or, I'm going to start peddling these "legalize rape, murder, and heroin" pamplets to kids, and how dare you speak to me about moral outrage!!!
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You are one of those conspiracy theorists, aren't you? Major competitors wouldn't be driven into bankruptcy by this, and tiny competitors wouldn't even be on their radar.
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How do you explain Microsoft's recent purchase of Mojang or Facebook's $19B purchase of WhatsApp?
It absolutely does happen, but it's lottery. Most little companies that try to introduce some new cool product fail. A minority stumble along barely making it for a few years. A tiny tiny number get the attention of The Big Boys and get bought out with The Big Boys' monstrous piles of cash.
And often, there's no significant tech or product being acquired. They're buying what's popular because of its popularit
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Is it possible that Apple does things like this not so much to be unique and high-end, but to drive would-be competitors into bankruptcy?
That can only work if customers actually want the features that competitors can't afford to offer. Based on sales figures, the evidence seems to be that they do.
I'm typing this on an Apple laptop. A large part of the reason that I bought it was because the hardware is exceptionally beautiful. I compared it with offerings from people like Samsung, Dell, Lenovo, Acer, Asus and Toshiba, and the difference in the quality of the design detail was extraordinary. To people like me, these details matter. I wanted
Re:By design (but not the way you think)? (Score:4, Insightful)
We're all different. For people like me (who are fortunate enough to have sufficient cash to pay for the privilege), design is as important as function. Good design sells stuff.
For 'some people' there's a phrase to describe what you're talking about, by the way: 'Conspicuous consumption', or more rudely put, 'F.U. money'. :-)
Conspicuous consumption? 99% of the time I use my laptop at home. It's only conspicuous to me. Maybe you define yourself in terms of how others view you; I don't.
Re:Bullshit. (Score:4, Insightful)
The claim wasn't that there was only one CNC company or only one laser drilling company. It's that there was only one at the time that could meet their specs and they could afford to just buy those companies, which you with your startup can't do. So don't expect to compete with Apple on the manufacturing quality because they can afford the very best and in many cases you can't.
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If only they had asked you, a random dotslash reader, they would have avoided this waste of time article.
You should set up a news aggregator that decides which news is wrong based just on your bullshit detector.
In fact, you should be working at a three letter agency. They need that. Or run for king as you would do great.
Manufacturing (Score:3, Insightful)
CNC machines aren't made by only one company
That doesn't mean all CNC machines are equal or that they can all meet the same specifications, run rates or handle the same products.
laser drilling isn't really rocket science
I think you have no idea what you are talking about. Drilling one hole with a laser isn't too hard. Drilling millions of holes with tight tolerances with near perfect repeatability IS as difficult as "rocket science". (as if that is some sort of valid comparison...) That's exactly what make manufacturing hard.
packaging have been done better etc.
Really? Name me one consumer electronics manufacturer that pro
Re:Manufacturing (Score:4, Interesting)
Samsung's packaging for the Galaxy S3 is very slick. Also, Dell's origami packaging for their 4k displays is absolutely brilliant.
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I think you have no idea what you are talking about. Drilling one hole with a laser isn't too hard. Drilling millions of holes with tight tolerances with near perfect repeatability IS as difficult as "rocket science". (as if that is some sort of valid comparison...) That's exactly what make manufacturing hard.
No, he's right. The benefit of laser cutting is that it is predictable and repeatable. It's far easier to laser-cut millions of holes with tight tolerances with near perfect repeatability with a laser cutter than it is to do it with a mill, provided that the surface being cut lends itself to laser cutting. The problem of positioning the laser is no more complex than the problem of positioning the part on a mill (arguably, it is less so) while milling the holes adds a significant number of additional complex
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The benefit of laser cutting is that it is predictable and repeatable.
That doesn't mean doing it is trivial at large production scales. People have this naive notion that just because you have a machine with excellent capability that it is suddenly easy to realize the full benefit of that capability. Doesn't work that way. My company operates some very cool presses that can spit out parts every 3 seconds when running smoothly. But getting them running like that isn't easy and requires a lot of expertise and planning even when the machine is running properly which it doesn
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Re:Dont forget! (Score:5, Insightful)
And don't forget that those armies of near-slaves also work for all tech companies, not just Apple.
Re:Dont forget! (Score:4, Interesting)
My favorite is still the articles [forbes.com] that talked about the suicides at Foxconn facilities making XBoxes for Microsoft, yet included pictures of Apple products for the story.
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Whilst the iphone is pretty, what apple actually sells is a device you don't have to babysit, that does what it says on the box in a manner that is both attractive and pleasant to use.
The reason many people, myself included by apple gear is because I have spent the past 20 years babysitting computer shit because it half does what it says, needs care to use to ensure it doesn't get malware, etc. I'm fucking over it. I don't care about the theoretical reduced flexibility if the device does what I actuall
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Stop living in 2009.
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He meant 10 thousand CNC machines...not that they were $10K. That's an almost unbelievable number; and array of 100 x 100 CNC machines.
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Do you work for the Microsoft advertising department [marcellinosantoso.com]?
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I always go with Logitech.
Re:Let me tell you (Score:5, Insightful)
Those white plastic laptops of Apples got quite a few calls into their support center.
#1: yellowing and cracking of plastic.
#2: Hard drive failure
#3: Battery failure
I think with the 3 items combined, the failure rate must have been in the high %30 mark.
Anyone that owned one shoudl be able to verify that.
Hmm, I was service manager at an Apple authorized computer store. Fixed hundreds of white plastic MacBooks. I would think that, given a long enough timespan, you could get to 30% failure on those three items, collectively. But certainly not within warranty, and generally not due to manufacturing defects.
I never saw any yellowing that wasn't caused by abuse. And I mean cigarette burns, being left on top of a radiator, etc. Cracks on the keyboard bezel, sure. That WAS a design flaw. Cosmetic only, BTW - didn't affect function. Apple fixed them all, in or out of warranty.
Hard drives fail. Apple doesn't make them. Look up the manufacturers specs for G's of impact in operation, and compare that to the way MacBooks are used. Mostly by students... We had one guy who was using his laptop on the seat of a moving, off-road truck. Apple replaced that hard drive, four times that I know of, in and out of warranty - at no charge. Eventually he got a free upgrade to an Air, with SSD. Solved.
Battery failure. Well, batteries are expendable items. I would say 95% of the batteries replaced were over their rated lifetime cycles; usually WAY over. The few that weren't, were also replaced free, in or out of warranty.