Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Reportedly Pressures Pegatron into Ceasing ASUS Zenbook Production

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
68,652
39,525



asus_zenbook_1.jpg



Digitimes reports on an article from Taiwanese newspaper Commerical Times claiming that Apple manufacturing partner Pegatron has ended its relationship with ASUS for production of the Zenbook under pressure from Apple. According to the report, Apple is displeased with the similarity in appearance between ASUS's Zenbook and the MacBook Air and forced Pegatron's hand with an ultimatum stating that Pegatron needed to choose one company or the other.
Apple reportedly was unhappy about Pegatron's production of Asustek's Zenbook models, which are similar to its MacBook Air, especially in its outer design, and therefore, demand Pegatron make a choice, claimed the paper, which added that Pegatron began to assemble iPhones for Apple in 2011 and is eager to solicit orders for next-generation iPads from the vendor.
Click to expand...
Pegatron will reportedly wind down production of the Zenbook by next month as ASUS is forced to switch over to Compal or Wistron for manufacturing.

asus_zenbook_2.jpg




Article Link: Apple Reportedly Pressures Pegatron into Ceasing ASUS Zenbook Production
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/02/13/apple-reportedly-pressures-pegatron-into-ceasing-asus-zenbook-production/
Good. No one wants to lose Apple's business.

Nice to see Apple taking a stand against this. Seems Tim Cook is more Jobsian than previously thought. Which I for one, like to see.
 
*LTD* said:
Good. No one wants to lose Apple's business.

Nice to see Apple taking a stand against this. Seems Tim Cook is more Jobsian than previously thought. Which I for one, like to see.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Glad Apple is taking appropriate action on the competition.
 
At first I said Huh ? Then I went and looked at the Zenbook. It looks almost exactly like a Macbook Air.

Good for Apple.

Why can't these companies design their own laptops and tablets.

Lazy people. Just do what Apple does. That's the new PC mantra.
 
Apple might or might not be doing this, but isn't Digitimes one of the least reliable sources?
 
C'mon, Apple. No one likes a bully. Your products are clearly better than others. If this was a size of balls contest, that's ridiculous. If this was a manufacturing capacity at Pegatron being spread too thin, then maybe that's different.
 
dukebound85 said:
But it is not a mba

This is bullying by Apple. Pure and simple
Click to expand...

How is it bullying? It isn't as if Pegatron has a right to make products for Apple, or even that Apple is suing ASUS on a questionable design patent. Pepsi might voice displeasure if a significant supplier signed a big deal with Coke, or vice versa.
 
Apple seems to be turning into the 800 pound gorilla that Intel was a few years back when Intel pressured PC manufacturer's to not use AMD processors, Apple products sell by themselves and are superior to their competition so there is no need for such tactics.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A406 Safari/7534.48.3)

Apple has a lot of guts.


Not that we didn't know that already
 
We don't know the details. Pegatron may just need to allocate more production resources to the Air, so they cut Asus. Not too crazy.
 
KPOM said:
How is it bullying? It isn't as if Pegatron has a right to make products for Apple, or even that Apple is suing ASUS on a questionable design patent. Pepsi might voice displeasure if a significant supplier signed a big deal with Coke, or vice versa.
Click to expand...

Not sure if serious

Using ones weight to force a manufacturing company to quit producing a competitor's product or risk losing theirs is bullying
 
ramuman said:
Apple might or might not be doing this, but isn't Digitimes one of the least reliable sources?
Click to expand...

Any story that begins with "According to DigitTimes..." could be rewritten as "According to some guy who makes money off making up stories..."

FrizzleFryBen said:
Totally makes sense. I'm in marketing and we'd be dropped in a second if we worked with competing brands.
Click to expand...

Exactly! I don't know why people don't see this. When you have a good customer you cater to that customer. Failure to do so shows a lack of understanding a good business relationship. This is why Apple was so taken aback by Samsung's electronics division making look-alike devices when their components division was making billions off them.

ryanmcv said:
Apparently Apple forgot about the HP Envy:

Image

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/28/hp-envy-15-review-early-2012/
Click to expand...

Not sue Apple has forgotten it or even did what DigiTimes says. If Apple did do this and Foxconn is manufacturing the Envy, then Apple may be talking to them about that next. Certainly the Envy and Zenbook don't get ordered in enough units to make these manufacturers blink at dropping them.

applesith said:
We don't know the details. Pegatron may just need to allocate more production resources to the Air, so they cut Asus. Not too crazy.
Click to expand...

This is very likely what happened. If Asus did not order enough Zenbooks to justify the allocation of the production line, then Pegatron would be better served by shifting those resources to Apple.

It's actually strange to see Apple in this position after so many years of struggling.
 
*LTD* said:
Good. No one wants to lose Apple's business. Nice to see Apple taking a stand against this. Seems Tim Cook is more Jobsian than previously thought. Which I for one, like to see.
Click to expand...
&
*LTD* said:
Of course. Why should Apple tolerate their supplier churning out fake Macbook Airs for someone else? Apple is now in a position to do this, and more power to them.
Click to expand...
It's good to see Apple becoming the next anti-competitive behemoth in true Wintel fashion, right LTD? I guess absolute power really does corrupt absolutely.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back