Apple Reportedly Pressures Pegatron into Ceasing ASUS Zenbook Production

MacRumors · Feb 13, 2012

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.

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.

Article Link: Apple Reportedly Pressures Pegatron into Ceasing ASUS Zenbook Production

tigres · Feb 13, 2012

For Real?
ballsy...

:apple:

please don't start the Wal-Mart philosophy of threatening your vendors.

realitycheck69 · Feb 13, 2012

Doesn't seem exactly legal to me.

*LTD* · Feb 13, 2012

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.

Schmitty11 · Feb 13, 2012

*Sighs* Really???

*LTD* · Feb 13, 2012

Schmitty11 said:
*Sighs* Really???

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.

bluemonkeyguy · Feb 13, 2012

Shady or not, still strategic corporate pressure at its finest.

Icaras · Feb 13, 2012

*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.

Agreed. Glad Apple is taking appropriate action on the competition.

Peace · Feb 13, 2012

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.

ramuman · Feb 13, 2012

Apple might or might not be doing this, but isn't Digitimes one of the least reliable sources?

Wildog27 · Feb 13, 2012

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 · Feb 13, 2012

*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.

But it is not a mba

This is bullying by Apple. Pure and simple

KPOM · Feb 13, 2012

dukebound85 said:
But it is not a mba

This is bullying by Apple. Pure and simple

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.

yomibro · Feb 13, 2012

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.

ryanmcv · Feb 13, 2012

Apparently Apple forgot about the HP Envy:

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

FrizzleFryBen · Feb 13, 2012

Totally makes sense. I'm in marketing and we'd be dropped in a second if we worked with competing brands.

Joshwawilson · Feb 13, 2012

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

applesith · Feb 13, 2012

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.

jace88 · Feb 13, 2012

For a good laugh, check out the design story behind the Zenbook: http://zenbook.asus.com/design/

Icaras · Feb 13, 2012

jace88 said:
For a good laugh, check out the design story behind the Zenbook: http://zenbook.asus.com/design/

Funny indeed.

You can also get a "Zenbook Rose Gold": http://zenbook.asus.com/zenbook/?c=rose_pink

The description is also hilarious.

jayducharme · Feb 13, 2012

ryanmcv said:
Apparently Apple forgot about the HP Envy

I thought HP was getting out of the computer business. Besides, the Envy might have a similar-looking keyboard surface, but the rest of the machine is HP all the way.

dukebound85 · Feb 13, 2012

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.

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

BC2009 · Feb 13, 2012

ramuman said:
Apple might or might not be doing this, but isn't Digitimes one of the least reliable sources?

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.

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/

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.

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.

daxomni · Feb 13, 2012

*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.

&

*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.

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.

AdrianK · Feb 13, 2012

jace88 said:
For a good laugh, check out the design story behind the Zenbook: http://zenbook.asus.com/design/

Icaras said:
Funny indeed.

You can also get a "Zenbook Rose Gold": http://zenbook.asus.com/zenbook/?c=rose_pink

The description is also hilarious.

The worst part is, someone actually gets paid to come up with this stuff

Apple Reportedly Pressures Pegatron into Ceasing ASUS Zenbook Production

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