Apple Considering Paying Suppliers More to Ensure Touch Panel Supplies?

[RalfTheDog]

Government regulation is getting far out of hand. Did you know, you can no longer ship candy to kids if it contains large quantities of led, mercury or bug spray? What kid wants to eat candy that has been munched on by a roach? The cost of getting petroleum byproducts and other organic stuff out of bottled water is outrageous! Some government agencies are even requiring companies provide the products they advertise. I tried to sell Tic Tacks as heart medicine, They shut me down. If the person taking the meds did not know the difference, who cares?

So, is this considered a legitimate business move, or might this be seen as anti-competitive bullying?

Being the biggest (and richest) player out there, offering to pay more means hiking up the prices and locking out the smaller players.

It would be anti competitive if Apple were sitting on the units they purchase. Apple is supply constrained at the moment, They can't make as many units as they can sell and the bottleneck is the ability to find enough parts. Their competition is making units that sit on the shelf or are given away. If anything, the Android market is being anti competitive.

 

[DiamondMac]

Government regulation is getting far out of hand. Did you know, you can no longer ship candy to kids if it contains large quantities of led, mercury or bug spray? What kid wants to eat candy that has been munched on by a roach? The cost of getting petroleum byproducts and other organic stuff out of bottled water is outrageous! Some government agencies are even requiring companies provide the products they advertise. I tried to sell Tic Tacks as heart medicine, They shut me down. If the person taking the meds did not know the difference, who cares?

Socialist, liberal bastards

 

[DiamondMac]

Like you said, it's the best system out there, but when we're regulated to death and have taxes shoved up our butt left and right, it makes doing business hard... Less regulation and lower taxes is the key to encouraging companies to make their products here, so, if people want their products made in the USA, vote for the right person next election.

Even though many Corporations pay little to no tax after credits/deductions? Even though many Corporations don't actually deal with much regulation put cry about it?
Even though most Corporations have never shown they can be trusted to do anything without significant regulation?

People use the words "too much regulation" all the time yet never actually show what they mean.

We heard those words all the time with Oil Companies yet the Gulf spill showed what idiotic actions BP took to pass over safety.

God forbid we make BP suffer and actually put in safety regulations strictly

 

[RalfTheDog]

With all their billions in cash and billions of income and their penchant for vertical integration, why is Apple messing around with these long term component supply contracts? Why don't they just buy or build their own factories?

Making stuff has a very low ROI (Return on investment). Designing and marketing stuff has a very high ROI. Apple wants to spend it's money where it gets the most bang for the buck, and outsource the stuff that does not pay well.

 

[HyperZboy]

Your dream can come true for the low, low price of $1995.00!!

Gotta pay the Unions ya know!

Despite all the union protests you see on TV, there is still a growing trend of more and more workers not wanting to unionize, particularly when they are working for a company they really like and because that being unionized in this bad economy has not really saved their benefits and wages (see GM, Chrysler, Wisconsin, soon other states that are delaying the cuts as long as possible).

And as someone else pointed out, there are many "Right to Work" states in the U.S. now, mostly in the south that don't force employees to unionize to get a job. That's the reason AOL headquartered in northern Virginia near Washington, DC for so many years.

Even the Japanese & Korean companies have figured out its cheaper to build cars here then to import.

Could Apple do it? Certainly. Will they? Hell no.

Why not? Because despite all of Steve Jobs nice words regarding the Japan crisis, Apple is virtually using Chinese slave labor for much of its manufacturing, a fact which often goes unnoticed and unreported.

Face it, the iPad you bought was made by people who don't earn anywhere near the cost of a single iPad in a week's or possibly even a month's salary!

Face it, Apple has billions & billions of dollars in the bank thanks to Communist borderline slavery, not really something be proud of.

But we love our new technology don't we???