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Toshiba and Apple to Invest $1.2 Billion in Factory to Produce iPhone LCDs
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I'm not sure...Apple's products cost more but they offer bonuses which the market has deemed "worth it"
If building in the US ensured high build quality, I'd be all for it. I know some of Nokia's better devices(quality wise) are said to be build in the West( in Nokia's home of Finland)
I'm not sure you could make a more sweeping generalization!
Union have their ups and downs, but I know my father has better healthcare as an unionized work then my mother, a none unionized worker. Again, not saying Unions aren't without the downsides, but they aren't all bad.
Yes, for the same reasons I try to buy from local merchants rather than Big Box retailers. I'd much rather help my neighbor than some conglomerate, even if it means paying a bit more. I'm nowhere close to being rich, but I know that the better off my neighbors are, the better off I am.
Apple's not afraid to import talent and copy manufacturing ideas. Not saying the whole phone needs to be made here tomorrow, but a billion dollar business investment going overseas is rarely a good thing for the US and its citizens.
this isn't even a matter of cheaper products.
there is NO WAY they could build that plant here, and have it be anything close to world-class / cutting-edge.
it's in japan because that's where the expertise is. who's going to build it here? IBM?
it's a global economy, kiddies... might want to go ahead and get on board with that.
OLED is only for spec-nerds who live in dark basements, not for people who actually use the phone outside of dark confines.
You have to take a step back and realize that many people say that, but in the end, most people don't care enough about where it's made to NOT buy a product made in Asia, so from a business standpoint, building products in Asia doesn't hurt business in any way, so there is little reason to change it.
so the corruption of unions is a good match for the corruption of healthcare?
"my dad in the politburo has better access to healthcare than ordinary citizens. the bribes are also excellent."
yes, some people are more equal than others.
I am puzzled why you think Toshiba should invest in the US?
Read the article.
MacRumors has just been sloppy in its reporting.
This is not about Apple Inc. investing $1.2b in Japan.
Right, becasue exporting much of the US manufacturing has done our economy so well.
I really disagree. I'm not an economist, but I know that double digit unemployment isn't good for business. I also know that the US's children are falling behind in education to a lot of these emerging Asian countries. Any business that's looking toward the future as much as it is it's current bottom line will realize that saving a dollar today will cost them ten tomorrow.
Who do you think's buying most of those screens? And then chipping in on top of that? I never said Apple was investing a billion dollars, but they are dumping a bunch of money to an overseas business.
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The screen is the most expensive component
Apple is constantly working to reduce their component costs, and the screen is the most expensive component. Apple is already the world's biggest consumer of flash memory, so they get the best deals and cause shortages for their competitors, which drives up prices for competitors. And Apple uses their own proprietary ARM system-on-chip on all iDevices, so they can avoid paying Intel's off-the-shelf prices.
It's possible that Apple's LG deal is only for MacBook, iMac, and Cinema Display LCDs. And now that LG is shipping Android phones, maybe LG is less willing to do deals with smartphone competitors like Apple. Same with Samsung, who now compete with Apple in the smartphone and pad computing markets (if you consider the Galaxy Tab to be a "competitor" and not just a "wannabe.")
Either way, the Toshiba deal is probably in place to lower Apple's per-unit cost on iDevice displays and to help protect Apple from shortages. Apple really doesn't want iPad 2 sales (and of course iPhone 5 sales) to be constrained because LG or Samsung decide to hold back for whatever reason. iPad has a nearly open field right now, and Apple is going to try to maintain that 95% pad computing market share. Every sale lost due to lack of capacity is an opportunity cost and an opening for Apple's would-be competition.
Apple is constantly working to reduce their component costs, and the screen is the most expensive component. Apple is already the world's biggest consumer of flash memory, so they get the best deals and cause shortages for their competitors, which drives up prices for competitors. And Apple uses their own proprietary ARM system-on-chip on all iDevices, so they can avoid paying Intel's off-the-shelf prices.
It's possible that Apple's LG deal is only for MacBook, iMac, and Cinema Display LCDs. And now that LG is shipping Android phones, maybe LG is less willing to do deals with smartphone competitors like Apple. Same with Samsung, who now compete with Apple in the smartphone and pad computing markets (if you consider the Galaxy Tab to be a "competitor" and not just a "wannabe.")
Either way, the Toshiba deal is probably in place to lower Apple's per-unit cost on iDevice displays and to help protect Apple from shortages. Apple really doesn't want iPad 2 sales (and of course iPhone 5 sales) to be constrained because LG or Samsung decide to hold back for whatever reason. iPad has a nearly open field right now, and Apple is going to try to maintain that 95% pad computing market share. Every sale lost due to lack of capacity is an opportunity cost and an opening for Apple's would-be competition.
Agree.
With unions and lazy *****, "Made in USA" is not what it used to be. Beside, if the iPhone is manuafactured in the US, Apple would be very very constraint in supply due to lazy ***** and what not. Take a look at the US work force and Asia work force and you'll see the different.
Everybody seems to be missing a trick here, going on about production etc.
The fact is that 'most' electricial good are made in places like China etc because the components are manfactured there or in the surronding region's. Most western countries like the US, UK etc don't have the manufacturing plants capable of churning out the necessary parts.
Yes they are all cheaper and treat their workers badly but we as consumers can only hope that these tings get better and from what I read Apple does seem to be one of the 'customers' that are insisting on higher standards.
We all play a part on the cycle, the best way to complain about such things is to stop buying, but that's never going to happen in significent numbers.......is it.
The fact is that 'most' electricial good are made in places like China etc because the components are manfactured there or in the surronding region's. Most western countries like the US, UK etc don't have the manufacturing plants capable of churning out the necessary parts.
Yes they are all cheaper and treat their workers badly but we as consumers can only hope that these tings get better and from what I read Apple does seem to be one of the 'customers' that are insisting on higher standards.
We all play a part on the cycle, the best way to complain about such things is to stop buying, but that's never going to happen in significent numbers.......is it.
C'mon Steverino, $7-10/hour Apple Store jobs ain't much of an investment in the good ol' US of A. How about putting some folks to work here at a living wage?
Woohah Wilbur,
Cheap labor is not the only issue.
This is a capitalistic society and money does not like problems or it disappears, moving where there are none or less.
1)The shortsighted US politicians fail time and time again to cut the capital gains and corporation taxes. Why would somebody build a factory starting with an uncompetitive cost factor when they can start overseas with zero, for all we know with a plus and open arms from another country.
2) The consumer wants everything as cheap as possible, hence Walmart's success.
3) I do not know the level of simple jobs these productions require, but based on a study by the Cato institute there are not enough workers in the US of that education level, hence the many illegals taking these type jobs.
(Doesn't mean the illegals aren't educated, but they can't get anything else!
4) The US education system is not the best in the world, so I question that we'd get quality products with less defects than what we get now from overseas.
I could go on and on, but everything is about $$$$$$, until that goes away
(NEVER) the money will go where it can easiest multiply
They are. Heard of that new 150 acre campus they are building for the new headquarters or maybe the NC datacenter?
All this talk about building here vs there... cheap labor and Visio...
Guys... this is simple. Only so many companies make LCDs. Apple probably bid it out and Toshiba won... and now Toshiba has committed to making a big plant to support the projected demand. With Apple and others taking up so many resources for electronics, they have to pick their partners and go for it. This is not about building here or there.
Guys... this is simple. Only so many companies make LCDs. Apple probably bid it out and Toshiba won... and now Toshiba has committed to making a big plant to support the projected demand. With Apple and others taking up so many resources for electronics, they have to pick their partners and go for it. This is not about building here or there.
OLED is only for spec-nerds who live in dark basements, not for people who actually use the phone outside of dark confines.
Technically OLED is better then LCD in sunlight. However, OLED color quality is currently poor. Apple also uses top-of-the-line LCDs which are quite different from the run-of-the-mill sort. So that should be color-blind-spec-nerds not basement-spec-nerds.