Why the instability problems from Apple Inc.?
Apart from the covert law enforcement purposes being employed by Apple Inc. where Apple owners are forced to bring in their unusually faulty computers for repairs (together with the original internal hard disk for inspection even though customers are not legally required to do so and there is virtually no technical explanation given to customers for having it), most design and manufacturing faults in the mid-1990s stem from the decision to let too many people have a share in the company and to outsource much of the construction of the computer with cheaper Asian computer manufacturers. As David Sobotta, a former Apple insider, said:
'...Apple executives had a theory that the route to success is not selling thousands of expensive things, but selling millions of very inexpensive things...' (Sobotta, David. iPod, iTunes, iPhone...I'm apples: The Sydney Morning Herald. 13-14 January 2007, p.19.)
Then between 2000 and 2003, Apple would continue to create manufacturing problems in roughly the same area as part of what is believed to be an unofficial policy of creating obsolescence in Apple products such as the PowerBook G3 Series "Wall Street" computer, G3 iBooks and the iPod.
What were the key decisions?
Here are the key changes for Apple:
- There were some poor decisions in the late 1980s which led to a dramatic change in focus initially from the owners of Apple Inc. who needed money to survive in the late 1970s, to the customer throughout much of the 1980s and early 1990s, and now to the shareholders and executives of Apple Inc. in the mid-1990s and beyond.
- There was a great consumer demand in the late 1980s for Apple computers and not enough computers were produced in a reasonable period of time;
- Apple Inc. was concerned about the level of software piracy possibly appearing on a number of customer's hard disks (1). Experts in the IT industry would also highlight this problem including a number of the major software manufacturers such as Adobe Systems, Inc. and Microsoft Corporation.
- Apple shareholders were, and still are, pressuring Apple Inc. to maximise profit from the sale of Apple products; and
- Apple directors in the United States after 1993 wanted to improve only one thing that really mattered at Apple Inc. — profit, or the "bottom line".
What are the consequences of this decision?
The poor decisions has led to serious problems for customers and later to Apple Inc. in other countries outside the US with international users not buying enough Apple products.
Among the negative consequences include outsourcing of much of the manufacturing process for the sake of maximising "profit" and "product quantity" at Apple Inc resulting in an increase in the risk of producing sub-standard Apple products. We call them poor quality control measures taking place at some Asian computer manufacturers.
Another unfortunate consequence has been the radical overhaul and new formatting of the latest MacOSX in the hope Apple could stamp out software piracy by forcing people to buy new software.
And yet another consequence involves the creation of Apple software that would require regular updating because of security problems, general instability (eg. removing support for G3 systems in favour of the latest G4 or G5 systems and hence making G3 computers more inherently unstable than usual such as what we see in MacOS9.2.2 compared to MacOS8.6 and MacOS9.1), and by placing limitations in popular Apple software which would force customers to either update or pay extra to reactivate the software (eg. disabling MPEG-2 plug-in after a certain date in Apple QuickTime 6.4 (2)).
This idea of regularly updating software to make them compatible with the latest OSX software or remove existing flaws (usually to be replaced by new flaws of a different nature in many cases) is suppose to be Apple's new policy of maximising profit for the company and its shareholders and to reduce what is presumably a serious software piracy problem.
How did it all begin?
In the early days, it was not unusual for Apple computers to be constructed under the one roof and within the United States. Here, many components were assembled by Apple workers and certain US companies who took pride in their work in making a good quality, long-lasting product for consumers. In that way, consumers may enjoy and feel confident in using their new product for a long time (in fact, you can still pick up the original well-constructed Apple Mac SE computer built in 1986 or the original Apple 128K of 1984 in good working order!). Even if certain components needed to make an Apple computer could not be produced by Apple direct, at least Apple would source these components from quality third party hardware manufacturers (usually within the US) and have it assembled with good quality control measures in mind.
But as Apple soon discovered in the early 1990s with this "quality" approach, they had trouble supplying enough computers to meet worldwide consumer demand. Also the Apple directors were getting information suggesting the software piracy problem was allegedly rife on their computers and this made it harder to sell them to the corporate and business sector.
Then, in the mid-1990s, Apple directors (and eventually the shareholders) saw the attraction of constructing Apple computers cheaply and in mass by outsourcing the work to low-cost computer manufacturers in Taiwan (and later Japan and Mexico) while still trying to sell the products at the same high price.
From a purely business-point-of-view, outsourcing made perfect sense. By outsourcing the computer manufacturing process, more Apple computers could be built at a lower cost and within a certain time frame. And by selling the computers at the same high price that consumers were seemingly prepared to pay, the future for Apple looked bright according to the directors.
And how would Apple customers return the computers for inspection together with the internal hard disk to prove the software piracy problem was rife? It is possible Apple could have made a decision at this time to allow certain manufacturing or design faults to be present in the machines.
But what Apple didn't realise until it was too late was that its "bottom-line" began to suffer greatly after November 1996 when large numbers of consumers started complaining of poor quality construction and materials in their Apple products such as the Apple PowerBook 5300 and 190 computers despite the high price paid for these products (eg. A$6,200 for the mid-range Apple PowerBook 5300cs computer). Soon, Apple Inc. were inundated with complaints and soon had to implement a repair program for all PowerBook 5300 and 190 users.
Despite the financial difficulties (which would change later in 1998 to selling a few demonstration models to selected customers instead), the plan to inspect the hard disks of users did work phenomenally well with a number of head offices of Apple Inc. internationally (including Australia) successfully asking users not to password protect the hard disk and files when handing in their PowerBook 5300 or 190 computers during the repair program. This permitted the company to make its own secret assessment of users as to the level of software piracy existent on Apple computers at this time.
Apple Inc. did change their tune a little with the release of the much better constructed Apple PowerBook 1400 computers (although Apple has never given PowerBook 5300 users the option to have it replaced with a PowerBook 1400 computer even after writing letters to the Head Office for a refund or a replacement), probably because Apple realised it was time to get themselves out of financial strife and to win the trust of the public once more. Unfortunately, while Apple computers continue to be manufactured relatively cheaply by people outside Apple Inc. in the United States and there is paranoia as to the extent of the piracy problem as well as finding a way to get consumers to continually buy more Apple products, there will always be a risk that computers may still have inherent design fault(s) which could ultimately lose long-time loyal Apple customers. (3)
And in fact the faults have continued to this day under the auspices eyes of the latest Apple boss named Mr Steve Jobs. The faults would continue initially with the "demonstration model" version of the Apple PowerBook G3 Series "Wall Street" (Revision 1) computer where Apple Inc. would keep quiet while allowing certain Apple resellers to sell the dud machines to unsuspecting members of the public. Later this would expand to include various models within an Apple computer series (eg. the G3 iBook) as part of a new secret Apple policy among the directors of "obsolescence" and attracting people to the "extended AppleCare program" and the newer "G4 and G5 computers".
And all this since the new Apple boss Steve Jobs came to power.
What is happening in 2001?
Now 2001 has come and gone, and it would appear as if Apple Inc. has tried to address not only some of the quality control issues of things like the original Apple PowerBook G3 Series "Wall Street" (Revision 1) and the PowerBook 5300 computers in areas like the AC power plug to socket connection, but also the high price of Apple computers in general with the release of the new G3 iBooks. And yes, the quality construction part of the latest computer will certainly be tested as the current range of Apple computer products gets a good working over by a wide range of consumers over the coming years.
What is happening in 2003?
However, Apple computers are once again coming in for serious criticism by users since early 2002. The inundation of complaints are from G3 iBook users worldwide this time. And users are complaining of logic board failures and problems with the design of the screen hinges and/or the cables associated with them. For a fascinating glimpse into these latest manufacturing problems of the G3 iBook, click here.
The problems have continued to plague the G3 iBooks introduced after October 2001 until October 2003 when Apple decided to build a better iBook using the newer G4 microprocessor. But not without making a number of different models within the iBook series during this period of time, each having remarkably identical manufacturing and design problems.
Could this be Apple's way of saying to its customers it is time to upgrade to G4/G5 computers and have the latest MacOSX? Was it yet another manufacturing mistake (all identical and within at least four different models within the G3 iBook series and it is not as if consumers weren't complaining either since early 2002)? Or could there be another reason?
The problem of the screen hinges keeps repeating itself...
Notice how one of the problems of the iBook involves the screen hinges (this time how sharp they are and how the display cables can get damaged easily by rubbing against the hinges as the user raises and lowers the display in a normal manner).
This screen hinge problem in general is certainly not new to Apple. It has been no less than 5 years since the first signs of the screen hinge problem appeared in the "Wall Street" computer (and perhaps in earlier models) and Apple still can't get it right to this very day. At first one could have explained the screen hinge problem as possibly due to an unfortunate hiccup in Apple quality control. Although Apple's decision later not to permanently repair the problem in the "Wall Street" could have been seen as somewhat mean-spirited. Now, it is December 2003, and the same problem (or around the same area) keeps repeating itself.
Why?
Surely this cannot be a quality control problem if Apple Inc. is suppose to be learning from its mistakes.
Confessions of an anonymous Apple technician
Now for the first time we have an interesting clue as to what is probably going on at Apple Inc. thanks to the quote published on 29 December 2003 from an anonymous Apple technician going by the name of Jonsaw with allegedly many years of experience. The quote appeared at MacFixIt.com:
'I've been repairing Macs since the beginning of 1985. I was one of the first (and maybe the first) person to fix a Mac (a 128K) outside of Apple, just as it came out of its one year warranty. I've fixed various problems with all Mac models since then, which has allowed me to get a good look inside all these models, and to see what parts break most often. I can assure anyone that Apple, like many other manufacturers, though they design many aspects of their products fabulously, seems to deliberately design, construct, and specify certain parts of certain Mac models, especially
Powerbooks, iBooks, and iMacs, to fail. Most desktop Macs tend to be more sturdy, but not enough in my opinion.
'As many other people have found, one primary example are Powerbook hinges. Though Apple seems to have finally gotten hinges mostly right (with exceptions like the iBook wire problem...), it took them about 10 or 11 years to do so — even the first
generations of the Powerbook G4 [introduced in 2003] have hinge mechanics that are unforgivably badly designed (if the hinge doesn't break, the parts they're attached to [do] break). It didn't take them 10 or 11 years to figure out what they were doing wrong — a kid could have taken one look at these designs on the drawing board and told them: critical stress-bearing parts made too thin, and/or out of easily breakable materials, and/or with sharp right angles where stress could gain a foothold and crack, etc. Each new model Apple designed, had either the same problems, or new problems just as easy to see from the start. Designing a new model gives a manufacturer the opportunity to fix the previous model's problems, but Apple continued to make lousy hinges and a few other weak parts. It shows that Apple, though capable of learning from its mistakes, deliberately didn't put what they learned about hinges into practice for many years....
'...It's basically the weird notion of planned obsolesence, which is common among other manufacturers too, which they use to justify such decisions — the idea that it's the manufacturers' business to say how long their products should be in use before they're replaced with a newer model, and so they specify parts that will last only that long or maybe a year or two longer. It's an old story. It's done in various way that can be hidden, and justified in various ways if the question of a lawsuit comes up. One way a company cleverly (or so they think) hides such practices, is to put weak parts into those areas that will be stressed the most, and when the parts break, they can say it's because that area gets stressed, instead of admitting that there's anything wrong with the design or the part's quality.
'If Apple wants to sue me for slander, go right ahead. I and plenty of other people have enough proof to make whoever makes these decisions at Apple look like a fool. It's too bad, considering how good a job they do in so many other ways.'
So far from the innocent issue of the odd mistake or two during the manufacturing and design process or a problem of outsourcing too cheaply to Asian manufacturers, there is now a possibility that Apple Inc. could be deliberately putting in obsolescence into their products in order to force consumers to buy more Apple products.
And when the fault-riddled Apple computers are forceably returned for repairs, Apple resellers will want to make sure the consumers supply their original internal hard disk claiming they are legally and technically entitled to have it and will not do the repairs "without all of the components intact". In the meantime, Apple Inc. will not say anything specifically about their policy regarding the internal hard disk. Instead, Apple would say, "the Apple reseller can make up any policy it likes and therefore can ask for anything."
That's a pretty serious allegation indeed. Can it be confirmed? Could a government body have the authority to inspect Apple Inc.'s documents to see whether this is true?
## SPECIAL UPDATE ##
January 2004
The latest news from Apple Inc. suggests the company wants to keep quiet on the above issues and instead emphasise how great the customer service and repairs are from Apple when you buy an Apple product and take out the extended AppleCare 3-year warranty at an additional cost. Just so long as you provide the entire Apple product to Apple, they will quickly replace or repair anything needed to get it working again (until the next time) and have it returned within a reasonable period of time (either 3 days or a week). But God help you if your Apple product is not covered by the warranty! Talk of high-prices for repairs and replacement parts (equivalent to buying a new or second-hand computer) and long-waiting times is now becoming the norm for other Apple users in many countries given the number of problems emerging on Apple products.
What can I do to get a quality Apple computer?
If you have already bought an Apple computer (why?) and suspect it might be riddled with manufacturing and design faults courtesy of Apple Inc., there is not a great deal you can do except:
- regularly purchase the extended 3-year AppleCare warranty;
- sell the Apple computer and buy something else; or
- sign numerous petitions and establish a class action against Apple Inc. to force the company to get its act together.
As for those consumers fortunate enough not to have purchased an Apple computer (lucky buggers!), there is one lesson we can learn from all of this. Never buy the latest and greatest computer (especially the so-called "demonstration models" no matter how good the price might seem to you or how trustworthy the Apple reseller might be) from an innovative computer manufacturer, even if the brand name is Apple, until the computer has been properly tested in the real world and consumers are satisfied with its quality.
Talk to professional computer users, read both PC and Mac computer magazines to learn of the testing conducted by people outside of Apple on these new computers, and do other things you consider necessary to help you determine precisely the best computer product for your needs.
Apple still selling "demonstration models" to consumers
As of December 2001, Apple Inc. and some of their participating Apple resellers are still very eager to sell to trendy young consumers those so-called "demonstration models", including the titanium Apple PowerBook G4 computer. Well, please don't!
We recommend that you should avoid these "demonstration model" and "early official release" machines at all costs, even if it might seem like a great bargain because it is a little cheaper than a brand new model or it simply looks very pretty. You would be better off paying a little extra and hold off for a while to get a properly made "new" PowerBook from Apple rather than dealing with all the potential manufacturing faults later. In fact, Apple will have to sell a good "new" machine for fear of not experiencing another one of those periods of financial hardship following the consumer backlash in 1996/97 over the Apple PowerBook 5300 computers (and perhaps again in 2004 following the debarcle with the G3 iBooks).
The need for profit is now the bottomline
In case you didn't know it by now, Apple Inc. has clearly taken the road of maximising profit across various fronts.
Over the past few years, Apple have made the decision to sell a multitude of different (and/or quickly changing specs) Macintosh computers to the education, consumer and professional/corporate market; offering what appeared to be a free email service (eg. yourname@mac.com) to anyone who purchased a new Macintosh and then suddenly ask them four years later to pay for a $99 per year subscription to the service (4); and buying up smaller companies and then forcing the PC client base to either move to the Mac platform, or dump their investment in the products purchased from those companies.
For example, Apple has acquired Emagic GmbH, the company that produced the widely-used and popular professional music production software known as Logic Audio. The flagship software from Emagic is now being ported to the Macintosh environment and Apple is not hinting at providing support or further developments to the PC version of the software in the forseeable future, leaving many PC clients in the dark over the future of their investment.
In fact, Apple has clearly asked PC users of the software to either sign up for Apple's 'migration plan' to the Mac platform by 30 September 2002 if they wish to continue using the software, or go elsewhere. It is no wonder a majority of the massive 35 per cent of the total client base for the software are expressing their anger at Apple Inc.
In the meantime, Apple Inc. has spent another US$21 million in cash charges related to the acquisition of three more companies: Prismo Graphics, a motion graphics developer; Silicon Grail, the cinema compositing software developer with software titles like RAYZ and Chalice; and Zayante, Inc., a manufacturer of FireWire hardware, in the hope of stimulating further FireWire support from third party manufacturers. (5)
Welcome to the world of business in the 21st century where nothing is free and what you've paid for now may not get supported or enhanced in the future, or instead be thrown away because of quality control problems (well, it is a throw away society isn't it?).
Or if there is better quality control measures, support and development, be prepared to pay a whole lot more for the privilege!
Apple Inc. is being careful in how they sell "demonstration models"
As of May 2003, Apple Inc. appears to be choosing a more subtle way in how they deliver "demonstration model" Apple PowerBooks to customers. The latest rumour is that Apple Inc. (eg. in Australia) can deliberately force customers to wait for their new Apple computers claiming the machines have not arrived. Therefore, Apple Inc. will simply ask customers to leave their name, phone number and street address with a local Apple Reseller or with Apple directly.
Then, Apple Inc. can deliver a "demonstration model" version to selected customers where they will have to bring it back for repairs (including the original hard disk).
Under no circumstances should you do this. You are better off either getting your hands on the more readily available, better tested, brand new previous Apple model version at a good price (in an unopened box), or wait until the latest models are in sufficient quantities in your country and to give enough time for any problems to be ironed out.
I need more help
No problem at all! The technique customers should follow if they wish to buy a better quality Apple computer in today's profit-driven market is:
- You should wait until the model in a particular series (eg. the iBook series or the titanium PowerBook G4 series) has had many years of improvements. Never buy the first, second, or even the third model in an Apple computer series because you are almost certainly guaranteed to have a few manufacturing faults (certainly a lot less than the "demonstration models"). If necessary, wait until Apple introduces a complete new series of computers and choose the latest "non-demonstration" model computer from the previous series (eg. the 1GHz titanium PowerBook G4 as opposed to getting the latest aluminium PowerBook G4).
- When you have decided on an Apple product you would like to purchase, visit an Apple reseller you have never visited before and have the money at hand ready to purchase an Apple product if you decide this is right for you. This guarantees there is no possibility of bias from the sales representatives when selling an Apple product to you (eg. demonstration models etc).
- See the latest Apple computers in operation (there should be an area for demonstrating all Apple products). And make sure the Apple resellers have enough of the Apple products you might be interested in available for purchase in complete, unopened boxes nearby. That is, you must be able to see the unopened products immediately upon entering the store. If not, go elsewhere.
Better still, contact the Apple resellers by telephone to see if this is a normal part of selling before visiting them.
- If you are happy with the Apple product, ask to buy a complete and unopened version of the product still in its original packaging from the Apple reseller on-the-spot. This guarantees you will never get a "non-demonstration" model product from Apple Inc.
NOTE: Once you pay for it (use your credit card as this gives you greater protection), check the computer in the store by opening it up and turning it on especially for laptops. Look at the screen and see whether there are signs of damage or poor manufacturing (eg. blown pixels). Make sure the display hinges are firm and solid by moving the lid up and down several times. Can you easily get to the desktop on start-up with the machine you've got? If you are not happy with the machine, ask for a replacement or get a full refund.
If you see any evidence of the reseller not able to deliver straight away what you want, or if the reseller wants to sell you a demonstration version at a slightly cheaper cost, or the reseller has already opened up the packaging for a brand new Apple product and still wants to sell it to you, or the reseller wants to go to the back of the store where you can't see and get the product when the product is clearly in front of you in unopened boxes, do not buy it no matter how cheaply the reseller will try to sell it to you (if you've bought it, get a full refund as you are entitled under the Sale of Goods Act in most countries or use your credit card provider to force the store manager to do the right thing under the law). And if the Apple reseller can't sell the Apple computer brand new on-the-spot from the unopened box you can see, don't leave your name, phone number and other personal details with the reseller and then wait for the machine to arrive, go elsewhere.
And finally, if you are not sure of the genuine and brand new status of any Apple computer sold by an Apple reseller, go for a quality PC computer sold by IBM, Dell or other PC manufacturer that offer quite happily a warranty period exceeding 12 months (go for the 3-year warranty already included in the price of virtually all good quality PC computers).
Or better still, buy an "ex-education" second-hand Apple computer. Any Apple computer sold to schools has to be built to an acceptable standard for at least 3 years if Apple Inc. is to maintain a good reputation in the education market and hence receive a good profit because this is where Apple Inc. makes most of its money. Otherwise Apple Inc. would be out-of-business by now and no one would buy Apple products.
## SPECIAL UPDATE ##
December 2003
Reports are coming in of the poor quality screens used in the G4 eMacs purchased by numerous schools in the UK. If these reports are confirmed, you may wish to consider a PC instead. If that is not feasible for you, try the previous model titanium PowerBook G4 as they appear to be well constructed (only the power transformer is said to have a problem).
We understand Apple has decided to discontinue this model in September 2003 (why?). So check the second-hand market instead.
If ex-education Apple computers interest you the most, remember to go and see the condition of the machines in an up close and personal approach. If it is in very good to excellent condition despite no less than four years of use by students and there has been no history of service or repairs, you can be assured of a quality second-hand Apple computer.
Is Apple changing its tune towards its customers?
As of 29 January 2004, Apple Inc. would appear to be changing its tune by way of delivering better quality customer service for its Apple users and in making sure updates provided by the company have few (if any) problems during the update process as well as resolve existing problems while not having to create new ones for the users.
The first sign came on 26 January 2004 when Apple has quietly provided a quality Security Update 2004-1-26 for the latest OSX Panther (the update allegedly works for Jaguar as well) version 10.3. Hardly any problems with this one according to users. This has to be the first time in more than 18 month that users have not had a major problem with an Apple update for OSX! (6)
Earlier Security Updates from Apple were known to resolve some issues and usually create new problems for users such as the Security Update 12-09-2003. Such updates were often avoided unless users had no choice if they wanted to achieve something important with OSX.
Then on 29 January 2004, Apple has acknowledged the existence of the titanium PowerBook G4 screen resolution switching problem of users who upgraded to OSX version 10.3 known as "Panther". Acknowledgement is considered in the IT industry as the first crucial step towards resolving a problem experienced by users (although it would probably have to be a reasonable number of users for Apple to act).
Why the sudden change of heart by a company that has been notoriously treating its customers badly after a Macintosh product is purchased (especially after the warranty period)? It is hard to tell at the moment. Perhaps Apple has noticed a marked rise in the number of complaints and class actions against the company. So maybe Apple is being careful this time to make sure people don't notice too many annoying features in OSX and what it is doing to the hardware of older Macintosh models as well as some of Apple's own proprietary applications in case the company is found to be deliberately putting in some form of obsolescence into their products.
Again we stress the point that people should decide whether a Macintosh computer is what you need. And if so, wait until System 11 becomes available and then buy the highest OSX version possible if you have to stick with Macintosh products. Or stick with the best Jaguar version possible for greater compatibility with slightly older Macintosh machines.
## SPECIAL UPDATE ##
Well, guess what? We thought it was too good to be true. But somehow the Security Update for 26 January 2004 is not quite perfect. Apparently the update causes some users of G4 computers to do a force restart at the login window stage because OSX is thinking too hard (ie. the infamous rotating rainbow cursor) for an indeterminately long period of time. Some users claim it can happen about 50 per cent of all start-ups with a Macintosh G4 computer.
We hope this isn't another one of Apple's well-known quality control problems and perhaps forgetting to include critical subroutines to support the G4 systems now that G5 systems are out in the marketplace. However, with stories from MacFixIt users of the 'Panther' update getting slower and slower to startup after updating from version 10.3 up to 10.3.3 and the Security Update itself is suggesting the updated OS is being selective on the right type of RAM card to install on the latest Macintosh computers (perhaps Apple wants users to buy their own brand of RAM cards), perhaps there is another reason?
Let's us ignore the conspiracy theory for now.
So what's the solution? A MacFixIt reader has suggested booting into OS9 and deleting the com.apple.loginwindow.plist file in the Preferences folder of the Library folder.
For all those users who cannot boot into OS9 much thanks must go to Apple for ensuring their latest computers are unable to run in pure OS9 mode. It looks like you're in trouble! You will have to hope you can find a way to login in properly and somehow delete or modify the above file under pure OSX. Maybe this is Apple's way of finding out how well people can solve the problem when running under pure OSX and how many are still using OS9.
NOTE: There is a way under OSX. Try Going into System Preferences, Accounts and Login options. Enable fast user switching, restart the machine, and the login window should work properly. Disable fast user switching after doing this.
Apple Inc. is focusing on outer appearance and good design
Another future trend from Apple Inc. is the company's obsession on good outer appearance of its computers at the expense of good quality internal parts, longevity, and lower computer prices. As the latest Macintosh computers get hotter and cheaper components are added internally (eg. Class 1 modems), more and more people are being forced to pay the high price for Apple computers and for extended 2-year Apple Care warranty to fix up problems internally after the initial 12 months of use.
Then, after 3 to 4 years, the computers are likely to suffer catastropic failure as the electronics and microprocessor gets cooked under regular use.
The latest rumour to support this focus on good outer appearance has come after the US Patent Office has approved the patent for the inventors Duncan Kerr and Steve Hotelling for a new computer body able to radiate different colours of light from inside its housing. And guess whose been listed as the assignee on the patent? That's right, Apple!
It appears Apple will sell us high-priced futuristic light-emitting computer boxes with no significant improvement in performance or quality of the internal parts. Naturally this has angered some Mac users. As one user, Robert King, said:
'Apple needs to put more money into the quality and performance of their computers and lower the price.' (7)
Apple Inc. may be getting the message about producing quality products
Much of the problems in the latest Core Duo MacBook, MacBook Pro, and iMac could be resolved as of early 2007. Does this mean Apple has learned from the past?
Customers should continue to be sceptical of first revision models as they come out. Always wait until all problems are resolved before ever considering a purchase of any Apple product.
The latest iPhone is no exception.
