All News About Apple

Apple not so green, says Greenpeace

2006-12-10T10:10:00.000-05:00

Greenpeace's December 2006 'Green Guide to Electronics' ranks Apple 14th out of 14 tech companies, with a lowly 2.7 out of 10 rating. The report judges companies on their efforts to clean up their products by eliminating hazardous substances as well as takeback and recycle their products responsibly once they become obsolete.

After finishing third last in the August 2006 report, Apple slipped to last in December as other tech companies improved their game. In the latest report, Greenpeace is scathing in its assessment of Apple's approach to environmental issues.

"For a company that claims to lead on product design, it is perhaps surprising to find Apple at the bottom of the scorecard – moving down from 10th place. While other laggards have moved upwards in the Guide, Apple has made no changes to its policies or practices since the launch of the Guide in August 2006," the report says.

"The company scores badly on almost all criteria. Apple fails to embrace the precautionary principle, withholds its full list of regulated substances and provides no timelines for eliminating toxic polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and no commitment to phasing out all uses of brominated flame retardants (BFRs). Apple performs poorly on product take back and recycling, with the exception of reporting on the amounts of its electronic waste recycled."

At the other end of the scale Nokia ranked first, in part due to its support for Individual Producer Responsibility, meaning companies should take care of the electronic waste from its own discarded products. Dell ranked a close second and Motorola was most improved.

The report is the latest volley in the war of words between Apple and Greenpeace, with Greenpeace expelled from London MacExpo in October.

iTWire

Apple's reputation takes a knock!

2006-08-05T07:43:00.000-04:00

Traditionally seen as an innovative and unique company, Apple's reputation may be suffering as its sales figures rocket.

An opinion piece in the Independent talks about the company's then revolutionary focus on design in its computers, and then points out that as sales climb there has also been a rise in fault reports. It asks: "Is (Apple CEO) Steve Jobs' empire losing its cool?"

It's not an unfriendly report, it points out that Apple has become a powerful 21st century brand, but observes that faults, court cases and PR shocks have taken their toll on the company's reputation. And that the increasing number of Mac converts is changing the loyal nature of Apple's congregation.

It recounts a list of recent disasters for the company, including the recent Mail on Sunday report that explored working conditions at Apple's Chinese manufacturing partners. "Given all this, perhaps it is not surprising that a YouGov brand awareness survey index released last week revealed a clear fall in popularity for the Apple brand, with the index for quality falling the most," it states.

The company's actions against long-time Apple watchers, as evinced by its recent failed court action agains Apple Insider, Think Secret and PowerPage, also crop up in the report, which points to "an intense corporate paranoia" at the company that "leaves a sour taste in the mouth", the report adds.

The first part of the report concludes: "Just a few weeks ago, the company announced profits of $472m (about £250m), well ahead of forecasts. There is still talk of the "halo effect". But unless the firm's ethos is upgraded, its operations made more transparent and consumer friendly, its labour practices placed beyond reproach, could it be that Apple will become just another big business we all love to hate? Will the happy Mac icon lose its smile?"

A second opinion piece from the editor of Brand Republic points out that the company has a new audience now, an audience which "lacks the devotion" it has been used to so far.

"Apple has become ubiquitous, which has changed the brand beyond recognition, and, perhaps that's the real reason some of the shine has come off. It's just not as special as it was," the piece concludes.

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk

Apple and Coca-Cola team up

2006-08-03T09:05:00.000-04:00

LONDON — Apple is teaming up with Coca-Cola in Europe to give away about 70 million songs on its market-leading iTunes Music Store — more than a third of the total number of songs it has sold there to date.
The companies declined to disclose terms of the deal.
In just over two years, Apple has sold 200 million songs in Europe, with about 150 million coming in the last 12 months.
Previously, Apple had teamed up with Coke's rival PepsiCo for a giveaway of 100 million songs in the United States.
In Britain, Coke will distribute 70 million song codes inside packs of Coca-Cola and Diet Coke that can be redeemed for tracks at the iTunes store, where they usually sell for 79 pence ($1.47) each.
In Germany Coke will give away some 67,000 iTunes songs and 1,500 iPod portable music players, and other European promotions will follow in the coming months.
The Coke-Apple alliance comes weeks after Coke bowed out of the online music category by closing its mycokemusic service, one of the first European download stores when it launched in January 2004.
Since the launch of iTunes in Europe, the service's market share had slipped into insignificance.
"Mycokemusic.com was the first to the market, but we've decided that everybody is great at something," said Chris Burggraeve, Coca-Cola's director of marketing for the European Union. "Apple is undeniably the leader in this field."
Apple's dominance in the European download market has been challenged in recent months, with France passing a law that could force it to open its iTunes store to portable music players other than the iPod.
Three Nordic countries have also demanded that Apple open its platform to competitors.

http://www.foxnews.com

Apple defends iPod stance against Scandinavian rules

2006-08-03T09:02:00.000-04:00

Apple Computer Inc. has struck a defiant stance with Scandinavian regulators, defending its right to make its iPod the only portable music player compatible with songs bought from Apple's iTunes music store.

Norway's consumer agency yesterday released portions of Apple's 50-page response to their claims that Apple is violating contract and copyright laws in Scandinavia. The Norwegian regulators expressed disappointment with the limited concessions offered in the response. In Sweden, Bjorn Smith of the Swedish consumer society said that Apple had "given in to some demands but not to others." In June, consumer agencies in Norway, Sweden and Denmark said Apple's product usage restrictions go against Scandinavian laws.

http://lfpress.ca/