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Giant Sucking Sound (3/4/99)
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Remember all that hubbub when Apple started laying off a bunch of workers at its manufacturing plants last month? The noise was particularly loud from Cork, Ireland, but there were plenty of pink slips in Elk Grove, as well. The reason for those layoffs was Apple's plan to outsource iMac production to a third party manufacturing company, presumably to cut costs and keep the iMac's price competitive. The company chosen to crank out the new iMacs was LG Electronics, more familiarly known to most of us as Goldstar. Apple wasn't talking a whole lot about the arrangement, but it seemed likely that iMacs formerly assembled in Elk Grove would instead be put together at LG's plant in Mexico. Sure enough, according to Apple Investors, that's exactly what's happening-- quickly, and quietly.
Apparently, Apple's managed to begin the transition to LG's plants with very little fanfare. iMacs assembled in Mexico are already appearing in the domestic retail channel; you can spot them by keeping an eye out for serial numbers beginning with "MX." (Their big-brother iMacs that were born in Elk Grove instead sport serial numbers starting with "XA" or "XB" instead.) Given that the impending layoffs were only news about five weeks ago, we must say, we're impressed with how smoothly the transition appears to be proceeding.
That's all well and good for the stockholders, provided that the only effect of the outsourcing is streamlined production and lower costs. It's far too early to get a sense of whether the shift of iMac production to LG's Mexico plant will have any effect on the computers' quality. We at AtAT sincerely hope that Apple hasn't lost sight of its increased focus on quality control, because a return to the days of, say, the 4400 and exploding PowerBooks really wouldn't benefit anybody, even though it'd give AtAT some pretty terrific story fodder. Cutting costs is one thing, but we'd hate to see iMacs that feel "cheap" (or, depending on your perspective, "cheaper").
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SceneLink (1382)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 3/4/99 episode: March 4, 1999: Lookee here, Apple's slashed PowerBook prices once again-- is this in preparation for 101? Meanwhile, the consumer side of the portable spectrum may get blown wide open when the P1 is announced on or about April 22nd, and Mexican iMacs have already made their way into the retail channel...
Other scenes from that episode: 1380: More Power, Less $ (3/4/99) Buying a PowerBook just got easier on your credit cards. Just as MacCentral reported, prices have been dropped on the PowerBook G3 Series, with configurations at the Apple Store starting at just $1999 for a 233 MHz version with 32 MB of RAM, a 2 GB hard drive, a 20x CD-ROM drive, built-in Ethernet and 56K modem, and that great 14.1-inch screen... 1381: All Good Things Come... (3/4/99) It's the return of everyone's favorite party game, "Guess the P1 Release Date!" See, the announcement of the iMac last May caught pretty much the whole world by surprise; until then, all we had were vague hints from Apple that a re-entry into the consumer market was coming, and a lot of varied speculation about the "Columbus" project (which turned out to be the iMac's motherboard)...
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