Apple could really be doomed if Tim Cook can’t fix its biggest iPhone problem

Microsoft
By Microsoft 4 Min Read
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Apple’s sales in China may be good, but that doesn’t mean the company’s entire situation in China is great.

It turns out there’s an advantage to working with a country that has an entire economic region dedicated to doing the things you want to do, and a disadvantage. Most of the disadvantages have to do with totalitarianism. Go figure.

When the Zhengzhou factory where most iPhones are made was hit by a Covid outbreak in October, Foxconn instituted an extreme blockade. Not as fun as extreme sports, this didn’t really appeal to the workers and many of them fled the factory. Because their arms apparently weren’t long enough to keep making iPhones while they weren’t at the factory, this presented a minor production glitch that continues until November, when workers rioted over bonuses Foxconn neglected to pay to due to a “technical error”.

You know how it happens when you lock up your workers and then forget to pay them, right? So embarrassing. It almost makes it seem like you don’t care about them at all and treat them like grist to the mill!

So, it’s not particularly surprising to see headlines like this:

“Apple explores moving some iPad production to India, sources say”

India is exploring options to bring some of Apple’s iPad production to the country from China, according to two sources close to the Indian government.

The Macalope hasn’t met every operational person in the world, so he can’t say for sure that Tim Cook is the smartest operational person there is, but he is certainly the most successful. However, people have been warning for years that relying so heavily on China could one day come back to bite Apple. But you could certainly see the company’s thinking.

“It’s a place practically made for us! Cheap, seasonal, well-trained labor, and all the various factories and support services next to each other! What could go wrong?!”

[pandemic]

Oh. Here’s what could go wrong.

From an immediate cost/benefit analysis, however, it always made more sense to continue building things in Zhengzhou. You need look no further than that piece above to understand why:

…sources warn that a lack of highly skilled talent and people with experience building highly complex devices like the iPad could slow those plans in India.

It’s easy to say, “Just get them somewhere else!” Try it. It’s extraordinarily easy. You can even do it in a funny voice.

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IDG

But just because your friend Todd has his own welder doesn’t mean Apple can move iPhone production to New Port Richey, Florida, even if the city has embarked a sewage system improvement project during the summer. And the Macalope won’t even mention Todd’s debilitating Funyuns addiction.

But he feels he is a “12 bags a day” man.

Damn. This is Not healthy.

Apple’s dependence on China is a problem for the company. It’s a problem for almost every technology company. Given that it’s a problem that “not even Tim Cook” has managed to solve to date, it’s highly unlikely to be as easy as setting up shop somewhere else. But you can’t solve the problem by continuing the addiction.

Right, Todd?

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