With all the debate on the cost of the iPhone, I thought I’d wave the flag a little bit and point out what that money does for Apple and us. Jobs may stuff a healthy amount in his pockets, but a lot of it goes to support the largest corporate electronic design team around. How else could you create somthing like the iPhone without waiting for someone else to do it and stealing the idea? Do you like giving your money to offshore providers when a better domestic product is available? Not only that, those engineers are part of the larger team of people that make up Apple, all paying taxes and supporting services in their community.
Lists are wildly popular throughout the publishing world. Take the Fortune 500, which is highly influential in business. Others have a real impact on our daily lives—Money‘s Best Places to Live, U.S. News‘ Best Colleges list, and Consumer Reports‘ Best Cars list.
But what kind of list would hold import in engineering? How about the Top 100 Employers of Electronic Designers? After collecting reams of relevant data, we weighed various factors to determine the companies that have the most influence on today’s engineering careers.
Of course, we’re well aware that many of you work for startups and independent design houses that may be the source of the next big thing. We’re also aware that the current state of design requires partnering, outsourcing, and boutique intellectual property.
Nonetheless, the Top 100 Employers continue to lead the way based on their established brands and sales channels, patent and IP portfolios, and substantial R&D budgets.
The top three are Apple, Seagate, and Applied Materials. I wish them, the other 97, and all American electronic developers the greatest ongoing success, we need all of you guys and gals. So the next time you see an iPhone remember it’s not all profit.
Back in the day, I spent a few decades in marketing and sales in a trade that made the transition from national products, e.g., made in the U.S. for the U.S. market, made in the U.K. for the U.K. market – to products made in a couple of Western nations, e.g., selling products made in UK, France and the U.S. into the U.S. market. At the time, each national firm did their own designs.
When we made the move to bring in product from Japan – and discovered the Japanese did a better job at quality control than we did – product boomed, market expanded, and the Brits and French and Americans began to fall back, unwilling and unable to change.
Somewhere during the addition of Taiwan and, then China, it became “easier” to agree with our Japanese vendors on style and design – and, then, pass that process along to Taiwan and China. And the U.S. firms I represented became holding companies, importers and distributors only.
This course isn’t graven in stone for all industries; but, it’s “easy”. It’s especially easy for beancounters and investors who, after all, look at money as their essential commodity. How much do you put in? How much do you take back out? They could care less about what is designed or built by whom.
Alix – you’ve made a terrific point.
I was thrown by the beginning of your post, referencing debate. Can you show me some good “debate” on the device?
I’ve only seen people bitch about the device, but not be able to back up their bullshit with proof. I’m not saying the device is Jesus, but debate indicates two sides with weight.
That doesn’t exist in the iPhone “debate”.
Alix, you are a breath of fresh air. Apple employs almost 18,000 full time employees.
#0 – Alix
“How else could you create somthing like the iPhone without waiting for someone else to do it and stealing the idea?”
Oh, you mean like M$?
“Jobs may stuff a healthy amount in his pockets…”
Time to time in conversing with a Microsheeple, the subject of the founders’ relative fortunes comes up, and all too often I have to hear about how much smarter Gates is than Jobs, because he has so much more money. That’s when I ask, “Is there something Bill can afford to buy that Steve can’t?” Never a coherent answer, just like when I say, “Bill must be X times happier than Steve, because he has X times as much money, right?”
There’s a bright line dividing the corporate philosophy of Apple from that of you-know-who, and, as your statements would support, it’s a more patriotic one to boot.
design is one thing…
Manufacturing is another.
Many companies DESIGN in the USA, to be shipped out to be MADE in other countries. Look at the auto industry…
IF this country WANTS to be a world nation…Then we must DEAL as a world nation. They keep telling us that our Gas/fuel is a reflection of world prices…Then give us world prices on other goods.
Dump all the import taxes and sell those Japanese phone in the USA that cost
5,
I’d love to bring manufacturing back but the first step is to keep design here.
If design was in India, and manufacturing in the US, then all of our products would have an elephant carved in it.
I was taken aback by the animosity shown toward the iPhone by so many people. They were almost hoping that it would be full of bugs and failures. I think this all goes back to the original Apple adopters. They had sort of an elitist attitude that alienated other computer geeks. It’s all really very silly IMHO. The more new interesting electronic devices, the better.
Because someone might really know- – – – why did Apple design a battery driven device without making the batteries consumer replaceable?
They must have thought about it?
While Jobs surely drives the engineering profile of Apple and should be given credit, we should cry for America that Post #1describes the market that we are all in.
9. Because battery replacement happens to be a profit center for Apple.
10,
ALMOST..
There are intersting things about Li/ion batteries…
1, there are fake one on the market, that EXPLODE.
2. Current capacity…Some one will install a LARGER battery in it, and try to shut the cover…
3. Modifications…They dont WANT YOU TO.
4. WRONG type of batteries…Wrong voltage, and so forth…
10–Well, thats what I suspect. With all that engineering prowess, makes the IPhone a beautiful thing of technology with a turd in the middle.
I have seen several reviews mention the non replaceable battery, but it is always glossed over. How many product failures would there have to be before such products would be designed correctly?
With that in mind, how patriotic or pro-USA engineers is Jobs? Or is it moreso just his assessment as the best way for Apple to succeed in the marketplace. Nothing wrong with that, its free market competition. I won’t buy any product without replaceable batteries.
Good Job, Jobs.
11—Publish the specs on the unit and after that it is user risk. We don’t need Jobs or Big Brother protecting us by picking our wallets. Is the cmos battery in Apple desktop computers replaceable?
#13
Not unless you want Apple’s army of corporate lawyers attacking you.
Angel – you really should tuck that metaphoric hard-on for Jobs and Apple over your shoulder once in a while – some of the beginners, here, might think you know what you’re talking about.
Any number of sources for that replaceable CMOS battery. Or was there a problem 20 years ago that still hangs you up?
9, 12,
The reason the battery is mounted to the circuit board is because you can’t make a phone as small and thin as the iPhone as crammed with functionality with a replaceable battery.
A replaceable battery means two sets of connectors, a secondary battery housing, and a replaceable door with some kind of latching mechanism. And it still has to be reliable.
All of these things take valuable millimeters to satisfy and add complexity to the manufacture and bill-of-materials of the product. So those that keep complaining about the battery actually don’t know very much about electronic device design and manufacture at all.
#15
Understood.
For the beginners, every time a website posts a hands on turorial on how tos service your precious Mac, they get a Cease and Desist letter from Apple’s lawyers.
The same applies to website posting manufacturing defects on their precious products.
#17 Have you ever heard of ifixit.com. Do some research before you post .
The iPhone concept, or that of having a touch sensitive screen and all-encompassing features is not new, nor is it exclusive. Given that the iPod is a huge hit and has raised Apple’s brand status, is it surprising the Jobs wants to take one another industry (namely the cellular industry)?
I think your article was meant to be sarcastic, but it’s really droll and fails.
Look at the Verizon Chocolate phone. For all that hype only users of Windoze [sic] XP (aka Extra Problems) can use the music software you have to pay extra for. The last time I checked, iTunes was free.
That Apple has taken phones to the next level (i.e. to market) and Bill Gates & Company haven’t says something about just how ‘advanced’ Microsoft is.
As for Angel Wong’s comments, you couldn’t be further off base. I know of at least 3 or 4 sites with fantastic repair information about iBooks. So much so, I saved hundreds replacing the hard drive myself on the iBook I’m using to type my comment.
Where’s the blog about the XBox recall?
You obviously haven’t read my comments or know my history. I mean every word of this post. You and others point and mock yet your words ring hollow in the face of success. I know people who to this day can tell you chapter and verse on why the iPod sucks and eventually “fail” in the marketplace..
Not to mention the user interface on the Chocolate and many other “smartphones” blows. The iPhone will succeed for the same reasons that the iPod did, by providing a useful device that performs the tasks required by the user well.
16. Smartalix- there are not 2 sets of connectors, we arent talking about a spare battery, we are talking about the main battery. Its one set. Apple did the same thing with the iPod, there is no valid reason you should not be able to replace the battery. I own a Sansa e280, I can pull 4 screws and replace the battery for $17.00. Why Alix, if Sansa could design a replaceable battery on an 8Gb MP3 player, Apple could not, on any of their players?
#21, Seriously, I’ve been a cell phone user for about 10 years now, laptop owner for fifteen, I’ve owned three iPods. Given the nature of my job, I travel a lot, and use my devices most of the time running on batteries. I have never been in the need to replace ANY of the manufacturer supplied batteries. What’s with all the non-removable batteries complaints anyway?
Sorry, I just don’t get it.
I don’t get the battery thing either. I have several gizmos and have yet to replace a battery. I must be one of the few lucky ones. BTW, I’m sending this from my iPhone.
23–I’m the one complaining. 21 has just added that it is possible to make any unit with batteries be replaceable whereas 16, an expert in the field, says it is difficult or expensive to make batteries replaceable.
((My post #22 is ambiguos as I was asking #16 to answer my post and/or the post at #21))
Anyway, my experience is different than yours. I have owned “lifetime batteries” on an electronic scale, two phones, and a power tester==all went bad. By the time I pay for shipping, might as well just buy a new one. Had a camera with proprietary replaceable batteries that only the mfg’or sold. Again, cheaper to buy a new camera.
So, in my view, any product with a battery should be made replaceable. Otherwise the “planned obselescence” is demonstrable and to be avoided.–IE–it is a purposeful bad design.
Now, purposeful bad design is funny coming from someone given accolades for having the top rated design staff in GOUSA- – – don’t you think?
The battery issue on the iPhone is just one of those things Jobs…
Like not having expansion on the original Mac…Mister “minimalist design” Steve likes it that way.
But there’s an objective answer too…After two years when it starts getting cranky you just buy another mo’ better iPhone.
Look at what happened to iPod users. They often have two or three lying around…
Apple business model is heavily slanted towards fidelization. All the marketing is heavily intended to reinforce the Apple user.
They lure you with a desirable product (ie. iPod, iMac, iPhone) Then force you to use their products with Apple software (ie, iTunes,OSX, Safari) and in the process indoctrinate you bit by bit. You start going to their web page, look at the TV ads (that are much much more effective on reinforcement than marketing). And then you’re hooked…
#26 – JoaoPT
Joao, you’re more subtle with it, but it’s still apparent that you share Angel’s and pedro’s anti-Apple prejudice. You differ only in degree.
Uttering nonsense proves what, exactly?
“Apple business model is heavily slanted towards fidelization. All the marketing is heavily intended to reinforce the Apple user.”
Well, I can personally attest that after 25 years of using Apples, I am no more like to wear fatigues, smoke cigars or rule Caribbean island nations than anyone else, nor have I noticed these traits in any other Apple users. 🙂
OK, joking aside, generating customer loyalty is excellent business practice, and one that Apple’s competitors envy, and for good reason. When what you sell lacks distinction and is regarded as a commodity, your customers will defect from your brand with little provocation.
Apple users are not fools. They are not sheeple blinded by gee-whiz, superficial window dressing; the products themselves inspire loyalty by delivering a superior user experience. Make all the fun of iPods you want, but they are clearly the most desired music players around, just as the iPhone is the most desired cellphone since the tech was invented. Why? Because they do what they do better, and they do it with a distinctive style. Style AND substance, form AND function, unlike their ‘me-too’ risk-averse competition.
So despite your subtle implication that there is something wrong with inspiring customer loyalty, it’s a sound business practice which is only gained by delivering product functionality and performance in products that the user enjoys and takes pride in.
“They lure you with a desirable product…” Why those dirty bastards; what nerve, making things people want!
So your first point, intended as criticism, winds up being unintentional praise.
Then you proceed to actual falsehoods.
“Then force you to use their products with Apple software (ie, iTunes,OSX, Safari)”
OK, time to call ‘Bullshit!’ 100%, completely, totally false.
Forced to use iTunes? Not hardly. There’s no shortage of players for Mac, just as there is for Windows. The thing is that tTunes – and the iPod – would never have taken off if they weren’t easy to use and did what they’re supposed to, reliably and enjoyably. But no one is forced to use it, unless they want the full integrated iTunes / iPod expreience, and millions upon millions do, and they’re quite happy.
“Forced” to use OS X??? Again, bullshit. OS X, Linux or Windows – as opposed to PeeCees, which force you to give up the choice of using OS X… The Mac gives MORE OS choices than any other platform, so how you can say “force you to use OS X” with a straight face is beyond me.
“Forced” to use Safari??? Lemme see, I look in my Internet apps directory and I find Camino, FireFox, Mozilla, Opera and Safari. I guess those others are figments of my imagination, right? Ya. Riiiiiight.
Joao, boiled down to it’s essence, your post there implies that Apple is somehow evil and insidious for building stuff people want and enjoy using, which in turn inspires loyalty.
It works for the customers, who are far and away the most satisfied and loyal in the PC, music player and cellphone segments – and it works for the company, as iPhone, iPod and Mac sales continue to grow in sales every month, constantly exceeding analyst’s predictions. And the iPod and iPhone will continue to lure users away from the OS that everyone bitches about, the one that doesn’t deliver satisfaction or inspire loyalty.
Terrible, just terrible. There oughta be a law. How dare a corporation succeed by selling people stuff they want, that they enjoy?
Come now, Joao. Really. Get a grip.
21,
How thick is the Sansa? Case closed (pun intended). The iPhone is 11.6 millimeters thick. Think about what you have to do to get that component density. A replaceable battery could probably be done in a couple of millimeters as I said earlier but then you start getting clunky like the 13.6-mm Sansa. (Which is a nice device, but how much market share does it have?)
Many thin phones like the Motorola Q do it by making the battery part of the case but that cuts the size of the cell you can use due to packaging and form-factor issues and that’s the reason the Q has operating time issues.
Apple went with the largest battery that could fit the case because they correctly figured that more people willl be pissed from short battery life than battery replacement.
In addition, the reason you need two sets of conectors for a replaceable battery is becasuse you need a set of terminals on the battery case (another added part, the soldered battery doesn’t need a double housing) and a set of matching terminals in the device, plus the space taken up by the compartment and lid clearance.
So Apple could have made it thin with a tiny replaceable battery, thick with a decent replaceable battery, or thin with a large integrated battery. You know what choice they made.
Lauren. fidelization as opposed to Fidelization…
All in all if Apple users started growing beards could be the case…
28.”(Which is a nice device, but how much market share does it have?)” The Sansa.
I dont buy products due to market share. How much market share does Apple computer enjoy, comparably, thats not the point. I saw the battery terminal config in a post here a couple of weeks ago. Soldering a battery into a device such as an iPhone would tend to be less efficient a design than to use a simple molex connector. It appears to be designed that way so the average Joe wouldn have a clue how to replace it. But hey bring it to me, I’ll solder a battery back in for you, for the 95 – 100 dollars Apple will charge you. I even work in a Mac shop.
If Apple got Fidelicized would they line PC users up against a wall and shoot them?
Seriously, I admire a company that can nurture customer loyalty as well as Apple does. That takes an understanding of and care for customers that companies run by the bean-counters don’t even attempt.
I’m not one of the Apple faithful, by the way. Its products seem overpriced to me. They’re not THAT much better than the competition. But Apple does know its customers and serves them well. No wonder its customers are progressively fidelicized. (Nify word.)