#operations genius

The logo of electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, is displayed at its headquarters in Taipei. Photo: Agence France-Presse For decades now, Apple has facd an ever-escalating series of challenges in China, from fake stores and factory protests to tightening censorship and mass app bans by the Chinese Communist Party. Now, the…

Apple’s crippling dependence on Communist China can no longer be ignored

Apple depends on a small number of very large factories in China and Taiwan for much of its product assembly. But, harsh CCP-imposed COVID lockdowns in China are spawning pushback and protests, jeopardizing iPhone, Mac, and other products’ production, leaving Apple with few options in the near term. Quality assurance, iMac production, China (Image via Apple’s Supplier Responsibility 2020 Progress…

Tim Cook firmly latched Apple onto China’s CCP teat. What’s his plan for weaning it off?

In 2016, Apple’s “Operations Genius,” Tim Cook, secretly signed an agreement with the human rights-abusing Chinese Communist Party estimated to be worth more than $275 billion. Cook promised that Apple would do its part to develop China’s economy and technological prowess via infrastructure investments, business deals, and worker training in exchange for the CCP quashing its surge of what…

Apple already sold out of $549 new AirPods Max

Apple on Tuesday announced AirPods Max, innovative wireless headphones with an over-ear design with high-fidelity sound. AirPods Max combine a custom acoustic design, H1 chips, and advanced software to power computational audio for a breakthrough listening experience with Adaptive EQ, Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency mode, and spatial audio. The new headphones come in five colors,…

Tim Cook and Apple bet everything on China. Oops.

More people are now asking if Apple CEO Tim Cook has made Apple too dependent by betting everything on China. Cook, since joining Apple more than 20 years ago, is famous for having “transformed Apple’s supply chain, relying on China to manufacture devices with the help of low-cost, skilled labor, and to ship those products around the world,” as Mark Gurman wrote just last week for Bloomberg News.…

Has Apple CEO Tim Cook made Apple too dependent on China?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is slumping Thursday afternoon with shares of Dow Inc. and Apple seeing the biggest losses for the index. This has led some observers to ask if Apple CEO Tim Cook has made Apple too dependent on China.

Apple’s 5-day stock chart

MarketWatch:

Shares of Dow Inc. and Apple Inc.are contributing to the index’s intraday decline, as the Dow was most recently trading 560…

Samsung’s Wireless Charging Duo is a poor man’s Apple AirPower

“Remember AirPower? Apple had big plans for the charging mat when it was launched [previewed] nearly a year ago,” Brian Heater writes for TechCrunch.

“Since then, however,” Heater notes, “the iPhone/Apple Watch/AirPod accessory has been MIA for reasons no one outside of the Cupertino spaceship is entirely sure of.”

Yesterday, “Samsung unveiled its own take on the tech. Granted, it’s…

Apple’s long-delayed AirPower charging mat due in September; includes custom Apple chip running stripped down version of iOS

Apple’s long-delayed AirPower charging mat “is taking longer to make due to a series of technical hurdles, slowing the company’s wireless strategy and highlighting supply-chain challenges that have hampered product launches in recent years,” Mark Gurman reports for Bloomberg. “Since [it was announced in September 2017], AirPower hasn’t been publicly discussed by Apple. Company engineers have been…