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iPhone maker Wistron quits, saying Apple didn't let it make a profit

9to5mac.com

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Re: iPhone maker Wistron quits, saying Apple didn't let it make a profit

#81

Post by ekidd »

lesuorac wrote: post #73
s1mon wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that's certainly a valid reaction, and is likely partially true. It's also true that Apple is very well known for very hard negotiation and squeezing their suppliers until there's only a few percent margin. You'd have to be insanely good at controlling all of your costs to make money all the time under that constraint. If yields change or component/material prices fluctuate the wrong way any predicted profit cou…

> Apple also pays suppliers on net 90. I've always been surprised at how much of the business world runs on credit. You hear stories about how payments have been months-years delayed (or never show up). I'd like to think if somebody got more than 100days behind I'd cut them off from the next shipment but never been in that spot.

Apparently, one of the reasons that RedHat survived the dotcom crash was that they were absolutely merciless about companies that didn't pay on time for RedHat's engineering/consulting services.

I recall someone who had several on-site RedHat engineers at his company, doing some kind of Linux work. The company missed one Friday payment to RedHat. Every single RedHat engineer was gone the following Monday, never to return.

Re: iPhone maker Wistron quits, saying Apple didn't let it make a profit

#82

Post by afro88 »

wincy wrote: post #56
petre wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "There just isn't a sense of urgency," one Apple engineer remarked." Apple meets India, nothing new. They'll just have to adapt. https://youtu.be/BTd-PWYQy4Y

As an aside, it’s ridiculous that video got flagged as a video for kids and suggests downloading the YouTube Kids app.

And there's no way to give feedback that it's been miscategorised

Re: iPhone maker Wistron quits, saying Apple didn't let it make a profit

#83

Post by [deleted] »

nell wrote: post #72
cptskippy wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The book The United States of Wal-Mart by John Dicker laid this all out pretty clearly nearly 20 years ago. * corrected spelling the author's name. ** https://www.amazon.com/United-States-Wal-Mart-John-Dicker/dp...

Does this book really exist? Google search on Amazon shows no results for this.

[deleted]

Re: iPhone maker Wistron quits, saying Apple didn't let it make a profit

#84

Post by b59831 »

ralph84 wrote: post #58
5350-uiop-1130 wrote: post #13

https://nypost.com/2020/12/15/riots-at-apple-plant-in-india-... this is what apple does. they use their clout, then they turn their back and play ignorant whilst placing unrealistic demands on the subcontractors who then place those demand on the labour. from: https://www.macrumors.com/2023/02/14/only-half-of-indian-iph... > "Apple engineers told that Chinese iPhone suppliers and government officials have a "whatever…

> this is what apple does This is what globalism does. Take the environmental destruction and shitty working conditions that would never be allowed in your own country to other countries and centralize the profits from doing so into the hands of a few.

[flagged]

Re: iPhone maker Wistron quits, saying Apple didn't let it make a profit

#85

Post by saiya-jin »

5350-uiop-1130 wrote: post #13

https://nypost.com/2020/12/15/riots-at-apple-plant-in-india-... this is what apple does. they use their clout, then they turn their back and play ignorant whilst placing unrealistic demands on the subcontractors who then place those demand on the labour. from: https://www.macrumors.com/2023/02/14/only-half-of-indian-iph... > "Apple engineers told that Chinese iPhone suppliers and government officials have a "whatever…

> If you see lots of positive or misdrecting comments, it's not necessarily a coincidence (imo).

I like HN a lot but for this type of topic, its consistently, desperately, and annoyingly un-objective (if thats a word). I do get that we humans tend to form echo chambers by ourselves just to validate our viewpoints and decisions however subjective they may be, but I expect a bit more than what I see here from some of the smartest folks on Earth.

Their influence is very visible also in other places, ie otherwise great web for photography - dpreview.com is a pure echo chamber for Apple. Every apple product is discussed in details and glorified, any problems are completely ignored. Most competition is given almost 0 coverage, especially direct competitors or those that currently surpass some of their tech at given time. And we don't talk US-vs-China stuff, many phone manufacturers don't have any China ties at all, or are outright US companies.

There is no way in hell Apple is not pouring tons of cash into ironing their fuckups, or just errors in judgement, infrequent as they are, and HN is way too visible and important to not be part of such an operation. To skip it would be a very junior mistake, and there are no juniors in this space in 2023, not with richest company globally.

Re: iPhone maker Wistron quits, saying Apple didn't let it make a profit

#86

Post by coredog64 »

s1mon wrote: post #26
mannyv wrote: post #8

"We didn't understand our costs, so we underbid and now are blaming Apple." - Wistron

Yes, that's certainly a valid reaction, and is likely partially true. It's also true that Apple is very well known for very hard negotiation and squeezing their suppliers until there's only a few percent margin. You'd have to be insanely good at controlling all of your costs to make money all the time under that constraint. If yields change or component/material prices fluctuate the wrong way any predicted profit cou…

The way that China has handled this is that they view those razor thin margins as an opportunity to move up the value chain. 1) Foxconn opens an assembly plant 2) Supporting infrastructure is backfilled into the area 3) There’s now a geographic industrial concentration that can support domestic electronic designers

Re: iPhone maker Wistron quits, saying Apple didn't let it make a profit

#87

Post by halJordan »

s1mon wrote: post #26
mannyv wrote: post #8

"We didn't understand our costs, so we underbid and now are blaming Apple." - Wistron

Yes, that's certainly a valid reaction, and is likely partially true. It's also true that Apple is very well known for very hard negotiation and squeezing their suppliers until there's only a few percent margin. You'd have to be insanely good at controlling all of your costs to make money all the time under that constraint. If yields change or component/material prices fluctuate the wrong way any predicted profit cou…

It's good to know the full story, but it's reprehensible? I don't want to cast stones but a really easy connection to make is that wistron took the contact knowing they could only "be profitable" by not paying their labor. So I'm supposed to hate Apple for doing what a business is supposed to do (and frankly being excellent at it). And I'm supposed to champion Wistron for what they did? That's reprehensible if we're throwing the term around.

Re: iPhone maker Wistron quits, saying Apple didn't let it make a profit

#88

Post by capableweb »

karamanolev wrote: post #16
elcritch wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure Apple is partly guilty as well. I really doubt they didn’t know exactly how Wistron was bidding so low.

They might have suspected, but I doubt they formally knew. I would guess it was a type of "don't tell me, I don't want to know, plausible deniability and all".

> I would guess it was a type of "don't tell me, I don't want to know, plausible deniability and all".

Imagine something like due diligence laws for making business contracts, so you can't really blame plausible deniability anymore.

Re: iPhone maker Wistron quits, saying Apple didn't let it make a profit

#89

Post by smabie »

thatguy0900 wrote: post #66
mbesto wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, so what do people expect the alternative route is? It's a known strategy, that works, and increases profit if implemented correctly.

The alternative route people would prefer is for people in charge of these companies to act ethically and not try to squeeze everyone around them for every cent of profit possible. Especially if you're already one of the richest companies to ever exist. That's not very realistic, though, since sociopathy is essentially taught in business schools now.

Everyone is trying to squeeze everyone else, including you. This isn't about sociopathy, this is just the human condition.

Re: iPhone maker Wistron quits, saying Apple didn't let it make a profit

#90

Post by xxs »

TradingPlaces wrote: post #68

Foxconn somehow made $137m profit in the past 12m.

You mean by installing the suicidal protection net, Foxconn barely makes it? Foxconn has 1m3 employees. If they made just 137m in profit - that's just $8 profit per employee a month.
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