Comments on: Apple iPhone Supply Chain Analysis: All Roads Lead to China

By: Jayadeep Purushothaman

Jayadeep Purushothaman — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:17:32 +0000

It might be interesting to read this along with this – http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/business/ieconomy-apples-ipad-and-the-human-costs-for-workers-in-china.html, how the people in this chain is treated!

By: Elle

Elle — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 10:46:29 +0000

Why do you have ‘several’ iPhones? What’s wrong with just one?

By: Jose

Jose — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:45:06 +0000

I’m doing a project on the Apple iPhone supply chain and this has come in very handy. Do you have some more up to date info? If interested in our final paper with up to date info, just shoot me an e-mail.

By: spooky

spooky — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:22:40 +0000

Perhaps if you’d gone to work for Google you could afford an iPhone!

By: Maria

Maria — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:12:15 +0000

Does anyone know where I can find information on bullwhip effect in iPhone supply chain? Thank you for the assistance in advance

By: MICHELE

MICHELE — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:53:07 +0000

I need to get the contact numbers for all the companies that make the iphones.

By: Ethan

Ethan — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 23:24:09 +0000

Hey, so I am looking to break into purchasing iphones and reselling them and I was wondering if you could tell me how to find a supplier who gets them direct through Apple with out all the brokers in between?

By: Louis Duran

Louis Duran — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 17:45:50 +0000

Does anyone know who is supplying the NAND Flash? Is the joint Micron-Intel supplier?

By: Jeff Morrow

Jeff Morrow — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 11:01:32 +0000

Very thorough analysis, Pete. FWIW, I work in a consultancy that helps firms bring in oobeya practices. A partner consultancy has a relationship with Foxconn. Last spring they wondered if we knew anyone at Apple (we didn’t). I speculate that they hoped to use oobeya practices to coordinate between Apple and Foxconn but don’t know for sure.

By: HM

HM — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 00:51:55 +0000

Who is supplying charger to iPhone for Apple? Where?

By: Mark Graban

Mark Graban — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 22:58:16 +0000

I watched the Steve Jobs iPhone demo (on my iPod) and he talked through the pricing… the $499 decision was based on the market (iPod Nano $199 + Smart Phone $299), so $499 for a combined product with many more features.

It was priced based on the market and value. He said nothing about what it costs to produce 🙂

By: Mark Graban

Mark Graban — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 14:35:43 +0000

Peter – you’re right that a complex or long-distance supply chain is complex to manage. It might be cheaper than the alternative of a vertical integration model. But, I still think companies chronically underestimate the costs of that complexity.

By: Mark Graban

Mark Graban — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 12:42:18 +0000

The fact that Apple charges $500 has nothing to do with cost… it’s what the market will bear.

In the Lean/TPS world, price is driven by the market. To make profit, Apple has to get their costs down below a target cost. It’s the old non-TPS mindset that says “this product costs X to make, I’m entitled to 10% profit, so my price I’ll charge is 1.1X”.

With TPS, market says price is Y, for 10% profit, you have to get your cost to Y/1.1.

Interesting analysis of the locations though!

If iPhones and iPods weren’t so small and cheap to ship (and if they were customizable), you’d have to consider making them closer to the U.S. for the sake of supply chain responsiveness.

See this post:

http://kanban.blogspot.com/2007/01/wsj-is-still-shocked-we-build-stuff.html

By: peyv

peyv — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 00:03:39 +0000

iPhone Only Costs $250 to Make; Rest of Price is Fanboy Tax

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/iphone-only-costs-250-to-make-rest-of-price-is-fanboy-tax-229664.php

By: Russell Page

Russell Page — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 17:37:43 +0000

Thanks for the link to my apple iPhone story Pete. Nice job on this post. Very thorough.