Apple forcing Pegatron to stop production of MacBook Air lookalike Zenbook:
Pegatron stands to suffer a lot if it loses Apple contracts. Not only does the company assemble iPhones for Apple, but they’re also rumored to be producing the next-generation iPads that are expected to ship next month.
(Via TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog)
There’s no question in my mind that these new Wintel notebooks are a complete and shameless ripoff of the MacBook Air. And if Apple were to go to the courts to defend its designs in a trademark/copyright infringement case, I’d be behind that. No reason other PC makers should benefit from Jony Ive’s industrial design expertise.
But threatening to leave your contracted suppliers/manufacturers for building these products has a bad smell to it. This is over stepping the line I think. It’s a bully tactic that could easily be interpreted as stifling competition. Apple cedes the high ground by going this route, if indeed, this story is true.
Part of the problem when you’re the top dog after many decades of getting the shaft is that you live in constant fear of losing that top dog status and getting shafted again. Apple’s position on top is so obviously secure from where I’m standing, but Tim Cook has a lot more to lose if I’m wrong about that than I do. So I get where the fear comes from.
Still, I think Apple should let these obvious knockoff products die in the market. It’s not like they’re going to sell particularly well, because they lack the one critical feature of any successful knockoff: price. They’re not any cheaper than the real thing, so why would anyone buy one?
Since it’s obvious to most of the world that these things are shameless wannabes, why not let them hit the market and fail miserably, prove to other companies that you can’t beat Apple by aping it’s every move anymore. Or take the issue up in court, if you must. What’s one more case amongst the hundreds Apple already has going?
That way, you go after the company that created the knockoff, not the middleman who just builds it for him, and most importantly, you don’t get seen as a bully playing hardball with manufacturers to suppress competition.
It’s a fine line between pulling a contract because someone helps another company build a copycat product, and pulling the contract because someone builds any competitor’s product.
