My new iPhone4

[Drdogface]

Just got a note that it's been shipped......direct from China. Call me naive` but I guess I thought Apple still made their own products in Cupertino.

[gr8fl4porsche]

Designed in CA. Built in small villages in China.

[widgeon13]

They haven't made anything in the states in years.

[mossguy]

Paging Island! Paging Island!

[Deschodt]

The phone itself has this printed on the back:

Designed by apple in california. Assembled in China. (by overworked, underpaid, suicidal foxconn employees)

[island911]

Originally Posted by mossguy

Paging Island! Paging Island!

Sorry, not much to say on this. ...kind of just common knowledge. Even Apple has to cut corners where possible. They are after all, in this to make money. --ah crap; now I've done it. Let me take that back, and pretend . . er, Say, that Apple, and Steve Jobs only goal in life is too make the prettiest devices eVAr ...at an affordable --but not too low to be cache-insulting-- price.

. . whew...

[jyl]

Yeah, that was naive.

Apple has a large campus (many buildings) in Cupertino where they employ many thousands of engineering, software, marketing, creative, admin, logistics etc types. They do more of their R&D work in the US than practically any other major consumer electronics company. Their products are assembled in China from components produced by a variety of companies from the US, Taiwan/Korea, China and other Asia, and Europe.

It is pretty interesting to look at the bill of materials for an iPhone. Let's say Apple gets $500 per iPhone. About $310 of that is gross profit, most of which goes to pay for all those engineers and etc in Cupertino, with the remainder for Apple shareholders, who are mostly in the US. About $180 of that is components, enclosure, packaging, etc. You can figure out if those components are bought from US, Asian, or European sources. For the components etc bought from US or European sources, you can figure out how much is gross profit for those companies and thus goes to pay for US or European engineers etc, and how much is manufacturing costs which usually ends up being paid to an Asian fab. (Oh, also include the assembly at Foxconn).

I did this, and it looks like, more or less, of the $500 (est) that Apple gets for an iPhone 4, 62% of that money ends up in the US, 35% ends up in Asia, and 3% ends up in Europe.

[Drdogface]

Ok...I said I was naive`...I'll accept that. I guess I just am thinking that at least Apple would have them shipped from China to Cupertino, run them thru some quality control, do some set up and ship from there. I have never owned an iPhone. The Apple Store advertises that they will do some kind of set up if you buy it there. Dunno what set up is involved.

[jyl]

No need. They do QC in the manufacturing facility, since Apple products have among highest satisfaction of all consumer electronics products, it works. They load the software in the manufacturing process too, why not?

One of the neat things about using an Apple product is that you can walk into the local Apple Store (make an appointment online, they're busy) and they will help you with whatever you need. The people are usually intelligent, knowledgeable, helpful - lots better than the drone at the local wireless carrier store, and lots lots better than waiting on hold for "Justin" in Bangalor.

Anyway, you will install iTunes on your PC or Mac, then the iPhone will sync addresses, phone numbers, music, etc from iTunes. If you already have addresses in Outlook or some other app, iTunes can import them. Manual is downloadable here

Apple - Support - Manuals

[Drdogface]

Thanks John,

I shoulda known in the first place. Glad to hear what you just said, though. I'm familiar with Apple Stores and, yes, they really know their stuff there. Just threw me, I guess, having tracked the shipment from Shenfu..or where ever, in China, to Hong Kong to wherever before it gets to me. We all have plenty (too many) products made in China but I never had one shipped direct before

[enzo1]

This is probably the reason: Apple (AAPL) continues to struggle to keep up with demand for the iPhone 4, despite the widespread reports of antenna issues. And the issue isn’t trouble with its supply - it’s the enormous demand.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster this morning said he had expected Apple stores to have higher supply of iPhone 4 units by mid-August, but supplies remain limited; he contends that this is a sign that demand remains healthy despite “Antennagate.” And he he says the issue not related to production.

Munster writes in a research note that checks with Apple stores have from no in-store availability to limited stock as of yesterday. He reports that he had expected near full in-store availability by now, seven weeks after the June 24 launch.

Here’s a recap of Munster’s ongoing checks of iPhone availability:

Before July 10, zero of 20 stores checked had inventory.
July 26, 3 of 5 stores checked had some in stocks.
August 11, 16 of 30 stores had some phones in stock.
“Given most stores we checked with indicated they are receiving daily iPhone shipments, we believe that Apple is seeing continued strong demand for iPhone 4 and we remain comfortable with our September quarter estimate of 11 million units despite the “Antennagate” PR debacle,” he writes.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by Drdogface

Ok...I said I was naive`...I'll accept that. I guess I just am thinking that at least Apple would have them shipped from China to Cupertino, run them thru some quality control, do some set up and ship from there. I have never owned an iPhone. The Apple Store advertises that they will do some kind of set up if you buy it there. Dunno what set up is involved.

Wrong industry for that model. Where you do see that is with musical instruments. A number of "boutique" builders now have off-shore manufactured instruments that are then shipped to their US facility for "final setup" before sale. Significant price difference. For example a Sadowsky bass made by hand (well, with plenty of CNC - making totally by hand is silly these days) in NYC is around $4000. Essentially the same instrument (with a few minor changes like a chambered body for the NYC instrument) made in their sister shop in Japan is $2500. Even bigger difference for those companies that are manufacturing in Korea, Indonesia, or China. In some cases the import instrument that is "set up" in the US is about 1/3 the price of the equivalent US-built model.

[andrew15]

I think my gen II ipod came from china directly as did my gen II ipod nano for my wife. As mentioned above, Apple keeps really strict QC in their factories.

It seems the Chinese will build anything at YOUR price and specs - I suspect a lot of the crap we see over here was in fact ordered as cheap crap - not a failure in QC.

AM

[stomachmonkey]

Few years back, was a Friday night around 10 pm EST. Decided to buy the wife an iPod. Go to Apple site, pick one, add custom engraving, standard shipping.

Wake up Saturday to a "your item has shipped" email. Mind you it's Sunday in China.

Tuesday morning it's on my front doorstep.

[enzo1]

don't forget the APPS, can't tell you how many times I've grabbed someone's iphone or ipad and no apps, WTF... buy some apps

[JavaBrewer]

What APPS are you talkin bout? I have spent $0.00 on apps from iTunes thus far.