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Comment by libertymcateer

10 years ago

Apple is not vertically integrated - Wikipedia entries to the contrary notwithstanding. It is a grossly inaccurate statement. Up until very recently, Apple didn't own a single factory - how can one possibly claim that they are vertically integrated if they don't own their own means of production?

Apple is a fantastically successful software and industrial design company. The vast majority of their production is outsourced. This is not vertical integration.

Additionally, actually, Apple has tremendous amounts of hugely successful and popular software.

Though I dig the underlying point of this article, that product management is hard, I think the examples are less than good.

7 comments

libertymcateer

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vacri  10 years ago

Where do you draw the line? If a company does own the factory that builds their widgets, do you claim they're not vertically integrated because they don't own the mines that get the materials, nor the transport network to get it to and from the factory? At the other end, do they need to own the bank with which they take payments from customers?

You don't need to own all elements in a vertical stack to be vertically integrated.

  • josu  10 years ago

    Apple sells iphones. Who makes the iphones? Not Apple.

    • beambot  10 years ago

      Apple designs iPhones. They manage the fabrication of parts very closely and manage their assembly and QA more closely than most of their competitors (like, big enough to make demands of Foxconn or cause them to build specialized factories). Then they sell the phones directly to consumers. They are (literally) on the Wikipedia page as an example of a vertically integrated company: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_integration

      I'm not saying you're wrong... but it doesn't look like you're right.

    • vacri  10 years ago

      You're playing fast and loose with the definition of 'make' there. 'Physically assemble' is not the only element of 'make'.