Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

EXCLUSIVE: Apple Has Destroyed 490,000 American Jobs
Business Insider ^ | May 1, 2012, 12:02 PM | Eric Platt and Ben Duronio

Posted on 05/04/2012 4:57:06 PM PDT by Swordmaker

After taking heat for shipping jobs to China and contracting to employers with questionable labor conditions, Apple (rather publicly) took credit for creating more than half a million jobs in the U.S.

514,000 to be exact. 

That figure included nearly 50,000 employees in its retail network and its corporate headquarters, where products are designed.

But it also included FedEx and UPS employees who deliver its products and employees at Corning who make glass for iPads and iPhones.

So Apple basically counts anyone vaguely associated with the company or its products as a job that Apple created.

But what about the competitors Apple has bumped off in its relentless move to the top? 

What about the once-profitable markets, products, and companies it has destroyed? What happened to those jobs?

Business Insider analyzed data on Bloomberg, went through dozens of 10-Ks, and read through layoff announcements to see how Apple's peers have done.

What we found:

Apple has destroyed nearly as many jobs as it helped create, eliminating some 490,570 positions.

Click here to see the jobs that Apple has destroyed

(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: china; corning; fedex; ups
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 201-203 next last
To: Swordmaker

You forgot Timex.


41 posted on 05/04/2012 6:34:18 PM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker

I received my new iPhone 4s just 3 days ago, so I guess I should start feeling ‘iPhone guilt’ right along with my White guilt and my financially solvent guilt and, and, and.......


42 posted on 05/04/2012 6:50:12 PM PDT by Gator113 (***YOU GAVE it to Obama. I would have voted for NEWT.~Just livin' life, my way~)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Future Snake Eater

Call it what you will, there are lots of Apple-logo’d devices in any Starbucks. She would tell me some customers would come in 3 or 4 times a day, and would always tip well. And this was at several different stores in different towns that she worked at on the SF peninsula. Many Apple devices with 3G or 4G cellular get free wi-fi access at Starbucks. So I don’t think it is a stretch to say the customers are there because they have an Apple device; they certainly don’t go there just because they might have a Honda.


43 posted on 05/04/2012 6:58:02 PM PDT by roadcat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: kabar
And how many jobs has the guy who invented the ATM cost?

Don't forget Henry Ford. Lot of horses found themselves out of work.
44 posted on 05/04/2012 7:18:01 PM PDT by af_vet_rr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker

Circuit City: What killed CC was getting rid of anyone helpful and replacing them with know-nothing minimum wage people. Then, might as well go to Wal-Mart. It is the high level of customer support that helps Apple stores thrive.

Federal Government: ???

Kodak: Digital camera killed Kodak before the iPhone

Hewlett Packard: I’m sure they were hurt by their drive for marketshare by selling mainly in the low-end where there is little profit. And IIRC they’re still number one in volume.

Motorola: Too bad, so sad, Moto couldn’t deliver on providing Apple fast chips for their computers, or compete on the phone front.

Borders: Apple just got into the book selling business, so no way (or we could count all those Apple-oriented books sold)

Sprint: Sprint passed on the iPhone, their fault.

IBM layoffs: IBM also couldn’t provide fast enough chips for Apple.

Musical group layoffs: iTunes still funnels lots of money back through to the labels. Without iTunes, they’d probably be leaking money even more. However, by making wide distribution available to anyone, Apple is helping to undermine the cartel the labels have had running for the last several decades. This is a good thing.

Ericsson layoffs: Too bad, inferior products.

US Postal Service layoffs: That’s email, not Apple’s fault. And don’t forget all those Apple products bought over the mail.

Barnes & Noble layoffs: Same as Borders, although BN got the right idea later and has started competing in this century.

Blockbuster layoffs: Netflix started this, and then there was Red Box. Apple’s digital video sales and rentals have been nowhere near enough to have caused this.

CompUSA layoffs: See Circuit City.

Sony layoffs: Which department?

RadioShack layoffs: Radio Shack killed itself by becoming just another electronics store.

Microsoft layoffs: Their own fault, definitely. Lack of vision (Zune) and lack of ability (Vista) have given Microsoft a serious hit. On the plus side, the 360 is doing very well despite the billion dollar charge-off to be first with that generation of game system.

Yahoo! layoffs: No relation to Apple

Xerox layoffs: No relation in recent times, only back when Apple was an underdog. Xerox did try to sell their own tech, but priced it too high and failed.

AMD layoffs: AMD could have landed Apple’s switch to Intel, but they couldn’t produce. Apple actually had test Macs running AMD in case they went that way.

BestBuy layoffs: Uh, Best Buy is selling Apple products.

Tower Records layoffs: Okay, Apple did do that.

Trans World Entertainment (Sam Goody, FYE) layoffs: Same as CC

Gateway (Acer) layoffs: Same as HP

EMI layoffs: Same as other labels

Lenovo layoffs: Same as HP

Adobe layoffs: It’s their own fault their products have been sucking lately, and that they bought the toxic Macromedia to get an outdated 90s technology in Flash, another outdated technology in Cold Fusion, and a duplicate product in Freehand. And, don’t forget, Adobe practically owes its existence to a tight relationship with Apple.

T-Mobile layoffs: See Sprint

EMC layoffs: Same as other labels

Palm layoffs: Guilty

Virgin Megastores layoffs: Guilty

Dell layoffs: Same as other OEMs, although Dell didn’t help themselves by fudging profit numbers

AOL layoffs: No relation to Apple, another 90s business model overtaken by events, the company incapable of keeping up

Cisco layoffs: ??? More computers and networked handhelds, more demand for networking products.

Warner Music Group layoffs: Same as the other labels

Hasbro layoffs: ???

IAC (Ask.com) layoffs: No relation

Universal Music Group layoffs: Same as the other labels

However, I am sure Apple has killed quite a few jobs centered around fixing the problems in Windows.


45 posted on 05/04/2012 7:26:39 PM PDT by antiRepublicrat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Larry Lucido
Typical b.i.-blog crap. I don’t know why FReepers ever cite to this fish-wrap.

I was kinda thinking it was satire... But then I realized they were dead serious!

46 posted on 05/04/2012 7:27:54 PM PDT by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker

Total Bullshit!

Apple is responsible to its shareholders and did a damned fine job for them. It is not Apple’s fault that these companies could not compete.


47 posted on 05/04/2012 7:29:09 PM PDT by Jeff Gordon (Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reg45
The new Nokia Lumia 900 (Windows) competes quite well with the iPhone.

That's the one they're giving away because it's so screwed up, right?

48 posted on 05/04/2012 7:29:26 PM PDT by antiRepublicrat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Theoria
No matter if we cut all those taxes and regulations, it still comes down to wages.

The problem is those regulations can have as big of an impact, if not bigger. It's damn hard to start a factory here in the US these days. The amount of government bureaucracy is ridiculous. Even just building an office building can be ridiculous.
49 posted on 05/04/2012 7:29:26 PM PDT by af_vet_rr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker
But what about the competitors Apple has bumped off in its relentless move to the top?

What about the once-profitable markets, products, and companies it has destroyed? What happened to those jobs?


This is just shoddy sensationalism on the part of Business Insider. It's not like Apple dominated the cell phone or PC or tablet market for the past 15 years. A lot of these companies had a decade's head start on Apple, had huge customer bases, and they grew comfortable with their place in the world and took their customers for granted, and in the business world, when you grow too comfortable and take your customers for granted, you lose.

I still don't understand why some of the people at the tops of these companies still have their jobs. How does Steve Ballmer keep his job in the face of how much Microsoft has lost in the mobile and phone markets, not to mention Microsoft's stock price?

BI would have had a better article if they talked about how the stockholders failed to hold a lot more people accountable than they should have.
50 posted on 05/04/2012 7:34:45 PM PDT by af_vet_rr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker

Did anyone offset with all the people who have jobs writing and supporting iPhone apps, and making their businesses better using them? Just curious.

I know a number of people in the above categories.


51 posted on 05/04/2012 7:36:35 PM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: FreedomPoster

I was able to take on additional work thanks to my iPad. Thing paid for itself in a month.

And, as a former Kodak employee, I can tell you that company drove itself into the ground, Apple notwithstanding.


52 posted on 05/04/2012 7:48:10 PM PDT by ctdonath2 ($1 meals: http://abuckaplate.blogspot.com/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker

What a bunch of nonsense. There’s no such thing as “shipping jobs overseas”. First of all... Manufacturing automation is responsible for more job displacement than has been cheap overseas labor. By a long shot. And then too... Anybody that can be replaced by cheap overseas labor should’ve been looking for a new job long ago. Most of those jobs are low-wage, low-skill jobs... If anything gets moved offshore, why not those?

Anybody that can’t compete on either price or quality with people on the other side of the world needs to find something else to do where they -can- compete. It’s there. Just keep looking.


53 posted on 05/04/2012 7:48:21 PM PDT by Ramius (Personally, I give us one chance in three. More tea anyone?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: af_vet_rr

People keep missing a key issue: it’s not whether Apple builds a factory in the USA, it’s that the entire supply chain supporting it would be inadequate.

Building products in China means supply chain disruptions can be resolved in hours. In the USA, they can take days or weeks to resolve. Someone discovers a screw must be redesigned, remanufactured, and resupplied by the millions? you gonna shut down the whole supply chain for a week? or you gonna realize (Apple did) this sort of thing happens, and arrange suppliers so the disruption is over in a matter of hours?

Building millions of iPhones is hideously complex. Lots of companies are involved. ALL those companies must be orchestrated to deliver what is needed when it’s needed; any screwups cause a train wreck of manufacturing delays. China has the knack for doing this right.

And Apple isn’t the only one building such products there for a reason.


54 posted on 05/04/2012 7:57:27 PM PDT by ctdonath2 ($1 meals: http://abuckaplate.blogspot.com/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: apoliticalone

Well said. It is the truth. Globalism and it’s elitist mentality of being citizens of the world” is a promise of serfdom for Americans and Europeans. Perot was right.


55 posted on 05/04/2012 9:11:16 PM PDT by SaraJohnson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: GeronL

Your analogy doesn’t work. Buggy whip makers were able to go to work for Henry Ford since his plants were in America.

The argument is not about a new industry rendering an older one obsolete. It’s about the transfer of industry out of the country for the purpose of labor arbitrage.

An accurate rendering would be Henry Ford closing River Rouge and opening his plant overseas.


56 posted on 05/04/2012 9:48:17 PM PDT by Pelham (Marco Rubio, la raza trojan horse.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: fabian
Competition is fine but jobs need to be kept here if possible, right?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but in fact it is not possible. Steve Jobs explained to the president, why it isn't possible to build the iPhone, of course it went right over his head as I it would yours no doubt.

Do you have an American made Phone? Thought not.

57 posted on 05/05/2012 12:05:52 AM PDT by itsahoot (I will not vote for Romney period, and by election day you won't like him either.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: antiRepublicrat
Circuit City: What killed CC was getting rid of anyone helpful and replacing them with know-nothing minimum wage people.

That is exactly it.

Originally the salespeople worked on commission, knew their products and hustled.

Then the folks in the Tower of Richmond decided some of the sales staff were making too much money, so they fired the good ones and replaced them w/ hourly employees that simply pointed the customer toward the product and stood around.

Management killed Circuit City.
They followed the Sears model from years earlier.

58 posted on 05/05/2012 3:48:35 AM PDT by Vinnie (A)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker

I had to do a double take, thought this was Humor.


59 posted on 05/05/2012 3:49:40 AM PDT by Vinnie (A)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 21twelve
And don’t even get me started on Eli Whitney!
And just think how many telephone operators would be employed, with all the phone traffic now - if only the computer and the touch-tone phone hadn’t eliminated the switchboard!

60 posted on 05/05/2012 4:10:55 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion (The idea around which “liberalism" coheres is that NOTHING actually matters except PR.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 201-203 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson