January 27th, 2009
The irony of Apple packaging
Readers of these page know that I love irony. Today’s installment is from Apple’s eco-blind fulfillment operation in Jonestown, PA who lovingly shipped my copy of iLife ‘09 which arrived today (thanks guys!).
The problem is with its external packaging (pictured).
After Apple made great strides to reduce the size of the retail software box, their software fulfillment house ships the tiny iLife ‘09 in a “shirt box” that could easily fit my MacBook Pro 15 and a pair of MacBook Airs!
C’mon Apple, let’s tighten up the supply-side of the house. For starters Apple could easily lose of software box entirely. They did away with the printed user guide a long time ago, so why ship boxes filled with air? Is it a “perception of value” thing? Fooey.
Instead, Apple needs to ditch the software box and replace it with a simple, recyclable envelope. This would save the company money on printing, paper and shipping. At the same time Apple could leave room on one side for the return address and a mailing label avoiding the need for an extra shipping box.
Or even better, distribute the software distributed via BitTorrent and as an incentive, pass the savings along to the consumer (say $10 off) and users download it a couple days before it hits retail shelves.
Aside: That was probably the last picture that I’ll be uploading to Aperture for a while.
Jason D. O'Grady is the editor of PowerPage.org, which has been publishing daily mobile technology news since December 1995. For disclosures on Jason's industry affiliations, click here or to view Jason's full profile click here.
Subscribe to The Apple Core via Email alerts or RSS.
