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http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=1905
iBook production shifting again?
By ron carlson, Insanely Great Mac
March 29th 2003
The latest scat sighting suggests change is in the air
Asustek, the largest maker of motherboards and a burgeoning notebook producer, is to
purchase a manufacturing facility in Taiwan from Elitegroup Computer (ECS). This
facility is where Apple's iBook is made.
The deal for the plant, which has a capacity of 200,000 units per month, is to be
consummated on June 30. ECS reportedly is selling the facility in its entirety for an
expected US$90.
Trivia
This otherwise inane bit of information likely signals two things: 1.) that production
of Apple's consumer portable is being moved to China where costs are lower; and 2.)
that a new iBook is coming soon.
Moving production from one location to another is the perfect opportunity for
introducing a new line. For example, while plant "A" is ending production of the older
model, the new facility is already accumulating parts, training workers and tweaking
the manufacturing process.
Oher facts bear out the timing and need for a new model. Apple's last iBook revision
was in November and the most recent full make over was almost two years ago.
Also, as we reported in December, IBM has begun delivering faster G3 chips (in the
neighborhood of 1GHz).
Hon Hai's gain?
Last year IGM reported that Hon Hai (known in the US as Foxconn) expected to pick up
orders for the iBook. At the time, the company was said to have scalped engineering
talent from ECS and was expanding production to meet this demand.
Perhaps Hon Hai has finally won these orders, which at the present time would seem to
include a new model?
However, whoever has won Apple's iBook orders it would seem a sure bet that product
will be moved to China. A big part of the appeal of this consumer portable's appeal is
its diminishing price and driving the price down further requires a lower-cost
location.
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