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CEO Steve Jobs defended the company's record on recycling and other environmental concerns, which were the subject of a picket that attracted about a dozen protesters outside the shareholder meeting, held at the company's headquarters.
After Rachel Gibson, who was speaking on behalf of an environmentally oriented mutual fund called Green Century Funds, asked why Apple wasn't doing more to take back its products, Jobs thanked Gibson for the question and launched into a lengthy speech on Apple's environmental efforts, noting that the company took back 1,500 tons of material in 2004 through its recycling program, with 90 percent of the 3 million pounds of keyboards, mice and computers able to be recycled.
"They have an image of being proactive, but they are being really reactive," said Sheila Davis, who recently took over as director of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. "Other companies like HP and Dell are really stepping forward."Another member of the environmental group, Gopal Dayaneni, criticized Jobs, saying the Apple executive called the group last week and asked it not to picket, but was unwilling to sit down for a meeting to discuss the issues.
But Jobs said that Apple takes its environmental responsibilities seriously and added that the company is leading the industry on environmental issues. He also expressed frustration at Apple being singled out for criticism over its peers, calling it "bullshit."
Jobs said that he takes issue with the notion put forth by environmental activists that product recycling should be free to consumers.
"We think $30 is a reasonable price to charge," he said, pointing out that Dell charges about $20 to recycle a complete PC system and Hewlett-Packard charges about $40. However, as Jobs was speaking, both HP and Dell sweetened their offers as part of Earth Day campaigns, cutting at least temporarily the cost of sending gear back to the companies.
Jobs swipes at Longhorn
Activists, who launched a campaign against Apple in January, held up signs reading "It's Earth Day, not trash the earth day," and "Steve, don't be a bad apple." One man showed up dressed as an iPod inscribed with the words: "My trendy toy turned toxic trash today."
In particular, protesters focused on the fact that Apple's iPod comes with a battery that cannot be replaced easily by consumers and the fact Apple charges $100 for a new battery--a significant percentage of the cost of the iPod itself. "Most consumers are just going to throw it away and get a new one," Davis said.
Jobs took issue with that, pointing out that consumers often throw batteries into the trash. He also said that tens of thousands of iPod customers have replaced their batteries through Apple and that Apple properly disposes of the depleted batteries. He went on to note that while the iPod has a small amount of lead, much more of the harmful compound is in cathode-ray tube monitors, which Apple has abandoned for all but its eMac computers.
As to the lack of women in senior positions, Jobs said there are many women in different roles at the company, but said he understands the company has a dearth of female executives.
"It is a deficiency we have," he said. "We recognize it and we are trying to solve it."
The board issue has come up repeatedly, as all seven of Apple's directors are men. Jobs said the company is having a tough time recruiting board members generally because new regulations make the job "onerous."
During the formal business part of the meeting, which lasted less than 15 minutes, Apple shareholders approved the company's current slate of directors for another year, approved expansions of the stock option and employee stock purchase program and also approved a new cash bonus program, which Apple had said was necessary despite the fact that four top executives had received stock-based compensation totaling more than $25 million in the past year.
Shareholders voted down a proposal from a metal workers' union to focus incentive pay on restricted stock grants based on specific performance characteristics. Apple had opposed the idea.
There were also the usual questions about which new products were on the way (no comment), whether Apple would offer a dividend (no) and a bevy of suggestions as to ways the company could better market the Mac against Windows-based computers. Shareholders, many of them longtime Mac users, packed Apple's Town Hall conference center, as another two dozen stockholders and reporters were housed in an overflow room.
Jobs was also asked about his health, particularly as he is seen as the primary architect of the company's recent success. Jobs took time off last year to have surgery for pancreatic cancer, but has since returned to the CEO job full time.
"I'm vertical," he quipped, adding that he did not want to give a full update on his health because then he would be expected to do so on a regular basis. "I feel just fine. I'm doing great."
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comes with a battery that cannot be replaced easily by
consumers and the fact Apple charges $100 for a new battery--
a significant percentage of the cost of the iPod itself. 'Most
consumers are just going to throw it away and get a new one,'
Davis said."
Hey, how about they just make the iPod run on double-A's. You
want billions of batteries thrown away a year, that'll do it.
I can't believe they're getting picketed for a sliver of a
rechargable battery problem.
I guess the environmental branch of the current government
headed by former timber and mining lobbyists isn't enough of a
problem to focus on. They need to pick on a pretty green
company for its sector. At 2.5% marketshare worldwide at that.
Regardless... you are even wrong about their market share... which was recently bumped up to 3.9%
unemployed by choice so not competing for jobs. More for the
rest of us.
amounts to more than "Apple is a big conglomerate who hates
the environment." I'd be interested in hearing what exactly they
think Apple is doing that is so anti-environment...
Right. People are just going to toss their $200-500 iPod because of a $100 battery? That's a ridiculous statement from the protestors and just shows how weak their position is.
iPod in the trash because there battery doesn't work. Besides
you can go to http://www.ipod911.com/ and get a battery and
toolkit and replace the battery yourself for $39. That $100
battery replacement story is old news and is not true anymore.
Would you toss your laptop in the trash if your battery died?
Let's use some common sense people.
I think Jobs is enigmatic but not pragmatic. Regime change is due. I'd step down (like Gates) and run Pixar instead. Still ahve board control, but allow some fresher, friendlier persona onboard. Apple lost track to profit, now that all the cool folks are shareholders...
Doesn't EVERY computer come with stryfoam packaging? Would you rather them buy a Dell and be offended by thier packaging instead of Apple's?
Is Adobe and Macromedia more friendly to designers with their frequent updates of Acrobat, Photoshop, Deramweaver, etc?
enigmatic means puzzling. I've herd genius, hot tempered, and charismatic, but never heard anyone describe Jobs as puzzling before. You may be the first.
Pragmatic means practical. What has Jobs done that's not practical? Isn't he being critized because you believe him to be more practical than enviromentally concious?
I don't make it a point of criticizing people's comment. But nothing you said made sense.
Batteries are bad, and need to be recycled in an eco-friendly manner. I believe Apple is offering that service, along with other tech mfgs. If you want to throw it away, then just pull the battery out and drop it off at a NiCad battery recycling facility near your house.
Packaging waste is the other big issue, and the need to develop more eco-friendly packaging is important. Apple's Shuffle packaging, for example, is one of the smarter approaches to reducing landfill waste. The package is considerably smaller than equivalent MP3 players, thus less waste. The hang tab is also the security closure, one less piece of plastic or cardboard to throw away. They don't have a lot of extra crap in the box either that you don't need or use (I don't need another recharger brick). The carton is made of recycled waste paper, and what little plastic they do have in the carton is recyclable PETE (1). Same stuff your milk bottles are made of.
Bravo Steve.
new products so that's why there were protesters picketing.
Would you ever see any outside a dell product show? Think
about it no one cares if they release a new dell dimension, but
when Apple does something ears and eyes are wide open.
Apples packaging is functional and beautiful, as for their
products they last longer than pc's in general and use less
plastic than other manufacturers. Their most popular CPU's are
also smaller compared to their pc counterparts so they use less
materials. The mac mini encourages you to reuse your old
display. The iPod uses a rechargable battery not disposable
ones. They should be picketing the US government to have
European energy standards and encourage alternative energy
resources. I wonder what cars they drive, and how much
embodied energy the materials in their houses have, they
probably fly across the US more than once a year too. You can't
just look at one aspect of being environmentally friendly as this
isn't sustainable, perhaps they should look at themselves first.
"********" indeed!
basically a portable backup drive. So go ahead and buy yourself
a new ipod and put the old ones to good use. Or give it to
someone who doesnt have a backup drive.
- Steve Jobs has Balls
- by hatandglasses13 April 25, 2005 3:48 PM PDT
- Gotta hand it to Jobs for telling it like it is. I think Billy's virgin
- Reply to this comment
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(23 Comments)ears are bleeding.