San Francisco Officials Plan to Block Apple Procurement

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Uh oh, Apple products no longer qualify to be purchased with city funds? I can actually see the smug cloud over San Francisco shrinking as I type this. :eek:

Officials with the San Francisco Department of Environment told CIO Journal on Monday they would send out letters over the next two weeks, informing all 50 of the city’s agencies that Apple laptops and desktops “will no longer qualify” for purchase with city funds. The move comes after CIO Journal reported that Apple had removed its laptops and notebooks from a voluntary registry of green electronics, called EPEAT.
 
Was just talking about this with the head of the multimedia department at my college. Looks like they won't be buying anymore computers from Apple as the result of them losing/dropping their EPEAT certification.
 
Was just talking about this with the head of the multimedia department at my college. Looks like they won't be buying anymore computers from Apple as the result of them losing/dropping their EPEAT certification.

What I really don't get is that the iMac was certainly still EPEAT certified and makes for a great computer for colleges, so why pull out all current computers that were already certified? Doesn't make any sense. That's basically giving the middle finger to the program.
 
Throwing away potential large scale procurement by government entities does seem odd for any company that's interested in making money. I'm wondering what they have up their sleeve to counter-act these losses.
 
Looks like they are just getting headlines for nothing here...

One of Apple’s newest products, the MacBook Pro with its high-resolution “Retina” screen, released last month, would not have been eligible for certification, according to EPEAT CEO Robert Frisbee. That’s because the computer’s battery was glued into its case making recycling, which requires separating out toxic parts, difficult,

The move by city officials is largely symbolic. Only around 500-700, or 1%-2% total, of municipal computers are Macs, Walton estimated. In 2010, the last year for which the city has complete reports, the city spent $45,579 on Apple desktops, laptops and iPads (the last of which are not certifiable under EPEAT and would not be barred by the city’s policy.) That’s compared to a total of $3.8 million spent overall on desktops and laptops, in 2010.

So they lost $45K in sales, but now they have a slimmer and more attractive Macbook Pro with the glued in battery. That should make up for the lost sales many times over.
 
But, now that I think about it, what devices does Apple manufacture anymore that you'd find in the classroom? The only products I ever saw where the really cheap white plastic apple devices. Weather it was laptops or iMacs, they were always cheap crap. Looking at their product line-up, they've thinned the product line down quite a bit, and it seems like they've done so by hacking off the entry-level tier.
 
Was just talking about this with the head of the multimedia department at my college. Looks like they won't be buying anymore computers from Apple as the result of them losing/dropping their EPEAT certification.

Same here. It doesn't really matter though since our mac "lab" is one table off in the corner with 4 imac's on it back to back. Hardly anyone uses it, I hear.
 
Throwing away potential large scale procurement by government entities does seem odd for any company that's interested in making money. I'm wondering what they have up their sleeve to counter-act these losses.
Their army of drooling zombies who buy anything with an Apple logo.
 
So you would want leadership that encourages one thing but does another?

That is kind of what I was thinking. There is probably a million arguments behind the EPEAT certification that goes into that alone but knowingly buying "non environmentally friendly electronics" probably wouldn't look too good in the next election. Especially with the region we are talking about.
 
I wonder if I could use this argument to keep Apples out of our environment. Nothing against Macs (I have one), just corporate management tools suck.
 
I don't understand why Apple has ANY government or corporate users.

The name of the game in these situations is getting the cheapest hardware that will do the job. Apple typically costs significantly more than the competition for negligible - if any - benefit...

Buying apple products for your business just sounds like a poor business decision to me.
 
Business people aren't usually tech people, perhaps their ease of use is was the deciding factor. Regardless, they won't know how much tech they really need. The stupid thing is that in some conference rooms, you get looked down upon for not using an Apple product.
 
Zarathustra[H];1038924195 said:
I don't understand why Apple has ANY government or corporate users.

The name of the game in these situations is getting the cheapest hardware that will do the job. Apple typically costs significantly more than the competition for negligible - if any - benefit...

Buying apple products for your business just sounds like a poor business decision to me.

Priced higher, no real advantage in structure quality, poor software support, poor warranty ...

Sounds like the best buy ever for commercial use by the government!
 
observation only,

1. This appears to be delicate.
2. Apple definitely understands the implication.
3. What potential (potential, not really sure) scenario Apple is presenting here is
3.1 Apple tells you everything up-front.
3.2 Government money will not be used to purchase its products..
3.3 If you still insist on Apple products (notice it says 95% on other web articles per the EPEAT regulation, not really 100%, seems open to interpretation), then you are responsible for this purchase.
3.4 Hence next time if there is comment on government scheme, per the basic principle, Apple seems to indicate it is not the party and no government money is involved, its users all buy on their own accord.

4. Environment protection and recycling seems like a good practice in general. However, Apple has chosen certain path. Hopefully they have good internal recycling implementation as its products are in wide spread use.
 
One possibility that I can think of is that Apple would be able to rein in on the refurbished market for their products further, now that the matter of disposal is made somewhat more inconvenient. Refurbished market is fairly lucrative...

by reining in on refurbished market, Apple can reduce a flow of used Apple products from the developed world markets to the developing world, while gaining additional revenue by having better grip on refurbished items.
 
Business people aren't usually tech people, perhaps their ease of use is was the deciding factor. Regardless, they won't know how much tech they really need. The stupid thing is that in some conference rooms, you get looked down upon for not using an Apple product.

They have all moron conference rooms? Guess that explains the economy...:p
 
Priced higher, no real advantage in structure quality, poor software support, poor warranty ...

Sounds like the best buy ever for commercial use by the government!

If I was head of a department looking to up hardware costs and increase spending, crApple hardware would be on the list. Along with blow. Though the blow is more useful.
 
Well, you guys are entertaining. I gotta give you that :)
 
This is completely intentional.

For some reason, Apple is playing hard-ball with EPEAT. Something had to happen behind the scenes for Apple to snap. Perhaps they're trying to ruin EPEAT over something?
 
This is just more innovation from Apple... "Green" is too hip so they innovated the attitude of not giving a crap.

Loss of sales? From the Government and Schools? HA Remember these are the places that get discounted prices, something Apple loaths and harms their 300% profit margin.

Everyone is pretty on point here though, creating a slim and sexy laptop is more important then serviceable parts etc etc etc. Don't know why anyone is surprised, this has been Apple's motto for the last 10 years.

Schools/Gov not even purchasing EPEAT compliant Apple devices is a bit much, though not mentioned in article specifically.
 
Oh for the fu#*$ sake, it's a bloody computer system regardless of who made it, it will be full of chemicals and materials that are not good for the environment, unless someone knows of a computer made from cheese and butterfly farts, that doesn't hurt anyone...well anyone that isn't allergic to either of those items anyway.

Maybe they should stop buying the Prius as well, it has batteries that will get tossed into a landfill once they have reached their lifespan, and it still spews out exhaust gases when it isn't running on the electricity it produced.
 
Did someone say smug? :D

smug.jpg
 
These memos mean nothing. You think that an already entrenched Apple infrastructure at a government agency/bureaucracy or some school is going to stop purchasing Apple products? Nope. All this means is that Apple no longer has monopolistic preference.. Big deal
 
These memos mean nothing. You think that an already entrenched Apple infrastructure at a government agency/bureaucracy or some school is going to stop purchasing Apple products? Nope. All this means is that Apple no longer has monopolistic preference.. Big deal

You mean that "monopolistic" 1% share of municipal computer they had in San Francisco?
 
I really wonder how much of this is Apple providing a fantastic excuse for companies not to procure their products.
 
So they lost $45K in sales, but now they have a slimmer and more attractive Macbook Pro with the glued in battery. That should make up for the lost sales many times over.
Not really. If the SF model works then other cities, states, or even the federal government may follow suit and Apple is out of the market that's paid by taxpayer's dollars altogether.

I for one will try everything I can to make damn sure that we don't spend a single taxpayer dollar on Apple products going forward. I rejoiced at this news tbh because it finally gives me a reason other than "this is a product that costs twice the amount for half the stuff" to reject Apple purchases.
 
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