- Tuesday, 9 February 2010
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What's the definition of a heatsink for a hot journalist? Answer: the local boozer
Apple is a chip bully
THERE ARE GROWING COMPLAINTS in Korea that Apple is manipulating NAND flash memory prices through dodgy purchasing strategies.
According to the Korean Times, the giant memory makers Samsung and Hynix can't do anything about Apple's antics because they need its business for now.
Basically Apple is ordering more chips from semiconductor makers than the amount it actually buys from them. When it has all the chips it wants, Apple buys a smaller amount. Then as the price goes down it buys some more.
This causes the supply and demand cycle in the global NAND flash market to become unstable and depresses prices. Last month NAND flash memory prices fell by five per cent.
A Korean industry official branded Apple's memory chip buying practices as "absurd" and said they could result in the industry really suffering.
In the long term, if key memory players exit the NAND flash memory chip market then Apple could be left with only one or two suppliers that will jack up their prices sky high.
However there might also be something else at play here. It seems that Apple is really worried about rival handsets powered by the Google-backed Android operating system.
Gartner has already predicted that the Iphone will be edged out of the market by Android by 2012 and then Job's Mob will be unable to control the NAND flash memory chip market.
It seems that Apple is abusing the market for all it can get now, knowing that in two years it will not be such an important player. µ
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Isn't it being replaced by eMMC's?
he just regurgitates (and spins) stuff he reads on appleinsider anyway
Anything that comes from or is relative to Apple is regurgitated and spinned in the end. LOL
Apple wouldn't bully it's partners, no siree, things like the lack of Android phones on ATT is a pure coincidence...
The behavior attributed to Apple would be a contract violation and an unethical business practice, though not criminal.
It's ironic that these manufacturers are complaining about Apple abusing its strength in the market when one of them (Samsung) was recently involved in an illegal DRAM price fixing scheme:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/security-central/samsung-exec-pleads-guilty-in-dram-price-fixing-case-952
These illegal actions actually led to jail time.
I don't condone any of this. I'll just point out that (IMO) Nick once again seems to find Apple blemishes unusually worthy of reposting.
@Irony
okay well lets see, so because i saw a guy steal a car it makes it okay for me to burglarize his home?
Welcome to the silicon jungle.
Never said that. Never implied that. Went out of my way to indicate that I was not implying anything like that.
I understand the sort of shallow commentary that would provoke the sort of response you provided (they annoy me too), but my comment was not of that type.
As if Microsoft and most other large players don't do the same.. Get a grip of reality and not be just another Farrell/Microsoft shill.