Apple's EPEAT Fiasco
Just over a week ago, Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) pulled out of EPEAT, the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool certification system. The system gives computers, notebooks, and monitors (and soon imaging equipment and TVs) bronze, silver, or gold ratings based on required and optional criteria. Apple took its registered products off the registry and dropped out of the development of the IEEE-1680.n series of EPEAT standards.
I won't speculate on why Apple walked away in an apparent huff. But others did. Not only did Apple give up EPEAT certification (as expected), but it also gave up customers, which apparently came as a surprise. The City of San Francisco quickly declared that city agencies would no longer be allowed to purchase Apple equipment with city funds.
Perhaps more significantly, EPEAT-listed products must comprise 95 percent of federal government agency purchases in a category covered by an IEEE-1680 standard. Apple gave up any hope of federal purchases of its computers, notebooks, and perhaps iPads. (Slates/tablets cannot meet certain EPEAT requirements as specified today, but that will probably change in the next version of the IEEE-1680.1 computer standard.) Many state and city governments and large organizations list EPEAT as a criterion for computer and notebook purchases. Maybe Apple overlooked this consequence of its action.
The outcry from the blogosphere and fanzines was fierce. But just a week after the turmoil began, it ended with Apple relenting. It came back to EPEAT with its tail between its legs. Bob Mansfield, senior vice president of hardware engineering, signed his name to the company's mea culpa.
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