The extent to which Apple CEO Tim Cook is guiding the company's transition to becoming a post-consumerist mass market product company should be a guide to others eyeing a similar evolution.
The world of change
Think about it and the reasoning is clear. Talk from China in the last week has been of reduced energy availability as the country struggles to meet climate targets. World leaders will soon gather to sketch out what will hopefully (but probably not) be an effective global strategy to address climate change. Part of this will require changes in how things are manufactured, what they are made of, and how they are sold.
Apple knows this.
And while the iPhone remains the company’s most important product and its fortune continues to be bound by hardware sales, Cook’s company has built up services income while working to at least mitigate some of the worst excesses of consumerism.
Three facets of the current iPhone 13 range help illustrate Apple’s commitment to this transition. As one of the world’s biggest consumer electronics manufacturers, Apple knows it must make these commitments, before it is forced to do so.
Here are some of the changes it is already making to prepare for post-consumerism.
The packaging
Apple has always designed the whole experience, including that feeling you get when you open the box. As it seeks to build a business in a more complex world, Apple has designed a new way to package products without using plastic wrap. With the iPhone 13, two tear-off paper tabs seal the box and wood used in packaging comes from responsibly managed forests. The company also uses 100% recycled tin, tungsten, and rare earth elements in the hardware.
