Open Cloze

Gap-fill exercise

Fill in all the gaps, then press "Check" to check your answers.
EPEAT CEO: Apple's Exit Spurred a Customer Backlash

On Monday, Apple public with its decision to pull its products a popular environmental registry. On Friday, it's back in. What gives?

It turns the customer backlash was big.

In a letter posted the Apple website, hardware chief Bob Mansfield calls Apple's move to pull computers from the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) environmental lists "a mistake," and says Apple's relationship EPEAT "has become stronger as a of this experience."

But there's a more to it than that.

In a phone conversation with EPEAT CEO Robert Frisbee, I learned that Apple's exit from the organization major waves. Frisbee said he got a flood of feedback "dozens" of purchasers, many of were concerned that they wouldn't be to follow through planned purchases that included Apple equipment.

EPEAT-certified goods up more than $65 billion in purchases annually. Frisbee said he didn't know Apple received the same volume of feedback. (But I bet they .)

Here's Apple's reversal really matters. The old Apple didn't care this kind of stuff. It sold its products overwhelmingly to individual , and one of the advantages was that it didn't to worry too much the preferences of corporate purchasing departments.

Sure, were small exceptions — it sold an eMac computer to education customers that was crafted the needs of that institutional audience, for example. But Apple has largely shrugged the concerns of corporate customers, at least when they conflicted Apple's internal priorities making a more elegant product.

Note that its laptops no have the removable batteries I.T. departments covet, and the version of Apple's Final Cut Pro editing program was a drastic departure from previous versions it upended professional video workflows, and prompted some pro video shops abandon the product.

Which brings us to EPEAT situation. The new Apple is poised become the largest technology company in the world revenue – and if it's going to fulfill potential, it can't afford to alienate major purchasers of Macs, iPhones and iPads.

No question, that's exactly Apple's withdrawal of its products from the EPEAT registry would have . Some major buyers like educational customers and governments require that or all of their technology purchases be EPEAT certified. No certification, purchase.

Even iPhones and iPads don't fall under the of EPEAT certification, they'd still be affected.

If organizations no longer able to purchase Macs, it would be harder them to increase purchases of smaller-ticket mobile items.

Perhaps important, Apple had developed a reputation corporate purchasing departments for not being the easiest supplier to work .

The real danger here might been bruising the trust of the institutional purchasers will be a key constituency if the iPad and iPhone are going to become mainstays of the office as as the home.


Adapted from: CNBC, July 13, 2012.