MacBook Pro ... the Apple product that caused chaos at EPEAT!
In a remarkable turn of events, Apple Inc who had withdrawn all of it’s 39 products from the eco-friendly EPEAT has rejoined the green catalogue.
Describing the withdrawal as a ‘mistake’, the tech giant announced that it would rejoin the American EPEAT and regain the gold ratings of all it’s products. In less than a week after quitting on the environmental ratings system, Apple has done a sharp U-turn believed to be “forced” down upon by government agencies.
Bob Mansfield, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, said “We’ve recently heard from many loyal Apple customers who were disappointed to learn that we had removed our products from the EPEAT rating system. I recognise that this was a mistake. Starting today, all eligible Apple products are back on EPEAT.”
Why did Apple take a U-turn? The logic is simple – the majority of Apple customers in US are the government agencies, schools and research organisations. Without an EPEAT rating, this vast majority are ‘prohibited’ by guidelines from purchasing Apple products. Additionally, products without EPEAT certifications lose brand value. Combining both the factors results in sharp decrease in sales and hence profits.
To protect sales, reputation and long-term stability it makes sense for Apple to rejoin EPEAT and adhere to the green policies. Bob reassured it’s customers, “Our commitment to protecting the environment has never changed, and today it is as strong as ever.”
The criticism on the latest and top-end Retina MacBook Pro, which had glued-on batteries which were not recyclable, had triggered the immature move to withdraw all the Apple products from EPEAT.
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Smart move by Apple. Without EPEAT, Apple would have crashed