Philip Delves-Broughton

Rotten Apple

Philip Delves Broughton says the company that was once so conscientious is now just as compromised as any other unscrupulous, profit-hungry corporate giant

issue 24 July 2010

There is a point in the life of all companies where they go from being truth machines to lie machines. The honesty necessary to succeed when times are difficult, either as a start-up or as a firm fighting off disaster, becomes a tendency to distortion when the cash is flowing freely and the profits seemingly endless.

Apple may not quite be there yet. But the firm regarded as the benchmark for elegant, popular technology is fast becoming one of the bad guys, a byword for the moral failings of global capitalism. While its profits soar, minor blips, like the recent news that the latest iPhone has a dodgy antenna, can be smoothed over. Last week, all it took was a presentation by its revered CEO Steve Jobs, and consumers were reassured. Apple looked like it cared and so the share price can spin ever upwards.

Yet Apple’s real problems are far bigger.

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