Apple widely relied on outsourcing for the iPod. And not only for manufacturing and assembly.
Apple iPod Outsourcing
In the years 2004 - 2005 the iPod mp3 decoder
and the controller chip was provided by PortalPlayer,
a Silicon Valley company based in Santa Clara.
The iconic iPod click wheel was provided by Synaptics.
The planar lithium battery was from Sony.
The 1.8 inch hard drive was provided by Toshiba.
The stereo digital-to-analog converter was supplied
by Wolfson Microelectronics Ltd. The flash memory
chip was provided by Sharp Electronics Corp.,
the firewire interface controller was a Texas
Instruments 1394, the power management and battery
charging integrated circuit was supplied by
Linear Technologies Inc.
more information on how the iPod works can be found on this very interesting article:
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/ipod3.htm
iPod Manufacturing and Assembly..
In the years 2004 - 2005 the iPods were manufactured
and assembled in China by a company named Inventec.
Currently the iPods are manufactured in China
by another company named Foxconn.
Therefore, if when using your iPod you feel
proud of a great "Made in USA" product,
well, don't get disappointed, but you are actually
using just another "Made in China"
item, built in China, conceived and engineered
in Cupertino, Silicon Valley, USA.
The iPhone is another "Made in China"
product, manufactured and assembled in China
by Foxconn.
Of interest:
iPod
Marketing Strategy
iPod
Competitors
iPhone
Marketing Strategy
Apple
Marketing Strategy
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