Why do we worship this greedy monster? ALEX BRUMMER on Apple's disdain for good corporate citizenship and it's search for ever greater profits
There could be no better illustration of the ruthless, unforgiving power of Tim Cook and the digital giant Apple than its decision to pull the rug out from under one of Britain’s chip designing champions, Imagination Technologies.
Apple decided without any prior warning to sever its long-term supply contract with Imagination, sending its shares plummeting almost 62 per cent on the stock market.
Hertfordshire-based Imagination was a pioneer of the chips which deliver the graphics found in most Apple devices from the iPhone to its TVs and watches. Yesterday its bosses stood helplessly by as the value of a company which was worth £2billion at its peak in 2012 fell to just £250million.
Imagination Technologies, pictured, pioneered the chips which deliver the graphics on many Apple devices, but bosses were unable to stop the share price collapse yesterday
Apple holds 8.2 per cent of Imagination's shares and is one of the company's biggest investors
What may surprise many is that Apple is one of the biggest investors in Imagination, holding 8.2 per cent of its shares.
Indeed, it has long been thought that Apple would do nothing to jeopardise the future of a loyal supplier. Instead, its unprovoked decision to abandon a supplier demonstrates its disdain for good corporation citizenship. It has shown a willingness to sweep everyone else aside in its aggrandisement and search for ever higher profits.
Most outrageously it once refused to allow the FBI ‘backdoor’ access to an Apple iPhone used by the gunman allegedly responsible for 14 deaths in the San Bernardino terrorist attack in 2015.
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The FBI had to call in cyber-security experts from Israel to access information on the iPhone that was critical to the probe. If ever there was a company which believes that rules, regulations and standards of behaviour are for everyone else but not itself, it is Apple.
The ditching of Imagination is part of a broader Apple commercial goal of directly controlling as much of production as possible as well as the customer experience. Apple wants its millions of global customers to use iTunes to access music, movies, TV shows, audio books and other entertainment.
It takes a cut from every transaction and money which should go to the writers, performers and broadcasters cascades into the Apple coffers.
What is really disgusting about the assault on Imagination is its plundering of its patents and intellectual property.
Samsung has been challenging Apple for years over alleged infringements of its design and technology.
It is Apple’s intention to develop its own independent graphics for products so that in the next 15 to 24 months it can do without Imagination’s innovation and expertise.
It presumably knows that if the patent war comes to the courts, a minnow such as the British company lacks the firepower to do lasting damage.
The lesson of this episode is that Apple is not to be trusted as a shareholder or a customer for vital components.
It is a great pity that consumers continue to worship at the Apple image without thought to the company’s contempt for the norms of corporate and social responsibility.
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