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1/12/05: Editorial: Think different on computer waste
Think different on computer waste
Mercury News Editorial
For Apple Computer, it's never been just about combining chips to make a device. It's been a about making a statement.
From the original Macintosh to the iPod music player, Apple has promoted non-conformity and individual expression. Apple has sold a lifestyle that is hip, sensitive and forward-thinking.
So Apple should feel a bit stung by the protesters at Macworld taking it to task for indifference to e-waste.
When it comes to worrying about what happens to its computers and iPods when owners replace them, Apple has not been so avant-garde. It's hardly an industrial outlaw. The company was occasionally helpful, and occasionally not, on e-waste legislation in Sacramento. It operates a take-back program, for a fee. It's a part of eBay's new ``Rethink Initiative,'' which gives consumers all the information they should need to find a place to sell, donate or recycle a computer.
But on e-waste, Apple is what it says it never wants to be -- just one of the crowd.
While Apple has only a tiny share of the personal-computer market, it continues to have a much larger share of the computer-world mind-share, which is one reason the protesters were where they were.
It has been a bold leader in many respects. Why not on e-waste?
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/10624949.htm?1c
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