Zettabyte Shut Down

jpt.d writes "Zettabyte (those who put the SuperDrive in the eMac) have been shut down without detailed explaination. They only say, 'Due to Legal Restrictions we will no longer be able to sell our SuperDrive equipped eMac.' Does anyone have any more details about this?"

Comments

An educated guess..

[quantax]

Apple has maintained strict control over its distribution rights regarding Macs. I would imagine that they felt that Zettabyte was 'out of bounds' by selling their 'customized' macs. I was unaware of Zettabyte before this, but I am assuming they just added parts to existing macs and resell them. This would be no surprise, given Apple's iron grip on the control of the Mac in general, from design to distribution. I personally think this is dumb of Apple, since more macs being sold = bigger market share = more people buying mac stuff now & in the future. It has its disadvantages and advantages, but in light of Apple's financial situation (they have not been on really solid ground for a couple years), I would say the long term benefits of wider usage outweigh the short-term problems & loss of control. Just my $0.02.

Re:An educated guess..

[Schart]

First of all, I tend to agree that this is a less-than-good idea (not a bad one mind you) - but I can understand it. My gut-reaction is that Apple is thinking, "If they want a SuperDrive, they're going to get an iMac/G4 Tower. If they want inexpensive, eMac/CRT iMac." It all boils down to Money. Which many will say is bad, but Apple is in it to make money, no matter how cool I think Apple is, they still mainly want some of my money (which I'm happy to give considering what I get). So I can understand it. Here's a grain of salt, though: I have no desire to buy an eMac - SuperDrive or no.

That being said, I'd like to briefly comment on a few of the comments made in this post (the one I'm replying to) and it's parent:

1. Quantax wrote: "...they have not been on really solid ground for a couple years..." Which I don't think is entirely fair. Nor is it entirely accurate. Apple has been doing pretty darn well, as far as I'm concerned, in the past few years. Many consecutive quarters with black ink (even if it could have been blacker), 4-5 billion in cash in the bank, many industry-shaping products introduced (original iMac, PBG4, iBook, iPod and now the flat-panel iMac, OS X) to excellent sales AND reviews and some wickedly awesome applications (iTunes rocks the pants off a horse with the "search field" alone). I wouldn't exactly call that shaky ground. Sure, before a couple years ago things looked bad, and sure, the industry as a whole is slumping, but I think Apple is doing a bang-up job providing a great user experience - not just "bigger, faster, better" hype.

2. eyepeepackets says a. "[Apple is] ... slow to adapt to changing markets and technologies... I would humbly state that this may be almost exactly the opposite of truth. They got rid of the insipid floppy (good riddance), made USB what it is today practically single-handedly, FireWire. Not to mention the way the rest of the industry tends to follow Apple's footsteps in many ways: colorful cases (one could argue for or against this, I'll leave that for another discussion), the whole "Desktop Video" thing, I'll not even mention This little thing (oops, I just did). I believe it is misinformed to say that Apple is behind the curve, or that they don't innovate.

3. eyepeepackets also seems to completely ignore the fact that the Mac was the "first" "personal" computer when he/she states: "It's going on twenty years since the first Macs came out and look where they are in the market -- hey, about where they were twenty or so years ago. It's simply irresponsible to even attempt to compare the marketshare they had when the first Macs came out (which, I would imagine, was somewhere around 100% of the 4 people that could afford such a thing back then) and today.

4. eyepeepackets then went on to write: ... Oh wait, your second-to-last statement was just flamebait, so I'll pat you on your little, patronizing head and IGNORE IT. (Mostly because of your "cranky" disclaimer! ;)

Perhaps I have Apple-tinted glasses on, I'm not trying to attack anybody here, but, please, try to give Apple credit where credit is due. Even if you are wearing penguin-(or more likely, MSFT-)tinted glasses.

Using Apple trademarks most likely..

[linuxbert]

i think the big issue is with someone selling a modified product, and calling it an emac.

the company that makes the rackable g4's doesnt call them powermac g4's, they have their own model name. and package them differently.
Apple sells the emacs to Zettybyte, apple doesnt care what happens to them, what they likely have the issue with is people buying these, thinking that they are supported by apple, when they are not.

Zettybyte doesnt call them the z-1000, they call them an apple emac, and likely ship the modified units in apple boxes, with apple documentation.
and buyers (at least a percentage) call apple for support on these machines, with voided warrantys.
this likely causes customer confusion, and dissatisfaction with the Apple Brand and is the reson for the halting of production.

ummmm

[linuxbert]

apple is one of 2 pc makers to turn a profit this year. dell is the other.

ibm also did, but they do lots of things other then just pc's

Hello?

[BitGeek]

Well, Apple did something to protect itself and now everyones goign to go screaming about how "its just this type of stuff that keeps macs costing $10,000 and rquiring a refrigerator compresser to cool them" or some equivilent nonesense.

Think about it.

This company was taking new machines, modifying them, and selling them.

How is apple supposed to provide warrantee work for them? How is apple supposed to deal with the damage to its brand when these machines don't work and the warrantee is violated?

If you're going to sell apple technology-- and this is true of Dell, and other brands, and any seller from TechData down to CompUSA you HAVE To have a license. No license, you don't get to sell.

Just as I can't go out and start selling high end Sony car stereos -- a license they only give to their biggest volume dealers-- Apple protecting its brand in this way is exactly what every hardware manufacturer in the world does as well.

Course this won't mean anything to the bigots that see apple as evil and don't understand business at all so they conjecture up some moral law that this supposedly violates. "SEE! This is what happens when you don't sell yourh ardware under GPL! You're a SLAVE TO STEVE JOBS!!!!"

Even the GPL is a *license*!

Re:right of first sale? (or whatever)

[linuxbert]

it is a modified emac, if i ordered the part listed on the box, i would not get one with a superdrive.

your right it is an emac, made by apple, however the product as sold is not an apple model, and should not be called one.

calling the product an emac causes confusion because consumers will go into stores and ask for the superdrive emac, which does not exist.

apple sold an emac to zettybyte. zettybyte changed it from its original form, and design options, and therefore shouldnt use apple marketing names for their product.

it would be perfectly ok to tell people its a modified emac with a super drive (that is what it is) it just should nto be marketed as an apple emac, which it was

Re:right of first sale? (or whatever)

[Wildcat J]

It's not a "right of first sale" issue, as Zettabyte in not a consumer but a reseller. From what I've seen, they're being sold as new, so what about your Apple warranty? Suddenly, it becomes Apple's problem, which is why they're stopping it.

In your example, you're not an "authorized Honda reseller", so there are fewer guarantees to the buyer. In fact, I believe you would be required to sell the Civic as "used" because you, as a consumer, did get the "right of first sale."

-J