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NEW YORK, NY — Apple has made incremental improvements to its packaging over the years, like eliminating foam padding and shrinking boxes to fit laptops more snugly, but as with all packaging, there's always room for improvement.
The New York Times' Gadgetwise blog calls out the company's MobileMe packaging as one example of already-small packaging that could get even smaller.
Gadgetwise writes:
The software that keeps the contacts and calendars stored on your computers, iPad, and iPhone in sync comes in a cute cardboard box. Actually, the software doesn’t come in the box; you download that directly from the Apple Web site. What actually comes in the box is…virtually nothing.
Customers that buy the software from retailers get that empty box with an activation code on heavy paper, something Gadgetwise suggests could be replaced with a smaller sheet, or even distributed in an enveloped instead of a box.
The point is, as many companies also tout when they make minor packaging changes, every little bit helps.
Whether it's Bayer and Aleve getting rid of the cardboard boxes some pill bottles used to come in, Sprint replacing plastic bags and trays for cell phones with paper versions, or video game maker Ubisoft eliminating paper manuals from game cases, the culmination of all those small steps can have a big impact.
Take the case of Dell, which made numerous packaging changes like slicing a few millimeters from its Inspiron laptop boxes over the course of a year, allowing it to gut 8.7 million pounds of material from its packages since mid-2009.
MobileMe package - CC license by Flickr user ensign_at_e233net
Does anyone know what company
Does anyone know what company Apple uses to create their packaging?
I don't know how I feel about
I don't know how I feel about the whole cardboard box with a code inside. I like downloadable software a lot, but if you're getting something in a physical store, would it be better to have a physical disc?
I work for Best Buy and I've
I work for Best Buy and I've watched our warehouse guys unpack truck multiple times and to say the least apple is the worst when it come to packaging. We get everything from apple triple boxed. You have one massive box, which has about 20 smaller boxes and inside each box is one apple keyboard. Or apple magic mouses come in packaging about 5 times the size needed to fit two of them in but each box only contains one. Apple needs to take there think green save energy attitude into there shipping centers also.
I buy these things from
I buy these things from amazon.com or other retailers for a fraction of the price that apple wants for it. If it lets me continue doing this then I am ok with it getting smaller. Really its just makes sense for Apple to do it this way.
Apple also sells their
Apple also sells their AppleCare protection plans in CD-sized boxes, despite them containing nothing but a book full of terms and conditions, and a registration code. There isn't even any software to download, a-la MobileMe.
True, you pretty much just
True, you pretty much just get an activation code, maybe another sheet of paper with some description, and some stickers. Could they make the packaging smaller? Yes. There's no doubt about that.
The real question: Would it be 'wise' to make the packaging any smaller? A few things must be considered when trying to respond to this.
1) Accuracy of Inventory: Gift cards don't need to be inventoried because they don't have any actual value on them until they have been processed through a point of sale. Having something in an envelope would be a terrible pain to inventory because an envelope could far too easily get kicked under a counter or fall into a space to never be seen again. Inventory guys would have to count envelopes and report items as stolen even though it's sitting under the shelf where no human could find it.
2) presentation: Would you want to buy a $99 service if it only came in an envelope? AOL CDs used to come in envelopes and didn't have ANY perceived value. Apple is a luxury brand. Why sell an item and not give off the vibe that you're actually buying SOMETHING of value?
3) shrink: A tiny envelope is far too easy to steal. Even though the item being stolen is mostly space on a server somewhere, these are still reportable losses. No company in their right mind would go out of their way to make their service more 'stealable' in the name of being 'green.' At least this is the way I see the matter.