January 17, 2008

Apple’s Green Approach Focuses On Software Updates

By focusing on software upgrades to Apple’s iPhone, Apple TV and iPod Touch, instead of hardware,upgrades, Apple and Steve Jobs are making the world greener, according to PC Magazine.  Software generates no landfill waste, no heavy-metal poisoning and no toxic clouds.  This will become increasingly important as we see new innovations in technologies such as software-defined radios and software-defined antennas.But Apple isn’t the only company innovating green, notes this author; it’s just doing a better job marketing.  TiVo has been putting new features into Series 2 boxes for years, Archos did a poor job showing that its 704 video player is upgradeable, and cell phone makers often introduce upgrades in their products “quietly and awkwardly, with much confusion and little fanfare.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean Apple isn’t releasing new PCs. At Macworld this week, Jobs introduced MacBook Air, which is even drawing applause from Greenpeace:

“This time Steve is on the right path for a green Apple,” Greenpeace wrote on its Website. The MacBook Air is a strong entry in the race to build a green PC. As a mercury and arsenic free laptop it exceeds European Standards (RoHS directive exemptions) and raises the bar for the rest of the industry. The BFR and PVC free printed wiring on the motherboard is a big step forward, but not a first. Sony achieved that last November with the Vaio notebook.”

While a step up from the way Greenpeace has lambasted Apple in the past, the organization still got in some digs: “The MacBook Air has less PVC and BFRs than other Mac computers, but it is not entirely free from those hazardous chemicals. Had it been it would have made Apple an ecological leader. “

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