Apple's Beats brand in April unveiled the Powerbeats Pro, a redesigned wire-free version of its popular fitness-oriented Powerbeats earbuds.
Finnish Prime Minister Again 'Blames' Apple for Country's Economic Struggles
Finland's Prime Minister Alexander Stubb told CNBC in an interview that Apple is to blame for the decline of the country's two primary export industries, information technology (led by Nokia) and paper. "The iPhone killed Nokia and the iPad killed the paper industry, but we’ll make a comeback," said Stubb in response to a question about Finland's business environment following the country's recently downgraded credit rating. While the comment certainly appears to be more of a pithy jest than an outright accusation against Apple, it does aptly describe how several of the country's major boom industries have seen their fortunes slip in the face of a changing marketplace.
As noted by TechCrunch, this isn't the first time Stubb has singled out Apple in reference to his country's economic decline since he took over as Prime Minister in June of this year. Speaking in July, Stubb made a similar comment mentioning Apple.
Apple may be an easy scapegoat for politicians to blame, but the Cupertino company is not responsible for Finland's struggles. While Apple did lead a revolution in the mobile phone industry with the iPhone, the Cupertino company did so by focusing on high-end handsets and not the entry-level phones that Nokia was selling by the millions. With a plethora of Android handset options at a variety of price points, Samsung instead was much a greater threat to the long-term survival of the Finnish company. Nokia has since sold its devices unit to Microsoft, tying its future to that of Windows Phone.
Apple's iPad also is not to blame for the downturn in the paper industry, which has been in decline for years. The reasons for the slowdown in paper manufacturing are myriad and include the increasing use of email over traditional mail, the adoption of digital documents, and the steady decline in print magazine and newspaper subscriptions. With tablet shipments reaching only 200 million globally, the proliferation of Kindles and tablets, such as the iPad, are not yet significant enough to decimate the paper industry as Stubb implies.
Ironically, Apple and other technology companies have been supporting Nokia even as its mobile phone sales decline. In 2011, Apple ended an ongoing patent battle with Nokia and has been paying the Finnish company an undisclosed amount to license cellular technology owned by the company. This intellectual property may be netting Nokia a collective $685 million per year from Apple and other technology companies.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
As noted by TechCrunch, this isn't the first time Stubb has singled out Apple in reference to his country's economic decline since he took over as Prime Minister in June of this year. Speaking in July, Stubb made a similar comment mentioning Apple.
"We had two pillars we stood on: one was the IT industry, the other one was the paper industry," Stubb told Swedish financial newspaper Dagens Industri.In the same conversation with Dagens Industri, Stubb quipped "Steve Jobs took our jobs," with the promise that "this is beginning to change."
"Nalle Wahlroos, president of (Swedish bank) Nordea, described it quite well when he said the iPhone knocked out Nokia and the iPad knocked out the forestry," accelerating the fall of paper demand.
Apple may be an easy scapegoat for politicians to blame, but the Cupertino company is not responsible for Finland's struggles. While Apple did lead a revolution in the mobile phone industry with the iPhone, the Cupertino company did so by focusing on high-end handsets and not the entry-level phones that Nokia was selling by the millions. With a plethora of Android handset options at a variety of price points, Samsung instead was much a greater threat to the long-term survival of the Finnish company. Nokia has since sold its devices unit to Microsoft, tying its future to that of Windows Phone.
Apple's iPad also is not to blame for the downturn in the paper industry, which has been in decline for years. The reasons for the slowdown in paper manufacturing are myriad and include the increasing use of email over traditional mail, the adoption of digital documents, and the steady decline in print magazine and newspaper subscriptions. With tablet shipments reaching only 200 million globally, the proliferation of Kindles and tablets, such as the iPad, are not yet significant enough to decimate the paper industry as Stubb implies.
Ironically, Apple and other technology companies have been supporting Nokia even as its mobile phone sales decline. In 2011, Apple ended an ongoing patent battle with Nokia and has been paying the Finnish company an undisclosed amount to license cellular technology owned by the company. This intellectual property may be netting Nokia a collective $685 million per year from Apple and other technology companies.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
[ 118 comments ]
Top Rated Comments
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62 months ago
The word "blame" has such negative connotations. It seems more like the Prime Minister attributes the economic difficulties to consumer preference. The market has spoken.
62 months ago
No you asshat your lack of innovation and adaptability to change is what screwed your economy. put someone else in charge and fast.
62 months ago
I'm not sure he's truly "blaming" Apple in the bitter sense of the word. He might be making a couple quips, but I think he's admitting reality, and giving a lot of credit to Apple. After all, Apple has helped revolutionize the world, so to act like Apple really had no effect is also a farce.
MR is playing around in Fox's 'no spin zone' on this one... tisk tisk, MR.
MR is playing around in Fox's 'no spin zone' on this one... tisk tisk, MR.
62 months ago
Apple should just buy Finland to make safari snappier but Steve would never allowed this. :apple:
Doomed! :mad:
(is that all of them?) :D
Doomed! :mad:
(is that all of them?) :D
62 months ago
If this guy really believes that Apple is to blame for the fact that those industries were just coasting along thinking nothing would ever change, then he really shouldn't be Prime Minister!
62 months ago
I'm not sure he's truly "blaming" Apple in the bitter sense of the word. He might be making a couple quips, but I think he's admitting reality, and giving a lot of credit to Apple. After all, Apple has helped revolutionize the world, so to act like Apple really had no effect is also a farse. MR is playing around in Fox's 'no spin zone' on this one... tisk tisk, MR.
^^This. Similar to the "lure customers" from the Apple Pay thread.
Come on MR. Stuff like this only invites Yahoo comment section level of discourse. :o
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