Early Outsourcing Successes with LaserWriter and PowerBook 100

Key Insight

While Apple generally resisted outsourcing, it strategically employed it as a tactic for specific products or when lacking in-house manufacturing expertise. A decade before its major shift, early ventures into outsourcing proved critical, notably saving the Macintosh from potential failure and establishing important relationships with Japanese manufacturers. These experiences provided Apple with crucial insights into the efficiency and quality achievable through external partners.

The LaserWriter, launched in 1984, exemplifies this early success. Recognizing the Macintosh's need for a printer capable of rendering its advanced fonts, Apple collaborated with Canon, which provided a low-cost laser copier engine. Apple designed the computer board, while Canon handled the manufacturing of both the printer and the board. Priced at 7000 dollars, significantly less than competitors' 30000+ dollar printers, the LaserWriter, coupled with Adobe's Postscript software and PageMaker, became the 'killer app' for the Mac, enabling desktop publishing and reinforcing Apple's identity, even leading some to consider Apple a 'printer company' during challenging times.

Similarly, the PowerBook 100, released in 1991, marked a pivotal moment in Apple's outsourcing evolution. Frustrated by the in-house assembly difficulties and high cost (7499 dollars) of its predecessor, the Macintosh Portable, Apple decided to outsource the PowerBook 100 to Sony in Japan. Sony's team of seven top engineers rapidly transformed the internals of a 4500 dollar Mac desktop into a five-pound laptop within just thirteen months, priced at 2300 dollars. This collaboration demonstrated the superior quality and efficiency of Japanese manufacturing, convincing Apple executives like Jean-Louis Gassée and Robert Brunner that their American counterparts could not compete, initiating a culture of relying on Japanese manufacturers for full product assembly beyond just components.