The Fruit Union Suisse is 111 years old. For most of its history, it has had as its symbol a red apple with a white cross—the Swiss national flag superimposed on one of its most common fruits. But the group, the oldest and largest fruit farmer’s organization in Switzerland, worries it might have to change its logo, because Apple, the tech giant, is trying to gain intellectual property rights over depictions of apples, the fruit.
“We have a hard time understanding this, because it’s not like they’re trying to protect their bitten apple,” Fruit Union Suisse director Jimmy Mariéthoz says, referring to the company’s iconic logo. “Their objective here is really to own the rights to an actual apple, which, for us, is something that is really almost universal … that should be free for everyone to use.”
It matters to benchmark testers, and it matters to people who aren't cross-shopping any of these affected Macs anyway. And it matters to me because I'm irked Apple ever put us into this position.
But do you know who it doesn't matter to? Anyone who bought an M2 MacBook Air and is too busy marveling at how quickly their apps load. Even if they could load a fraction of a second quicker if they'd plumped for the 512GB of storage instead.
Historically, Apple has struggled in Southeast Asia. In Indonesia — the fourth-largest country in the world — Chinese companies like Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Realme have dominated smartphone sales, with high-end Android phones going for as little as $500. Chinese brands have done a much more effective job than Apple at localizing their marketing, as well as creating goodwill with local communities through job creation and disaster relief initiatives.
But Apple has been making strides in Indonesia on the strength of its product quality and the rising wealth of Southeast Asia as a whole, even through the uncertainty of the pandemic. Glen Cordoza, senior analyst at Counterpoint, told Rest of World Apple’s popularity in the region was boosted by the iPhone 13 and 14, and a consumer perception that Apple produces high-quality products.
Shame on you, Apple, for going after apple sellers with apples in their logos. Shame on you.
And may I remind you, Apple: you were the one who changed your distintive six-colored rainbow-striped logo to a generic picture of an apple. Now you are messing with other people's logos just because their logos are also apples and fruits?
Shame on you, Apple.
~
Thanks for reading.