There is no doubt about it: Apple does know how to make awesome events, presentations and announcements. This was also the case during this week's event on 21 March: clean stage, great slides combined with a personal experience and a clear customer centric focus.
Although I really enjoyed the event ... I missed the WOW effect at the end ... no surprising new products, devices or services announced. Did I miss something ... or was I just a bit disappointed ... untill I noticed that Apple did make an awesome announcement: LIAM
LIAM is a large-scale robot, with 29 freestanding robotic arms at various skill stations. But while most assembly-line robots help put together products you'll one day hold in your hands, Liam is hard at work disassembling your ruined, returned iPhones.
LIAM's mission is to reduce the impact of electronic waste....LIAM is able to disassemble an iPhone with ultimate precision in less than 11 seconds with no damage or broken parts. About 350 iPhones are turned around each hour, equivalent to 1.2 million iPhones each year. A perfect example of ultimate recycling from A to Z, this all withouth one single human touch or intervention.
So .. as a fact, Apple actually made 2 hidden but major announcements during their 21 March event:
1. Apple is completely robotizing and automating their production, assembly or disassembly process. A robot is extremely effective and efficient in every tasks that you learn it...it's never ill, it does not complain and it never needs vacation or strikes: technology never sleeps ... it will just repeat the tasks you learned it, continiously without any kind of interruption. One LIAM = disassemble 350 iPhones per hour or about 1.2 million iPhones each year.
Note(s): As of right now, Apple puts Liam to work Monday through Friday — it gets the weekend off. Apple also has optimized the line so if one robot breaks down, the entire process can continue for about 30 minutes.
2. Apple will optimize and reduce the overal (production) costs with %% digits.
Since LIAM is able to recover all iPhone parts and precious metals without damage, all materials are as a fact ready to be recycled and re-used. No loss of expensive and precious metals ... buy once, re-use many without any kind or quality loss. Next to this, LIAM can be installed everywhere, as a fact LIAM is now located near Cupertino (HQ Apple)...and near Apple's huge 1,300-acre solar farm ...as a fact, LIAM could be installed wherever energy is for "free"
So, is this hidden announcement as innocent and green as it seems ... ?
Apple's innovation is going way beyond great and personnal devices: it's all about being World's most valuable company in every single way we look at it.
More info about
- LIAM: http://mashable.com/2016/03/21/apple-liam-recycling-robot/#B0OZLBbroqqy
- Solar Farm: http://mashable.com/2015/02/10/tim-cook-apple-solar-farm/#FK5iAF2ITOqG
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