acknowledge my experience with Apple from a business standpoint is tainted. I was touring an Apple supplier plant in Suzhou, I believe, where they assembled circuit boards for iPads. The moment I stepped out onto the floor you could easily sense the tension and anxiety level the workers felt working there.

Apple demanded extremely high quality AND production standards that are difficult to sustain on a prolonged basis. I literally saw one guy get up from his work station, clearly distressed, who ran out off the floor and up some steps. He had gone up to the top of the building (four stories) and jumped off. It was very disturbing and I had trouble sleeping that night.

As a Shipping container supplier, the company I was consulting for was negotiating a contract with Apple. In all my business experience, I'd never had a company demand seeing a Supplier's cost sheets, and upon doing so, dictating the price to the supplier that only allowed a 12% margin. Their arrogance was astounding, and they basically said if you don't want the business, there's plenty in line behind you. They didn't allow for meaningful cost adjustments for your materials. Consequently, if you won the contract and your costs went up with that lean of a margin, it could run some companies out of business with the volume you'd be running at. Apple has no problem with that and could care less about long-term relationships or the success of the suppliers. So here is a company that dictates their costs to suppliers, and then on the sales end dictates their hyper-inflated prices to consumers who are rabid and devoted enough to pay those prices.

Hence, my less than favorable impression of Apple. Other companies may be just as bad in some industries, but my impression of them in over 30+ years business experience, never saw one.