>I also have a hard time seeing how $25M worth of lasers is a supply chain innovation; most other manufacturers would probably prefer to make the laptop for $6

>I also have a hard time seeing how $25M worth of lasers is a supply chain innovation; most other manufacturers would probably prefer to make the laptop for $6 (amortization) less It looks like Apple's supply logistics chain is similar to WalMart's supply chain. WalMart has deep connections with their suppliers, requiring suppliers to hand over financial records, dictating factory processes, and demanding yearly cost reduction. The difference (and it is the major difference) is that Apple focuses their relationships with suppliers on quality of process and availability by locking up supply years ahead of time. WalMart just focuses on cost reduction. The innovation is that Apple willing to pay high upfront costs years in advance to design efficient manufacturing processes so that later it would be able to get both cheaper component rates and a guaranteed supply. Jonathan Ive has said that most of his time is spent designing processes rather than products. Check out this excerpt from the [Objectified](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectified http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectified) documentary: [Youtube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=t0fe800C2CU#t=149s http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...)