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First look: Apple designed packaging for third-party accessories arriving at Apple Stores (Gallery)

Recently, we discovered that Apple was in the process of revamping its third-party accessory packaging within retail stores. As reported by our own Mark Gurman, Apple has been working on this co-designed packaging with accessory makers for the past six months and now it’s finally hitting store shelves…

The idea here is to have a uniform look across all products sold within Apple retail stores. As expected, the packaging is all white, with a product shot, and simple fonts to identify the accessory inside. This doesn’t apply to all accessories available in Apple retail stores at the moment, but there are plans to work with more accessory makers in the future.

We’ve put together a gallery of the new packaging which have become available today in many Apple Stores around the world. Macotakara also published a closeup shot of the new Mophie packaging design which we first detailed in our initial discovery of the Apple memo sent to employes regarding the change.

Thanks, Mason

Check out the gallery below (click to enlarge):

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Comments

  1. friarnurgle - 9 years ago

    Is Apple pushing a “greener” packaging standard here? Think that might be a better story.

    • AeronPeryton - 9 years ago

      Or packaging they know isn’t being made by children in Myanmar. Maybe since Apple has all but stopped selling boxed software they just had a massive surplus of packing materials that needed to be used up.

      • patthecarnut - 9 years ago

        Yes because iPhones are not made by children, right?

    • patthecarnut - 9 years ago

      Not to beat a dead horse but, my wife is in the corrugated paper industry and she tells me brown packaging is made from recycled and recyclable. The white and even mottled white is NOT made of recycled and not as easy to recycle. So Apple’s “think of the planet” is kinda BS if eco is in fact the reason they are doing this. If it IS, it’s on false pretenses and merely appearing they are going more eco. Either way, it looks cheap…

      • thesamkatz - 9 years ago

        They’re not going for a “think of the planet” mood with this one. They reached out to the third-party accessory makers that they like the most, and had them change their packaging to make it look better on the accessory wall, and easier for customers to open and feel. A good example is the Tech 21 and Lifeproof cases. Tech 21 previously used a hard plastic casing that had a weird color scheme and wasn’t intuitive to open. Lifeproof previously had a piece of tape covering the opening mechanism on the box, making it hard to open without it being able to go back on the wall. Now both boxes are much easier to open, and look better mixed in with the accessory wall. But seeing as though you don’t even visit the Apple Store, you’re very uneducated and don’t deserve to have a say in this one..

  2. Iven Tenz (@ivenalot) - 9 years ago

    Since I really never show interest into third party accessiors at the Apple Store, I don’t really such much of a difference at looking at these pictures. I’d say it looks cleaner.

  3. Franco Grisafi - 9 years ago

    It would look better if it was wood on wood. Wood on metal looks like they are being cheep.

  4. patthecarnut - 9 years ago

    Couldn’t be more blah and sterile. Good thing I don’t go to the Apple store. Reminds me of the old generic groceries. Maybe the packages just say CASE and HEADPHONES or CHARGER then it’s a crap shoot what you actually are getting till you get to the car. For a company that is built on design, aesthetics and “think(ing) different” this is just pathetic. They can do this to vendors now that they have f**k you money.

    • rogifan - 9 years ago

      What is case packaging supposed to look like

      • rogifan - 9 years ago

        You want boxes to be bright green with fuchsia lettering

      • AeronPeryton - 9 years ago

        Blisterpacks. Everything in blisterpacks.

      • patthecarnut - 9 years ago

        Individual companies have their own designs and how they market them, they shouldn’t be Apple mandated white sheet with black lettering. I want individuality. But then again, Apple stores are for sheeple anyway I guess. I love and support Apple by buying and using their products and I don’t know too many serious Apple people who shop there. So maybe they are just appealing to said sheeple that shop there to say they’ve shopped there.

        I can just hear the next Keynote.

        TC: We believe we have created the BEST product design packaging and shelving EVER!”

    • thesamkatz - 9 years ago

      Maybe you should spend less time online, and more time in a marketing class.

      Or in an Apple Store.

  5. Danny Bristow - 9 years ago

    I guess this is Apple conrolling the entire design and feel of Apple Stores down to the last detail!… Looks good though!

    • jacosta45 - 9 years ago

      It really is. What else would you expect from Apple (especially from Ms. Ahrendts)?

  6. taoprophet420 - 9 years ago

    I like the wood drawers in the newest New York stores.

    I like the product mounted to the front of the drawer and sliding it out to grab the product.

    The white packaging should still have a nice embellished logo of the manufacture of each separate company. It’s a little sterile to me.

    If I was Applle I would go with natural brown cardboard with a few sticker labels to show the product I doubt bleached white cardboard is that environmental.

  7. opsono - 9 years ago

    This could only make it more difficult to find things. Forest for the trees, and all that.

    • patthecarnut - 9 years ago

      I 100% agree. It all looks the same and generic. If I were a company selling products that would be sold in Apple stores, I pull my products from their stores. It’s not like they move product in volumes like WalMart or other big boxes, or have the square footage to stock much. Apple controlling this down to the packaging is just flat out stupid in my opinion. Forcing others to design packaging to fit their store is just arrogant and dictatorial. Requiring them to have eco friendly materials I can see. There are a million ways to do that but everyone’s packaging looking the same is just stupid. Apple needs to understand, they are not the only people with a sense of style and taste. It must just KILL Tim and Jony to take a sh*t….unless it comes out white and of course we all know it doesn’t stink.

  8. vandy75 - 9 years ago

    It’s trying too hard to be clever. A natural brown cardboard would be environmentally friendly and aesthetically work well with the wood accents in the store. Angela still strikes me as a bad smell in a room

    • rogifan - 9 years ago

      No, brown cardboard would look cheap and would not fit in with Apple aesthetics at all. When has Apple ever used brown cardboard with their products? Also I’m sure Lisa Jackson is heavily involved in material choices for packaging so I’m sure they’re as environmentally friendly as possible.

      • vandy75 - 9 years ago

        You need to leave Walmart sometime. The brown packaging of Aveda which is now owned by luxury brand Estée Lauder looks anything but cheap. It looks sophisticated and forward thinking. When has “they’ve never done that before” ever been a justifiable reason for anything for any but the Flintstone crowd? Apple never did a watch before….yet they have one now.

      • Given that when I purchased my octo-core Mac Pro workstation, it came in a brown cardboard box that simply said “64-bit Unix Workstation”, the point is moot. Didn’t bother me in the least because inside said box was their top of the line model of their top level family of machines, it protected the machine for shipment from Cupertino where final assembly was, and that’s good enough for me.

  9. charismatron - 9 years ago

    My first impression is that this initiative is completely unnecessary and feels like Apple trying to over-compensate.

    Apple is refreshing for its genius, and how it communicates its genius into and through its products. You literally have a “genius” experience: something remarkable which cannot be replicated by any other company. That’s the pitch, anyway, and more often than not, it’s the result, too. Genius requires no explanation.

    These boxes, on the other hand: why? Who cares? Which customer–or customers–demanded third-party Apple-designed boxes or else they weren’t buying? On account of how much China is dominating Apple’s aesthetic choices, I can only guess this is a “thing” over there? #couldnttellya

    Because it’s Apple, I want to say something nice about this new direction. But without any explanation, this runs counter to the implicit genius of Apple products: so until it’s shown to be a super-green innovation, it’s overkill.

    • rogifan - 9 years ago

      It’s entirely possible that this isn’t a big deal and it’s more rumor sites looking for “news” during a slow summer news cycle. It’s not like Apple sent out a press release or Tim Cook an employee memo about this. It’s not a big deal.

    • vandy75 - 9 years ago

      When you think about it, it’s actually fairly pedestrian thinking. I love the comment, genius needs no explanation.