This is where you need to read more before casting about like a fish out of water. There's a poster on Yahoo (Watts_n_a_n) that has to be on or very familiar with the LQMT team. Read all of his posts. According to Watts, Apple has had a relationship with LQMT for three years and the new, new antenna will be manufactured by LQMT. Given this detailed reply, one has to be naive not to own LQMT.
Here is one that, I believe, addresses your concerns:
Thanks to Watts
LQMT HAS 10 APPLE PROTOTYPE DESIGNS
Liquidmetal already has an inventory (more than ten items) of Apple prototypes that have been developed over the last three years. This relationship between LQMT and Apple is not new. To his credit, John Kang has been a master at knocking at doors; (making a profit and customer retention has not been his forte.)
LQMT REVENUE
Apple will rely upon LQMT to
a) provide the best formulation for the given application which Apple specifies
b) provide the manufacturing JV or subsidiary (whatever the situation becomes) with all the lastest state of the art formulations, processing know-how, and R and D effort which may be required for producing a given product
Bottom Line:
1) LQMT is an R and D company to improve the capabilites and tweaking of formulations for any present and future applications;
2) LQMT is a licensing company: provides the IP required for each client
3) LQMT is one of the partners in a JV manufacturing operation
4) LQMT derives revenues from a)licensing, b) R and D services and consulting
5) LQMT derives revenues from the sales of the raw materials
LQMT will advance and increase its R AND D effort vigorously, but will not be the "all things for all customers" manufacturer. As per above, the manufacturing will be capitalized and expensed as per above.
So, to answer your original question, Apple will not be the manufacturer (they will of course develop the product in terms of design and engineering specs) and LQMT will not be the manufacturer; but a dedicated JV subsidiary will be the manufacturer
APPLE LQMT JOINT VENTURE SUBSIDIARY
This is what is happening with the IP subsidiary alluded to in the SEC Filing)
1) Apple is going to provide out of their own pocket the resources to buy the latest state of the art machines (now injection molding, as opposed to the original and revised editions of die-casting machines). The die cast model is essentially obsolete, as now, the promise of essentially "tweaking" plastics injection molding machines designed to optimally handle the "plastic" or "amorphous glass" attributes and associated processing requirements yields
a) a far superior product output in terms of
b) atomic consistency and uniformity of finished material throughout the entirety of the molded product;
c) the resultant drastic decrease in the rate of rejection of the end product
d) a tremendous decrease in labor (once 2 operators per machine and now only 0.5 operators per machine or 1 man per 2 machines
e) full automation
f) more than a five fold increase in hourly production per machine over a 24 hour shift
[NOTE: MOST of the EXHORBITANT COSTS of PRODUCTION posted on this board ARE TOTALLY ERRONEOUS, as they were based upon the original die cast machines of 7 years ago. The current costs are a fraction of the original in terms of labor per unit, units produced per hour, yield, and ultimate requirements for finishing or polishing. Original prototypes had to be deflashed, deburred, sand-blasted and other processes of finishing applied before LQMT could deliver a suitable product for commercial use]
Finally, the lead time from purchase order for a new injection molding machinery tailor made for liquidmetal attributes is about 90-120 days; delivery 2 to 4 weeks, with about a 3 month period for set-up and testing and early test runs of production. Naturally, there will be probably a minimum of 2 to 3 mos for training of operating personnel. So from this stand-point, we are looking at a minimum of, say 9 mos before an item can be manufactured by a JV or subsidiary operation.
The prototypes already developed will be "contracted", to use your erroneous term to the JV as the production facility becomes ON LINE and ready to receive orders.
