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Capitalism: Apple fight against users who want cheap repair
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Four states — Minnesota, Nebraska, Massachusetts and New York — have considered adopting “right to repair” amendments, which would update existing laws regarding the sale of electronic equipment. Amending these laws would make it easier to fix your devices and would help reduce “e-waste,” a catch-all term for any electronic detritus.

    “Currently, electronics companies are running a repair monopoly. This repair monopoly, and the subsequent lack of competition, leads to higher costs for consumers and businesses,” Cronin said via emailed statement.

    Matt Mincieli of TechNet, a coalition of electronics companies that Apple belongs to, told HuffPost that the right to repair amendments in New York, Massachusetts and Minnesota are too vague and affect too many industries to be acceptable.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/apple-right-to-repair_us_5755a6b4e4b0ed593f14fdea

  • 8 Replies sorted by
  • firstbasefirstbase

    There is competition from other phone manufacturers that deliver very similar tangible benefits. That said, if you desire an iPhone and are able to find greater value in their products vis-a-vis the limitations and cost (including the cost of replacement/repair), then you buy an iPhone. If you don't see the value, you dump them and buy another product.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    You completely miss the point. Post is not about competition or choices. It is about innate capitalists interests.

    I also removed video that is offtopic here, and I am really sick of same early 19th century myths in 100th iteration.

  • DrDaveDrDave

    The big companies also do not want to release the circuit diagrams, etc.

  • goannagoanna

    Apple has quite a war chest of ways in which they can open up previously closed technologies in order to claw back revenue during possible periods of flagging demand for its products. It has started hinting that, for example, iPads might allow insertion of USB devices so as to allow the file transfers everybody but Apple users have taken for granted. The opening up of third-party repair could also be another new attribute which can be negotiated so as to counter downward sales trends and possible moves by consumers toward competing products which already offer these attributes and freedoms.

    Thanks for the news link! I'll be watching this space. If Apple ever want to oppose anybody causing this kind of nuisance, they can usually win anyway - or, at the most, get away with just making a few minor concessions. But, just like the FBI phone hacking playoff, I see them making more money whichever way they move - even the social media exposure from this discussion will be worth $$$.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Normally if I purchase a hammer, if the head of the hammer falls off, I'm allowed to repair it and fix it. I can use the hammer again,” Charles Duan, director of Public Knowledge’s Patent Reform Project, told me. “For a lot of these newer devices, manufacturers want to say ‘We want to be the only ones to repair it’ because they make more profits off the repairs. They've found lots and lots of way to do this. Intellectual property law, contracts, end user license agreements, lots and lots of ways to try to make sure you can't do what you want with your stuff.”

    http://motherboard.vice.com/read/how-to-fix-everything

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Warranty agreements and stickers exist almost entirely to help manufacturers maintain a monopoly on repairing the devices that they sell us—for example, most people won’t attempt the relatively simple process of replacing a broken iPhone screen (which is not covered by warranty) if they believe that in doing so, Apple will refuse to replace the headphone jack if it malfunctions (which is covered by warranty).

    However, warranty conditions that forbid consumers from opening or repairing their devices are illegal under a provision of the 1975 Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act that forbids “tying,” meaning the conditions of the warranty “tie” the consumer to using a specific service or specific types of parts, experts told Motherboard.

    http://motherboard.vice.com/read/warranty-void-if-removed-stickers-are-illegal

  • kurthkurth

    after vowing never again to use apple, I acquired a macbook pro in a trade model circa 2007. I purchased an ssd and attempted to install it myself ! Big mistake almost. They friggin' glued the data cable to the original harddrive, like it could have possibly gone somewhere ! I took it to a friend i.e expert who finished the job. He told me he doesn't even take in new macs, esp imacs, for repair, cause they're impossible to do ! I think that applies to all the newer unibody designs. So the point being ...apple is designing their products to be impossible to repair , even for experts !

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @kurth

    They are not alone, but one of the best.

    For example, requirement to use easy to replace batteries for all notebooks and smartphones can cut new sales around half as one smart man working in this industry told me.

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