Why Apple Makes Profits from Electronics that Break (Planned Obsolescence)

[rdubwiley]

The interesting thing is that even though prices would rise if apple products lasted longer, apple makes money by exploiting the uncertainty of life.

[louis-t]

1. Most companies do this. Do you know what the term

"5 year machine" means? A washing machine built in the '60s could last 40 years. You can't pay a CEO $20 mil a year with that kind of business plan.

[NWHarkness]

2. What are you talking about?

I have been using Apple products since the early 80s, as have many of my friends and family members. This idea that Apple products break easily is news to me, as it probably is to most Apple users.

I currently have an iMac in fine working condition, which I bought in 1999, my wife and I both have iBooks that are at least 3 years old, and we both have iPads that have yet to give us even a scintilla of trouble. Oh, and we've both been iPod users since their inception, and the only problem either of us have had was the time I dropped mine in a glass of Pepsi. Leaving it in a bowl of rice overnight took care of that problem though.

I think there's a flaw in the premise here. Interesting observation about all those 5 year old iPads though. Maybe while you are hanging out in the future, you could send us some stock tips, or NCCA tourney results as well.

[rdubwiley]

4. They are good products

The screens are somewhat fragile, and I think through engineering the screen could be more resilient.

However, Apple products are meant to "break" by being technologically irrelevant in five years time. The iTouch and iPhone are very similar but no one uses them anymore.

[Sherman A1]

6. Agreed

I have been using Apple products since the 1990s and have had one drive problem in that time frame. I have replaced them as they become obsolete roughly every 3-5 years, but never had them "break".

[Merlot]

18. yea, tell that to my 10 year old lap top

I swear, my old Centris 610 would probably still be working if I could have kept it around. I've given away more old working apple computers than I can remember. Only had one apple desktop that gave me problems, gave it away for parts.

And when my other lap top blew it's logic board, Apple replaced it for FREE - and it was long out of warranty.They looked up the model, and recognized that it had a flaw and took responsibility for the problem. I would not have been the wiser.

Their customer service is the best I've ever encountered in a product.

[rdubwiley]

19. That's interesting

Perhaps I should have used a different brand. The example is hypothetical, but the idea of planned obsolescence usually works though electronics by designing products that can't keep up with the improvements of technology.

[Merlot]

23. Well, yes, there are limits to the older laptops

but you can still use them with their existing software and within their own closed system. For example, I use the older laptops as a storage unit (connected by airport) as well as internet and music. I'll take it to the coffee house instead of the newer one that I do work on everyday. In a pinch I can work on the older one for editing, word processing, etc.

[rdubwiley]

24. The problem is...

Most people don't have the knowledge nor the ability to maximize the usage of older laptops. Also, most computer companies don't want to make it easier to do so.

[RevStPatrick]

3. Your iPad breaks so much because you break it.

You break it because you are careless.

I have been using Apple products since 1988, and I have never once had any of them break, because I am not careless. I've had a couple of drives replaced under warranty, but that's about it. I have used all of my Apple products for several years, until they become "obsolete" because of changes in software and the internet and such, and then they become too slow to be useful.

I've also had many other electronic products over the years, none of which have broken, because I am not careless. I don't really know why I am not careless, that's just the way I am. My lovely wife isn't careless either. I know lots of careless people who break their shit all the time, and they always seem to want to blame the manufacturer or someone else.

If you don't want your stuff to break, don't break it!

[rdubwiley]

5. That's true

However, the iPad was an example for a greater phenomena. Most products aren't made to be upgraded, but rather for the company to come out with a new product to replace old ones.

[longship]

7. One biggie though!

Batteries that are not user replaceable!

That utterly sucks!!! No other manufacturer is doing that. Only Apple. Did I say that it sucks?

[rdubwiley]

8. I actually like the internal batteries

For example, the Sega GameGear needed eight batteries. I'm glad we've moved to the point where we don't need to buy tons of batteries.

[longship]

9. That is not what I was talking about

I was talking about user replaceable rechargeables. I now have a new iPhone 4s. The charge goes down quickly when I am using the Net. My last Apple battery oped device was an iPod, which had a battery which lasted many days. But after a while it no longer held a charge and performance dwindled until it became unusable.

Apple's solution was to trade it in for a refurb at a significant percentage of the cost of a new one. Bullshit!

I love the iPhone, but Apple sucks for not allowing me to replace the battery when it inevitably degrades. My Linux-based laptop has one, but no Apple device does.

That sucks!!!!

[rdubwiley]

25. So

They won't let you change your battery, they want you to buy a refurbished one?

[longship]

26. Not a furnished battery, a refurbished device

The rechargeable battery is not user replaceable. That is the point. All the other cell phones I have owned have had a battery compartment which allowed me to replace the fucking battery when it could no longer hold a charge. Apple has made the deliberate design decision to disallow this. Even my fucking laptop has a battery which can be removed and replaced by the the user when it stops performing.

But iPods, iPhones, iPads all have no way to do this. That sucks!

[rdubwiley]

27. that would be an example of planned obsolescence

the battery is designed to fail before you need to buy a new product, but they make it impossible to replace the battery so you need to buy a new product.

[longship]

28. Bing, Bing, Bing, Bing, Bing!

Precisely what my first post was saying. My iPod is dead, not because it no longer works, but because the battery no longer has the capacity to keep it working. And since there was no way for the user to replace said dead battery, Apple can sell another device instead of selling a mere battery.

I am glad that you agree with me.

[applegrove]

10. I had a couch from my grandmother in the late 1990s that she probably bought in the 1930s. It was

in great condition. Today, couches are made to last only 7 years. No wonder people are in debt. They are forever rebuying appliances, furniture, computers, and clothes, that have become obsolete because they were made to fall apart or their colour went out of style.

[rdubwiley]

11. Yeah

I think couches are a good example where it would be really easy to engineer a couch that could last fifty years, but it's not as profitable.

[applegrove]

13. Of course it costs more to recover a couch than it does to buy a new one too. That being

said there is something called the Color Lobby. They decide what the popular colours are going to be for appliances, cars and household furnishings and clothes. Then the industry makes and sells items in those colours. Creating a temporary market that then shortens the life of an object because it will be out of style soon.

[rdubwiley]

21. That's interesting

The style of furniture is interesting because the same thing happens with fashion, and style. A new look or color is presented each year, so people will need to buy new clothes.

[DemzRock]

12. The decision is easy!

Never buy Apple products!

[rdubwiley]

15. Actually

I think Apple products are very innovative.

[DeSwiss]

14. The new ''light bulb conspriacy.''

- K&R

[rdubwiley]

16. Strangely

I have never seen this documentary, but I favor newer lightbulb technology such as fluorescent lightbulbs.

[DeSwiss]

17. I sort of favor it.....

...and have been buying them for a few years now. But they come with their own environmental problems because of the mercury.

What we need is the TRUTH about energy. But we ain't likely to get any of that with the present form of government we labor under.

- Nor with the totally corrupted people we have running it......

[rdubwiley]

20. Actually

I think when you compare the amount of waste from extra incandescent lightbulbs, the mercury waste is much less in comparison.

[DeSwiss]

22. True. However.....

...when we use our traditional and existing landfill disposal process to dispose of incandescent lightbulbs we don't do anywhere close to the environmental damage and poisoning of the earth and groundwater as we do with the disposal of mercury-filled florescent bulbs in the same manner.

Many communities have no policies and/or local ordinances for the safe disposal of toxic materials and where they do (as in my community) it is few and far between. So in the absence of sufficient leadership to establish environmentally safe recapture methods of these toxic chemicals, we are doing little to change our existing legacy of poisoning, depleting and using up the earth's resources with no thought whatsoever of the consequences of our behavior.

That is why we must leave this base-level and out-of-date stance of science and engineering behind. It's killing us and the future of our progeny. There are better choices we can make.

- We simply must make those choices and leave our so-called leaders to catch-up to us.......