Apple Hit with 'Planned Obsolescence' Lawsuit in Brazil over Fourth-Generation iPad

So, is "Institute of Politics and Law Software" Potuguese for "Center for Science in the Public Interest?" They seem at the same headline-grabbing game.

If the iPhone decision and this law suit are indicators of what Apple can expect from Brazil, maybe they should reconsider their potential involvement with that new Foxcon facility down there.

Typical Third World B.S.

Coveting, the cause of so many problems.

OMFG! Has the world gone insane????

Wow... I just can't even imagine how someone dreamt up this lawsuit!

bedifferent said:

As much as I hate to admit it, that's capitalism. While I hate that some of my tech gets outdated (still functional of course) so quickly, it's how the free market system works. Forgive me for stating, but if you don't like it, then, well, don't buy.

Click to expand...

Exactly. And if they didn't do this, there would be no advancement. So, we wouldn't have the neat electronics we have today.

I would love to see Apple pay a fine, and then pull all its products from Brazil! Just say, you know what….you dont like what we offer and how we offer it? Well, try importing it now from the US…..it will cost 2-3 times as much….

I don't think new hardware qualifies as planned obsolescence. New iOS (or any OS for that matter) version that leave out old hardware arbitrarily sure is.

I know that sometimes there are valid reasons... I'm a software developer, I do understand. But sometimes it sure as hell look fishy...

Does that warrant a lawsuit? Probably not... But users can sure decide not to buy new HW. It's only obsolete if you make it obsolete in your mind. My 2006 iMac is still alive and kicking, but now owned by my ex-wife (I kept the 2010 macbook pro with HUGE pixels).

Popeye206 said:

OMFG! Has the world gone insane????

Wow... I just can't even imagine how someone dreamt up this lawsuit!

Click to expand...

This is even crazier than suing over a rectangle with rounded corners!

----------

christophermdia said:

I would love to see Apple pay a fine, and then pull all its products from Brazil! Just say, you know what….you dont like what we offer and how we offer it? Well, try importing it now from the US…..it will cost 2-3 times as much….

Click to expand...

Popeye206 said:

OMFG! Has the world gone insane????

Wow... I just can't even imagine how someone dreamt up this lawsuit!

Click to expand...

See, "has" is present tense. "Gone" is past tense.

Yes, the world went insane. It was thousands of years ago, though. So none of us knows anything but insanity.

Just a polite reminder to all the ignorant people: one organisation and its associates != to every person in Brazil.

ericinboston said:

I tend to agree with the article...partly because I am an iPad 3 owner.

The lawsuit refers to Apple historically releasing new updates every 12+ months. In this case, Apple released the iPad 3 in mid March and then updated it again in early November...thus instead of being on a 12-month cycle, it was released 4-5 months early.

Now, the iPad 4 itself isn't any different from the 3 in regards to main/usable features...it simply has a better CPU and GPU if I recall. But still, Apple angered a LOT of people who bought the 3 and then came out with the 4 so quickly. You also need to take into consideration that Apple, HISTORICALLY, has always waited 12+ months to update anything.

Take all this into consideration and you have annoyed people and then lawsuits.

I bought my 3 in March...but if I had bought it in July or later, I would have been extremely upset. The only way to buy the iPad 3 after the 4 was released, was to dig through the Apple website...it was NOT easy to locate. Apple has since made it a bit easier to find the 3.

Overall it was a shady move by Apple.

Click to expand...

Utter and complete nonsense.

Your iPad 3 STILL WORKS. You're upset because you bought one in March and Apple then released the iPad 4 in November? Good grief man, you think Apple should let it's product line stand still frozen in time for a year so that you don't get "extremely upset"???

Apple created a very competitive tablet market and Samsung and other copycat competitors aren't giving Apple any breathing space. Apple can't be mollycoddling immature, selfish customers who just have to have the latest thing for an entire year.

I bought an iPad 3 in October. Then when the iPad 4 was released, fortunately for me it was within the return window, so I returned my iPad 3 and bought the iPad 4. I counted myself lucky.

Now 3 months later Apple releases the iPad 4 with 128GB storage whereas before the max was 64GB. Did I have a conniption fit? Heck no! I'm happy that Apple is continuing to improve its product line. In time I plan to upgrade to the iPad 5 or the Retina iPad Mini. No problem. And I am NOT "extremely upset".

What balderdash this Brazil lawsuit is. What a bunch of crybabies!

Oh man I'm so glad a thread has popped up to let me be racist as hell!

AppleScruff1 said:

So what is incorrect about my post? My definition of a lot isn't correct?

Click to expand...

I didn't say it was incorrect. I don't think it had much substance at all. I simply added context to your implication.

I guess they don't see all the new jobs created by the FoxxConn facility opening there as a win....

People complain about the "Apple Tax".It's time everyone realized how huge the "Lawyer Tax"is.Every worthless suit like this costs you money.In the products you buy and taxes for the courts.It's huge the amount of expense these human sacks of refuse impose on us all.

ScottishDuck said:

Oh man I'm so glad a thread has popped up to let me be racist as hell!

Click to expand...

I don't think "Brazilian" is a race.

AJTC said:

The only part of this article I agree with is the part about customers unknowingly buying the 3rd generation after the 4th generation was released.

There was no way for the average customer to distinguish between them and here in Ireland I thought it was really bad to walk into a store and see the 3rd generation still on sale at Christmas with the same price tag as the 4th generation.

Click to expand...

Well, possibly. But if you walk into any consumer electronics store to look at, say, home theaters, you will find lots of discontinued models on the shelves alongside current models. The discontinued models may be at clearance prices, or be identified as such, but they may not. The store is under no obligation to disclose either way. The difference with the iPad is the two generations are physically identical and don't have different model numbers to distinguish one from the other.

Brazil (my country) is a joke and I agree to that.

barcellos said:

Brazil (my country) is a joke and I agree to that.

Click to expand...

You should be ashamed of that statement.

IJ Reilly said:

The difference with the iPad is the two generations are physically identical and don't have different model numbers to distinguish one from the other.

Click to expand...

They are not physically identical, and they do have different model numbers.

AJTC said:

The only part of this article I agree with is the part about customers unknowingly buying the 3rd generation after the 4th generation was released.

There was no way for the average customer to distinguish between them and here in Ireland I thought it was really bad to walk into a store and see the 3rd generation still on sale at Christmas with the same price tag as the 4th generation.

Click to expand...

But again, the fault is in the Brazilian import system, not APPLE. Stores in the US only had weeks of inventory, and obviously were able to put them on sale over the holiday.

To sell to Brazil... Takes an extra 2 months because their government won't guarantee the certification process isn't leaked... So certification doesn't START until the US launch in March.

Brazilian stores can't even order until June or July when the device is cleared by the government. (please pay money to help speed these along Applw) Then Apple has to ship them and the STORES have to get them through customs. Again Brazil and Customs corruption for electronics is rampant. It can take two months just to get a box of iPads off the dock... And probably more bribes to get them All. Not to mention paying that crazy 100% import tariff UP FRONT.

Given the time delay, stores would have to pay Apple for the FULL shipment weeks before receiving the stock... Meaning they can't have sales because they had to sink money..., in the USA stores can get the iPads SOLD before the invoice due date catches up in the mail... So if they have a sale, they don't LOSE INVESTED money or taxes.

So by the time a normal honest store got their iPad 3 stock in it was probably August... They had sunk the full price, plus taxes, waited 60 days to get the units... So literally, the iPad "4" was released mere weeks after normal lawful stores got their iPad 3 units.

But how much of that is APPLE'S problem???

farleysmaster said:

Is the iPad 4 obsolete? I'm still trucking away on my iPad 1...

Click to expand...

Can you read?? It is the iPad 3 they are talking about, being quickly replaced by the iPad 4.

Wow farley..

nexx27 said:

I think, they should replace people's ipad 3 for the most recent iPad if people alleges they didn't know it was the older one.

Click to expand...

For a moment i refuse to believe there is people stupid enough to pay what they pay for an iPad and not know what it is.....!!
But then i remember what Einstein once said "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."

woodbine said:

OMG just don't get me started on this one! having just come back from a six week holiday in Goiania, Goias, I'd say Brazil should focus totally on it's own problems....things like infrastructure, street crime, pollution, corruption to name just a few.

All pavement appears to be the responsibility of the property owner that abuts it, so you can have the bizarre situation where a pavement will go from hard surface to soft earth and back to hard surface. Pavements in the city centre that are a huge hazard to all people, potholes, loose paving slabs etc.

Click to expand...

So be sure you have the back iPad camera on the display when walking and using the iPad at the same time. Looks like it was made to fit the Brazilian sidewalk needs.

tomhut said:

(...)Again, Apple have no control over what happens in a 3rd party retail store.

Click to expand...

Untrue. Apple has an extremely tight control on what is sold and at what price in third party stores. That's why you don't see much of a difference when switching stores, except on value-added services such as training or (non-Apple) accessories.

LostMyiPhone said:

Dear Brazil,

Where have you been? This is what Apple has ALWAYS done with their products. They've ALWAYS had tech and the capability to implement the tech into a new device (99% there) but they always seem to hold back. They sell what they've got for about a year, then do a spec bump and sell the pants off of THAT for a year. It's played out over and over it's just that this time, they did it in a few months instead of a year.

We're glad you're still awake down there. Thanks for paying attention.

Sincerely,
The Blatantly Obvious

Click to expand...

Apple has never updated their product so fast. By the time a customer lines up to get a new iDevice, after the usual shortages at the beginning,having sold the old one first, he will only have like 6 months before being pushed again with a "new & (slightly) improved" version, with a price increase to go with it. Planned obsolescence wouldn't be so much of an issue if one could install the latest iPhone OS version on it and don't lure the customer into thinking he'll have the latest version for at least a year that could reasonably be expected considering the high price tag.

What is also obvious is that having insignificant price decrease when a new version comes out is definitely customer un-friendly.