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

[denisclc]

The problem is with the advertising. If you visit Apple's brazilian website, what you'll see there is the 4th generation model, but many stores (not all, but many) are selling the 3rd generation model.

I actually went to a store (Saraiva Megastore) in a mall and they had both 3rd and 4th generation models side by side on the kiosk. The only way I knew it was the 4th generation was because of the lightning connector... They were not distinguishing one from another.

 

[barcellos]

Our country is already the 6th largest economy in the world, with beautiful/friendly people, the largest agricultural, mineral and beef production, various world-champion companies, the third largest aircraft maker, a strong defense industry, lots of great entrepreneurs and professionals around the world, an increasingly-educated population formed just like the US with European, Asian and African immigrants, a huge internal market, unique cultural values and productions and an overall purchasing power that is behind only a few countries nowadays.

So a little patriotism would go a long way, ya know.

6th largest economy based on what? Loans? Sorry, but are you blind? There is a bubble here right now that will blow as soon as end world cup and olympic games. See about Petrobras losing its market value 22% last quarter. There a lot of evidences about whats is going on here. And I can be a patriotic without lose my criticism.

 

[BaldiMac]

The problem is with the advertising. If you visit Apple's brazilian website, what you'll see there is the 4th generation model, but many stores (not all, but many) are selling the 3rd generation model.

I actually went to a store (Saraiva Megastore) in a mall and they had both 3rd and 4th generation models side by side on the kiosk. The only way I knew it was the 4th generation was because of the lightning connector... They were not distinguishing one from another.

Why would Apple be sued over how a third-party advertises Apple products?

 

[denisclc]

Why would Apple be sued over how a third-party advertises Apple products?

It is all third parties in Brazil. They are authorized distributors. If Apple announces that the older model is being replaced by the new one, then it should remove the older model from stores. That's what happened everywhere else.

 

[agmaster]

OMG these foreign people can be so stupid!

Technology is always advancing, once you buy a product you should consider it already obsolete because there is always something new and better being made! Stupid people trying to hold back progress because they are jealous or something like that...

 

[brdeveloper]

For the Nth time: it has nothing to do with planned obsolescence. It has to do with 3rd gen iPad being sold as the latest one, period.

 

[BaldiMac]

For the Nth time: it has nothing to do with planned obsolescence. It has to do with 3rd gen iPad being sold as the latest one, period.

Source? That's not what the translated quote in the OP says.

Do you have any evidence that Apple sold the 3rd gen iPad as the latest one?

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Haha, well, Brazil said what many other people thought

Did someone MAKE these people buy the thing?

I mean it IS Brazil...you never know.

 

[SiPat]

Most manufacturers clearly state that they reserve the right to change specs on their product at any given time.

That should cover every sin ever known to wo/mankind

 

[kalsta]

Brazil, go buy your tech elsewhere. Say, from 5 years ago.

In Brazil, those idiots take it seriously.
It`s worse than in the US, believe me.
It`s s*** all over.

Lesson to Apple: Don't update Brazil's products except once per year. They get a model late? Oh well, too bad.

I think it's time for Apple to just pull their product line from Brazil... not happy with Apple products? Fine, dont' buy it.

Yada, yada, yada…

News flash: Brazil is a country of almost 200 million people, most of whom probably find this kind of lawsuit as stupid as we do. We could do with less country bashing on these forums.

 

[Lindsford]

People are really this butt-hurt over the 4 coming out so fast? -_-

I'm quite happy with my 3rd gen and will probably wait until 6th gen to upgrade, unless 5th is significantly lighter.

 

[kcswanko]

good

I mean if Apple gets a fine then so should a bunch of other tech companies. Although I do agree the Ipad g4 was pretty much only to change the connector port, it was pretty obvious.

 

[kalsta]

I mean if Apple gets a fine then so should a bunch of other tech companies. Although I do agree the Ipad g4 was pretty much only to change the connector port, it was pretty obvious.

No one should be fined for bringing out a new product that people are free to buy or not buy. If the iPad 3 had a timer which caused it to blow up a day after warranty—then we'd have something to get upset about. Otherwise, the whole premise of this lawsuit is so ridiculous it barely warrants a response.

The definition of planned (or forced) obsolescence is that after a certain period of time the product stops working. This is not the case for the iPad 3 …

I agree.

… or any other Apple product that I'm aware of.

Ah… now I'm not sure I do agree. How about the fact that when an app is updated to require a higher version of iOS, the old version is permanently deleted from the App Store? On my iPhone 3G I had to do a full reset and reload my apps… but I can't because most of them don't support the 3G anymore. So I'm now left with a phone that does significantly less than it did before. What's especially frustrating is that the App Store doesn't even filter the results when I search for apps on my phone, so I have no easy way of knowing which apps will still run. It's a game of trial and error, where I find an app, click to buy/download, and then get informed that it won't run on my phone. All this has seriously reduced whatever value the phone might still have had. This looks a lot like planned obsolescence to me. As for this current lawsuit though, they're barking up the wrong tree.

 

[mcfmullen]

They introduced a product and then very soonn after introduced a product much the same except with a superior graphics chip and new connector. I believe Apple did this on purpose and I believe Brazlians and really all Apple users have a case. I think it was in very poor taste for Apple to do this.

Agreed.

Imagine you buy a 2013 car of a given make and model. 3 months later, they change the engine for a faster one and upgrade it to a more expensive hybrid - incompatible with your pre-existing combustion ecosystem. The price remains the same, they call it by the same name and year number.

Would you not then complain about it? From both ends - first adopters of THAT MODEL (remember both are THE SAME MODEL, YEAR AND MAKE) would be in a rage over the better engine and new buyers wuld be in a rage for having to adapt to new adapters.

2012 purchasers KNOW this doesn't affect them. They KNOW it is an inferior model; part of a regular, cyclical upgrade system.

The above example is planned obsolescence because the company KNOWS when a new engine (processor) will be available, KNOWS they will replace it in 3 months (despite the regular 1 year cycle), and PLANS to do it anyway hoping to slip a quick one rather than wait that year out or delay the 2013 release by that 3 month period.

Apple would be in the clear if the iPad 4 would have been called iPad- revision B. But that isn't what happened is it?

 

[rdlink]

This is what you posted:
And those people are just as stupid as Brazil.

I said be careful, thinking that you were implying that Brazilians were stupid. There had been posts of this nature earlier in the thread, that's all.

Noted. I should have been more precise:

"And those people are just as stupid as the people in Brazil who filed the lawsuit."

 

[gnasher729]

They introduced a product and then very soonn after introduced a product much the same except with a superior graphics chip and new connector. I believe Apple did this on purpose

Absolutely correct. I would like to congratulate Apple on improving their products, and I hope many Brazilians will take advantage of this and buy a new and improved iPad.

and I believe Brazlians and really all Apple users have a case. I think it was in very poor taste for Apple to do this.

Here's my question: Which Brazilian laws did Apple break? And how is improving a product "in very poor taste"? Selling a blue and white striped iPad in Brasil, that might be called "in very bad taste". But a better graphics chip?

If it was Samsung being sued you'd be cheering them on for fighting the good fight.

That's what is commonly called a "strawman argument". Worst case, some people would cheer that a company they dislike falls victim to a stupid and frivolous lawsuit. That wouldn't stop the lawsuit from being stupid and frivolous.

If something like that is the basis for a WINNING lawsuit, I want to die.

If you travel to the UK, bring a coffin.

If someone went to a store in the UK say five days after the iPad 4 is released, and the store doesn't have a sign "new and used computers", the person asked for "the new iPad", was sold an iPad 3, and went to court, if I was in the jury, the shop would lose.

 

[HenryDJP]

I wondering who the buffoons are here, the people who brought on this lawsuit, the lawyers who are taking the case or the people here who are defending it against Apple.

 

[mabhatter]

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.

That is probably WHY this is news... Apple is trying to get into South America by moving manufacturing to the last holdout BRIC country not part of the tech boom.

On the other hand, Brazil has much more European attitudes about work.. They are willing to give up jobs cause they would rather be frolicking on the beach (2/3 of the population is on that southern quarter) that being wage-slaves like China or India.

 

[AppleScruff1]

The only way this makes the least bit of sense was if the iPad 3 and 4 were both available and no distinction was being made between the two, such as not calling one the Retina iPad 4th generation or something of that nature to make the distinction between the two models.

 

[Jaro65]

It's a product. You don't like it? Don't buy it.

 

[gnasher729]

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

Wrong. "Has gone" is the present perfect tense, which is formed by combining "has" with the past tense form.

 

[BaldiMac]

If someone went to a store in the UK say five days after the iPad 4 is released, and the store doesn't have a sign "new and used computers", the person asked for "the new iPad", was sold an iPad 3, and went to court, if I was in the jury, the shop would lose.

Are you saying it is every shop owner's responsibility to keep up with the latest news about every product they sell? Seems odd.

(And what does "used" have to do with anything? The iPad 3 doesn't magically become used just because a new version is released.)

 

[Macboy Pro]

I think I'm going to have to disagree with you. The definition of planned (or forced) obsolescence is that after a certain period of time the product stops working.

Well, your definition is wrong therefor your argument is very flawed. The correct definition:

Obsolescence is the state of being which occurs when an object, service or practice is no longer wanted even though it may still be in good working order.

 

[sebastian...]

The definition of planned (or forced) obsolescence is that after a certain period of time the product stops working. This is not the case for the iPad 3, or any other Apple product that I'm aware of.

How about the fact that when an app is updated to require a higher version of iOS, the old version is permanently deleted from the App Store? On my iPhone 3G I had to do a full reset and reload my apps… but I can't because most of them don't support the 3G anymore. So I'm now left with a phone that does significantly less than it did before. What's especially frustrating is that the App Store doesn't even filter the results when I search for apps on my phone, so I have no easy way of knowing which apps will still run. It's a game of trial and error, where I find an app, click to buy/download, and then get informed that it won't run on my phone. All this has seriously reduced whatever value the phone might still have had. This looks a lot like planned obsolescence to me. As for this current lawsuit though, they're barking up the wrong tree.

This is the biggest problem. With this behavior you can't say anymore "It's not like the ipad 3 stopped working when the ipad 4 was released"

It didn't stopped working but suddenly in a year or two it will able to do less and less than when you bought it. Because of Apple.

 

[tekstud]

Welcome to the World of Apple- they defined "Planned Obsolescence".
How else did they resurrect from the dead?
Answer: iPod planned obsolescence.