Apple Dropped Plan to Ship Leased iPhones Already Set Up for Users

[MacRumors]

Apple considered a so-called "white-glove" element for its Apple Upgrade leasing program that would have delivered each new replacement device already loaded with the customer's data, but the idea never made it out of planning, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Apple Upgrade launched in the U.S. on July 28, replacing the iPhone Upgrade Program and iPhone Payments. The plan lets customers lease an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch rather than buy one outright or pay in installments. iPhone and Apple Watch leases run 12 or 24 months, while Mac and iPad terms are 24 or 36 months. At the end of a term, customers return the device, pay off the balance and keep it, or trade up to a new lease.

In his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman reports that when the concept was first discussed years ago, Apple also weighed the idea of having each year's device arrive at the customer's door ready to use, restored from their iCloud backup before it shipped. The version of Apple Upgrade that was actually launched last month includes nothing of the sort.

Setting up a new iPhone can be a notoriously drawn-out process, and the feature would have removed that step from launch day entirely. Gurman believes however that the privacy optics may have put Apple off the idea.

Gurman says the technical side was never the obstacle. Rather, Apple may have decided the idea of receiving a new iPhone with personal account data pre-installed on it could be unnerving for some customers, provoking questions about how the data was transferred and whether anyone could have accessed it.

Article Link: Apple Dropped Plan to Ship Leased iPhones Already Set Up for Users

 

[idmean]

Gurman says the technical side was never the obstacle. Rather, Apple may have decided the idea of receiving a new iPhone with personal account data pre-installed on it could be unnerving for some customers, provoking questions about how the data was transferred and whether anyone could have accessed it.

This report isn't any less unnerving...

 

[rbbloom99]

That would’ve been a very good idea to help those many people who don’t know how to migrate from iPhone to iPhone and end up going to an Apple Store for help.

 

[Korito]

The era of owning nothing is beginning. They also trying hard to normalize shoe box housing (shipping containers turned into "houses" and similar"). Paving the way for all to become worker drones for billionaires owning nothing, keeping their mouth shut.

 

[curnalpanic]

Good move!

 

[maczaddy]

The era of owning nothing is beginning. They also trying hard to normalize shoe box housing (shipping containers turned into "houses" and similar"). Paving the way for all to become worker drones for billionaires owning nothing, keeping their mouth shut.

Those housing shipping containers are bigger than most studio apartments in NYC, I will take it if you give me 3 minimum and stack them nicely.

 

[ifxf]

Apple didn't proceed because it would require them to give more space at the entry level on icloud.

 

[Taq'aix]

“Don’t you worry, our Genius Bar employee checked and made sure all your photos properly transferred.”

 

[contacos]

I thought only we have access to our iCloud data 🧐

 

[bluecoast]

Or Apple could put more work into making the set up & data migration process way easier?

 

[spazzcat]

The era of owning nothing is beginning. They also trying hard to normalize shoe box housing (shipping containers turned into "houses" and similar"). Paving the way for all to become worker drones for billionaires owning nothing, keeping their mouth shut.

We are talking about phones when people make hyperbole arguments about the dumbest things, people don't take it serious. If you keep your phone for a long time you can still buy it. How many people upgrade yearly or every other year? For those poeple this maybe a good option for them.

 

[con2apple]

Gurman says the technical side was never the obstacle. Rather, Apple may have decided the idea of receiving a new iPhone with personal account data pre-installed on it could be unnerving for some customers, provoking questions about how the data was transferred and whether anyone could have accessed it.

And this is just going to stay here like this?

There are two possibilities:
Either our dice-roller and beloved fortune-teller has once again made something up out of thin air, and it’s the same nonsense we get every few months.

Or Gurman actually knows something that hardly anyone else does: namely, that Apple allows its employees, right down to the lowest support level, to copy and set up versions of user data on other devices.
Not all of which are fully encrypted.

So these lower support levels could also read the data directly.
And with the low salaries Apple pays and the “hire-and-fire” mentality in the U.S.…. I mean, North Korean and Chinese spies are supposedly in every tech company by now.
I’m just saying.

Alert to Countries, Companies, and Other Entities Regarding North Korean IT Workers - United States Department of State

This alert is jointly issued by the U.S. Department of State and Federal Bureau of Investigation; Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Cybersecurity Office, National Police Agency, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of...

www.state.gov

 

[spazzcat]

Or Apple could put more work into making the set up & data migration process way easier?

I mean it is really easy now.

 

[bluecoast]

I mean it is really easy now.

I guess.

But when I act as tech support for my mother & see iOS through her eyes, I realise how baffling tech still is for anyone other than people who work in tech & tech enthusiasts.

‘Why has everything suddenly gone transparent?

‘Why did it update my iPhone and change it without asking me?’

‘Why have they changed how (features x, y z) work?’

‘Why is feature x in a different place now?’

Etc etc.

 

[Warped9]

I’ve setup numerous Macs, iPhones and iPads. If your passwords are in order it’s usually pretty easy. In the past you often had to use your password(s) to activate your email(s) on your new device, but for awhile now you don’t have to do even that if you’re doing a device-to-device transfer with Migration Assistant.

A forgotten Apple Account password isn’t too much of a pain to change. But a forgotten Microsoft or Google password can be a migraine inducing exercise, like drilling your own teeth, to change.

I make a point of telling people that after the data transfer their new device’s desktop/homescreen will look very much like their old one thus making the transition easier and familiar.

 

[headlessmike]

I thought only we have access to our iCloud data 🧐

In theory, Apple could preinstall the encrypted data despite not having access to the unencrypted content; only when you unlock the device at initial setup would anyone have access to it.

But I'm no expert on cybersecurity and could see how people would be concerned about the integrity of their data.