Apple Lost Lawsuit Against Independent iPhone Repair Shop in Norway Over Unauthorized Parts

[shareef777]

As if you understand their pricing model. You are not qualified to say it's "too expensive" and be objectively correct. Your opinion and speculation, nothing more.

AGAIN, leave the value proposition of a 3rd party repair cost vs Apple’s fee be up to the device owner, not manufacturer. If I think a $50 screen repair with an inferior 3rd party screen is a better deal then a $200 repair with an OEM screen then who is Apple to dictate which option I go with for MY DEVICE!?

 

[Septembersrain]

I find this to be a good thing. What if there are no official Apple stores nearby? What if a person is way out of warranty and need a cheaper repair? There should be options.

 

[deanlute]

Anyone who gets their device repaired unofficially is taking the risk of damaging their phone. That’s their choice. If they go to a shoddy guy to save a few bucks then that’s their fault.

Edit: I mean that if you choose to repair elsewhere than Apple and you go to someone shoddy that’s your fault. Not that everyone that isn’t Apple is shoddy.

It’s not just a few bucks...

 

[Googlyhead]

How's this different from a jailbroken device? Or a water damaged device that slowly corrodes the logic board? In both cases, the owner of the phone will have a poor experience.

Apple can easily add a feature in iOS to show the user which hardware components have been replaced. Everything is serialized electronically. Instead, Apple is taking the legal route of suing repair shops.

It's pretty clear why Apple is doing this, and it's not to provide a better customer experience.

I think it would be great if iDevices did a check on startup and any displayed a list if any non-original components were detected. This could even highlight in red any that are registered as stolen (and presumably orange for non-Apple, yellow for replaced, and green for original).
But then there will obviously be those with an interest in hiding/deceiving either by part or entire device, and resulting workarounds in software or ID removal.

 

[LarryC]

Good for Huseby. Apple used to be the little guy, the alternative to the big brother and oppressive practices of Microsoft and Windows. And many people bought/supported/chose Apple because they did not like or approve of MS and their big bully/big brother attitudes and practices. Now, Apple is just as bad and just as controlling as Microsoft ever was. Just my honest opinion.

 

[0837990]

I'm really glad reading this.

It would royally suck if only Mercedes dealerships would be allowed to repair Mercedes cars, with original Mercedes spare parts only. And it would even suck more if Mercedes sued all non-Mercedes dealership repairshops and third party parts manufacturers and try to forcefully shut them down by shoving lawyers down their throats.

I purchased the phone. Which makes the phone mine. What I do with it, and where I choose to service or repair it, is completely my choice. Yes it will void warranty by repairing it at a non-authorized service-center, of course it will. But it's still my choice, and my product, which I completely own and can litterally do whatever I want with, even reverse-engineer it, crack it, hack it, or whatever.

Only in Corporate America would Apple win a case like this.

 

[logicstudiouser]

Does Apple seriously think this makes them look good?

 

[laptech]

Apple have a right to protect the quality of their products. Using 3rd party lesser quality parts to replace original broken parts ultimately affects the quality of the product. This can then have a negative effect when comparing a repaired phone to that of a original working competitor phone, especially if the owner of the apple phone does not make it clear regarding all the repairs it has done to it.

I've repaired numerous iphones for friends and family, iphone 4's through to iphone 6's and i can confirm that a cheap 3rd party screen from China does not have the same lcd output quality as that of an original part. I've changed speakers, earpieces. microphones and found that they have lower working tolerances than that of an original part.

Yes these parts are '100% compatible' with the iphones but they are not of the same build quality because they do not work at the same level as an original part. Change an earpiece and suddenly incoming calls are no longer as loud as they used to be, same with changing speakers, output level is not as high as it used to be.

Most common parts to replace on an iphone that get damaged are, battery, headphone jack, lcd screen, touch screen digitizer, earpiece, speaker, microphone, home button switch, charging port, parts that are of inferior quality to an original part because they are a lot cheaper but yet it will still be referred to as an 'Apple iphone' and thus be treated as an apple quality product by others who compare the phone with their mates phones.

Unless original Apple replacement parts are used, these repaired iphones are not Apple iphones with the quality that the brand is associated with, they are just another mobile phone but people do not view it that way, they still view it as an Apple iphone and this is what in my opinion Apple is trying to protect by going after 3rd party repair houses.

 

[Osamede]

Yes, but then.... make the cost price of original parts and original repair...reasonable relative to the diminished value of a used device, instead of an officially approved ripoff.....

As with anything else, there is a point where greed takes over and companies think that the law is a tool which which they can ram high prices down everyone's throat. But ultimately they cannot have it both ways. Protecting your brand is also a matter of give and take. Not justt endlessly increasing "take"....

 

[tubeexperience]

Apple have a right to protect the quality of their products. Using 3rd party lesser quality parts to replace original broken parts ultimately affects the quality of the product. This can then have a negative effect when comparing a repaired phone to that of a original working competitor phone, especially if the owner of the apple phone does not make it clear regarding all the repairs it has done to it.

Unless original Apple replacement parts are used, these repaired iphones are not Apple iphones with the quality that the brand is associated with, they are just another mobile phone but people do not view it that way, they still view it as an Apple iphone and this is what in my opinion Apple is trying to protect by going after 3rd party repair houses.

You should say:

"Ford have a right to protect the quality of their products. Using 3rd party lesser quality parts to replace original broken parts ultimately affects the quality of the product. This can then have a negative effect when comparing a repaired car to that of a original working competitor car, especially if the owner of the Ford car does not make it clear regarding all the repairs it has done to it.

Unless original Ford replacement parts are used, these repaired cars are not Ford cars with the quality that the brand is associated with, they are just another car but people do not view it that way, they still view it as an Ford cards and this is what in my opinion Ford is trying to protect by going after 3rd party repair houses."

I guess Ford should sue the h*ll out of every third party car repair shops.

 

[kdarling]

Apple have a right to protect the quality of their products.

IT NO LONGER BELONGS TO APPLE ONCE I BUY IT.

This is a primary problem that Apple has. They think we just borrow products from them, and that we have to be treated like children. Or sheep.

Using 3rd party lesser quality parts to replace original broken parts ultimately affects the quality of the product.

That's totally up to the owner.

 

[laptech]

If the owner of a product misleads people regarding the quality of that product due to the use of lesser quality 3rd party parts then yes the manufacturer should have a right to protect the quality of their products.

Yes people have a right to repair their own items if they have the ability to do so but what they do not have a right to is maintain that the quality of the product is still the same when it is not.

If an owner replaced a broken screen on their iphone using a low quality part from china and then that iphone was used to compare it's quality against a brand new competitors phone that a friend of theirs has just bought (friends do that, compare quality of phones with one another), unless the owner of the iphone made it perfectly clear that the screen had been replaced, people will get the impression that the quality of the iphone is worse than that of the other phone which could then influence their purchasing decision on which phone to purchase next.

 

[mike2q]

There was a time when Apple was the good guy but clearly those days are long gone. I'm amazed at how Apple went from selling amazing innovative products that were years ahead of the competition to a company who sells Kool Aid to an almost cult like following. I mean, we get proof positive that Apple has been throttling iPhones and while denying it for years and the response is "Big brother Apple is just looking out for me and cares so much they make my phone almost unusable to protect me." We see Siri fall behind the competition and people say "Thats only because my friend Apple cares about my privacy so much". We see Apple design their products with propitiatory ports that require expensive Apple products or companies to pay Apple money to license the use of its plug shape and people think think Apple is looking out for them. Apple requires any company who charges a fee (ie Netflix) to pay a chunk of that fee to Apple potentially raising the rate for no reason other than that they can. They we seen this article where Apple is suing a ma and pa repair shop who seems to be mainly using salvaged parts from broken iPhones. As for the "Counterfeit" parts claim, there is a HUGE difference between counterfeit and after-market. Terms like "Authorized" and "Counterfeit" are words companies use to dissuade people from choosing better priced alternatives. Lest we forget, most Apple parts are already Chinese parts. Just because Apple charges a lot for a part does NOT automatically make it better.
Nope, Apple is no longer the good guy. They are well on their way to becoming the Umbrella Corporation or even worse, the Microsoft of the 90's.

 

[lacek]

Can’t believe some people would not mind having counterfeit parts.

Apple does not offer many sort of repairs (for example data recovery). Plus Apple's repairs are awfully expensive. Apple also does not repair the logic board -they basically replace whole components and charge close to 129 / 299 $ for any repair no matter how trivial.
[doublepost=1524033068][/doublepost]

If the owner of a product misleads people regarding the quality of that product due to the use of lesser quality 3rd party parts then yes the manufacturer should have a right to protect the quality of their products.

In my country the third party repair places have different prices depending on the quality of the screen (you define what quality of screen you have). Moreover if the metal enclosure is bent, Apple's repair cost 3 times more (or in some cases they refuse to repair it altogether). Independent places, simply make it more-or less straight again so that the replacement screen fits again.
[doublepost=1524033338][/doublepost]

Most common parts to replace on an iphone that get damaged are, battery, headphone jack, lcd screen, touch screen digitizer, earpiece, speaker, microphone, home button switch, charging port, parts that are of inferior quality to an original part because they are a lot cheaper

cheaper than what? Original parts are not sold by Apple, so there is no point to speak about the price. Some of the parts you have listed are not available even for the AASP (charging port for example).
[doublepost=1524033474][/doublepost]

Using unauthorised parts like this provides an outlet for ‘chop shops’ who deal in parts from thousands of stolen iPhones. Apple should make replacement parts readily available to stop the lucrative business of selling parts from stolen phones.

The parts are not from stole iPhones. These pars are manufactured in china and they cost say $0.99, $1.49 per part (except for the screens which cost say $13-$50). These parts carry no Apple logo, so they definitely do not come from stolen iPhones.
[doublepost=1524033646][/doublepost]

Very true. Then they go to Apple to get it fixed and then it becomes Apple’s problem and they may or may not be able to fix it which can lead to a poor UX for the user.

I don’t blame Apple for wanting to shut them down.

No, then they go to Apple, and Apple will refuse to fix it. They will not even try. I am sure that UX is often made really bad by "we can't get your child photos off your iPhone" (because Apple does not repair logic boards) even if a third party place could.

 

[Altis]

If the owner of a product misleads people regarding the quality of that product due to the use of lesser quality 3rd party parts then yes the manufacturer should have a right to protect the quality of their products.

Yes people have a right to repair their own items if they have the ability to do so but what they do not have a right to is maintain that the quality of the product is still the same when it is not.

If an owner replaced a broken screen on their iphone using a low quality part from china and then that iphone was used to compare it's quality against a brand new competitors phone that a friend of theirs has just bought (friends do that, compare quality of phones with one another), unless the owner of the iphone made it perfectly clear that the screen had been replaced, people will get the impression that the quality of the iphone is worse than that of the other phone which could then influence their purchasing decision on which phone to purchase next.

You wouldn't happen to be a shareholder?

I have no idea why it'd be a concern that maybe, somewhere, somebody might look at an older and repaired phone and make a judgement of iPhone quality as a whole based on it... and that that should mean nobody should be able to repair them.

I could understand maybe if a company was doing it, but individuals... it's nobody's business.

 

[lacek]

You wouldn't happen to be a shareholder?

Of Apple? Unfortunately not. Anyway the trick was to buy their shares in 90's

I have no idea why it'd be a concern that maybe, somewhere, somebody might look at an older and repaired phone and make a judgement of iPhone quality as a whole based on it... and that that should mean nobody should be able to repair them.

That is some argument why Apple would prefer iPhones not to be fixed, but not why it should not be done. Anyway the same argument would say that we should not repair our cars in authorized services (which at least in Poland actually offer knockoff parts as most of their clients do not have funds to pay original parts cost).
Anyway, this is ridiculous. We do not lend the device from Apple, we buy it. It is ours, it is ours decision what we do with it.

I could understand maybe if a company was doing it, but individuals... it's nobody's business.

Most of the repair places are companies. Also most of the "refurbishers" are companies. My iPhone is 99.99% Apple iPhone which was damaged due to water damage. I bought it for $20, replaced a single capacitor (the price of the capacitor: approx 0.012EUR, but I had to order at least 10..) and it works flawlessly for 2 years. I do not see that I did anything wrong.

 

[vtrautia]

Apple should stop being a *******. They should sell original parts to 3rd party repair shops. This is the worst part of Apple customer experience btw. Get your device working if its broken.

 

[Marshall73]

Apple does not offer many sort of repairs (for example data recovery). Plus Apple's repairs are awfully expensive. Apple also does not repair the logic board -they basically replace whole components and charge close to 129 / 299 $ for any repair no matter how trivial.
[doublepost=1524033068][/doublepost]

In my country the third party repair places have different prices depending on the quality of the screen (you define what quality of screen you have). Moreover if the metal enclosure is bent, Apple's repair cost 3 times more (or in some cases they refuse to repair it altogether). Independent places, simply make it more-or less straight again so that the replacement screen fits again.
[doublepost=1524033338][/doublepost]

cheaper than what? Original parts are not sold by Apple, so there is no point to speak about the price. Some of the parts you have listed are not available even for the AASP (charging port for example).
[doublepost=1524033474][/doublepost]

The parts are not from stole iPhones. These pars are manufactured in china and they cost say $0.99, $1.49 per part (except for the screens which cost say $13-$50). These parts carry no Apple logo, so they definitely do not come from stolen iPhones.
[doublepost=1524033646][/doublepost]

No, then they go to Apple, and Apple will refuse to fix it. They will not even try. I am sure that UX is often made really bad by "we can't get your child photos off your iPhone" (because Apple does not repair logic boards) even if a third party place could.

That’s not what was said in the report..

Huseby had ordered the screens, which were "refurbished screens assembled by a third party" from Hong Kong. The displays were refurbished using genuine broken iPhone components.

 

[Osamede]

And in related news, Apple's officially approved retailer and service center in Norway is reporting record profits, which no doubt Apple gets a hefty cut of:
https://www.dn.no/nyheter/2018/05/02/0727/Handel/tjener-mer-pa-apple
(use google translate)

Thus the little guy must be crushed and those of you who want an affordable repair should not be able to get one!

 

[kdarling]

Unless original Apple replacement parts are used, these repaired iphones are not Apple iphones with the quality that the brand is associated with, they are just another mobile phone but people do not view it that way, they still view it as an Apple iphone and this is what in my opinion Apple is trying to protect by going after 3rd party repair houses.

This cracks me up. When iPhone parts fail on their own (like jacks and buttons often do), that WAS a genuine "quality" Apple part.

It's no wonder that people see no problem getting an aftermarket replacement for a genuine part that failed.

As for displays, my daughter used to drop her phone and break them all the time. So heck yeah, I was quite happy that a local repair shop could replace it so cheaply.

MY CHOICE.

 

[Pedro1989]

Calling replacement parts "counterfeit" isn't accurate unless the part is marked/branded as an original part. For example, you can walk into an auto parts store and purchase the original part for your Lotus or Porsche or Alpine or what have you, and they may be able to provide an OEM part, and/or they may be able to provide a part which is a replacement made by a different company. It isn't "counterfeit" unless it is falsely sold/marketed/labeled/marked (??) as an OEM part. There were, for a time, a LOT of counterfeit "Apple" chargers on Amazon (hopefully that has been mostly cleared-up at this point). But it's an important distinction to make. If this shop wasn't actually using counterfeit parts, but simply using third-party replacements (and telling customers this), then what is the owner doing wrong?

[doublepost=1537765194][/doublepost]The owner dares to fix phones they want to control even after sold. Norway, as here in Portugal, does not even have a proper Apple Store. Still their products and warranty extensions are sold! But if you look up for a third party authorised repair, you'll find that in 75% of the times the option is not an actual repair, but a tread in deal.

 

[mackinmike]

Rather than innovating, they waste time sueing mom and pop shops. Smh.

 

[lionkin]

Great news to hear.

 

[djdrah]

Anyone who gets their device repaired unofficially is taking the risk of damaging their phone. That’s their choice. If they go to a shoddy guy to save a few bucks then that’s their fault.

Edit: I mean that if you choose to repair elsewhere than Apple and you go to someone shoddy that’s your fault. Not that everyone that isn’t Apple is shoddy.

Apple does not repair phones. They replace them. Your comment misses the point of unauthorized repair completely.
[doublepost=1559811811][/doublepost]

Can’t believe some people would not mind having counterfeit parts.

Hahahahaha, you’re silly!

 

[palmerc]

“100 percent compatible and completely identical”
You should base an argument on something that’s probably not true. (Such an argument is unsound). I doubt Apple is making a pile of cash in repairs. On the other hand, it damages their image an an Apple device fails, and nobody will be reporting that some ****** put bad parts inside of it in order to save himself money.

Technology is all about compromises - this is understood. In the search of reliability and miniaturization we have had to give up the ability to 'repair' because these devices aren't serviceable without specialised equipment and parts. Even the term repair is inaccurate - we're talking about replacing half of the device and reassembly means the 'repair' has compromised fundamental features of the construction, like water/dust-proofing.

As an American living in Norway, I can say the issue isn't about repair, it is about warranty. Norway, and many other European countries, require by law good warranty periods, running from 3-5 years for electronics. AppleCare in Norway is actually redundant. The US should require similar warranty periods for electronics.
[doublepost=1559813105][/doublepost]

Anyone who gets their device repaired unofficially is taking the risk of damaging their phone. That’s their choice. If they go to a shoddy guy to save a few bucks then that’s their fault.

Edit: I mean that if you choose to repair elsewhere than Apple and you go to someone shoddy that’s your fault. Not that everyone that isn’t Apple is shoddy.

Of course this highlights the issue of how does a regular person judge the repair facility? This is where authorised service centres come into play. But the issue remains - your fault - doesn't really work. Apple is left dealing with a customer made unhappy by their own choice or accident. Customer Satisfaction is lowered, Value diminished.