Apple Researching Methods to Detect 'Consumer Abuse' in Portable Devices

[sushi]

This is a symptom of a society which is increasingly litigious with more cases of attempted fraud.

I believe this to be true ... unfortunately.

Every phone that gets turned in is probably inspected and a diagnose is run to determine what went wrong. Based upon Apple's findings, they determine how to re-engineer some parts or in this case have found out that the phones have been abused and should not have been replaced. Good businesses are always looking at ways to cut costs.

I really dislike these so called scammers. They ruin it for the rest of us.

 

[crackbookpro]

As for being a unique idea... sheesh. For decades, casino systems have had abuse monitors built in. You wouldn't believe what people use to try to influence slot machines. Hammers, magnets, even cattle prods and Tazers. The reason we used capacitive screens in fact, was to avoid knife abuse on resistive versions.

I hope you are not making an analogy

Casinos and Apple are two totally different breeds! Casinos have a reason to use a surveillance type of systems and personnel... it is a Casino!

Apple makes good products, if not, great products - and that should be first priority for Apple! If one of these consumer abuse sensor's is faulty and makes my Apple product not work...you just lost me as a consumer!!! I promise that, no matter what comes from Apple! I will not buy it... it is the principle more than anything!

 

[crackbookpro]

On the good side, the patent suggests that if a self-test passes after an abuse incident, it could be inferred that the abuse didn't cause any problems other than cosmetic. Of course, if they were going to listen to tests, then why have an abuse system at all?

I hope the "consumer abuse" doesn't happen when being shipped or packaged

I would like to know if the consumer can use software to check out the consumer abuse sensor on their own. That would be the biggest sighh of them all

My biggest issue is how this will work! I can't wait to hear of all the stipulations under this sensor.

...I sure hope (and so does Apple) it is flawless system they are working on!

 

[whooleytoo]

If Apple does end up using such sensors as an end-all determination for warranty coverage, I agree you'd have every reason to be upset. I just don't see it happening, as someone who works with Apple on warranty jobs everyday.

I genuinely hope you're right.

Not many companies these days are making a name for themselves based on the after-sales customer support; it seems to be the one thing on which everyone is trying to minimise their costs. So, I'm not that optimistic, given any such device with a tripped sensor could give them a guaranteed 'get out of jail' card.

 

[torbjoern]

There's a lub-schmuck on another, mac-related forum who expects Apple to give him a new iPhone 3GS (price: 700 $) for free because he dropped his brand-new one on the floor when opening the package so that the screen cracked - eventually repair it (price: 250 $) free of charge. He had broken it the very same day he bought it!

Before complaining about Apple's strategies to prevent fraudulent warranty claims, take some time to think about how many dollars you're paying for Gomer Pyle's recklessness whenever you purchase an Apple product.

 

[pubwvj]

Apple should be putting more research into making their devices Real World Tough so this is not an issue. You should be able to drop your iPod 50 stories onto concrete. You should be able to use it 300 meters under the ocean. It should be virtually indestructible. Same goes for their other equipment. Stop making disposable trash.

 

[AidenShaw]

Apple should be putting more research into making their devices Real World Tough so this is not an issue. You should be able to drop your iPod 50 stories onto concrete. You should be able to use it 300 meters under the ocean. It should be virtually indestructible. Same goes for their other equipment. Stop making disposable trash.

I've dropped my Samsung a half dozen times or so, including once on the concrete stairs in the parking garage where it bounced a few times before coming to rest - a few scratches, that's all.

I assume that you're being sarcastic - but I find it rather obvious that a simple fall shouldn't destroy a phone.

 

[doctor-don]

Excellent

John Dick and Jane are on a hiking trip. John, while walking with the small group, decides to check his trusty iPhone for map coordinates and pulls out his device while walking the upward trail to the already routed course the iPhone laid out for them earlier. They used it seeking the best way to the days prize, a buried cache at the top of the mountain.

The day was already beginning to overcast and thunder storms were appearing evident john thought as he was also checking weather using an app from the iPhone. The Sun was still there, only appearing less through clouds at certain intervals. When it happens, his foot plants directly on the stone and instantly is tossed over the edge with the help of gravity and his already forward movement where the trail curved there.

It all happens so fast that neither had noticed Johns almost instant disappearance, and Jane was listening to her playlist on her iPod Touch and discussing the days music she had planned for their cache finding trip. Only if they could call for help but they had not brought their phones and no one else was in sight for the last few hours they were on the mountain side.

Yelling to John they asked if he could get on the iPhone to make a call for help. John half dazed and still finding his bearings gropes about for his iPhone he previously was holding in his hand while still on the trail above.

He is able to see the device lying against a rock and immediately can see that its lying there almost facing him and notes the crack on its face but otherwise looks to be in one piece.

He feels his left ear where the Bluetooth headset was last and expecting to feel it there to make use of its maybe life saving attempt at invoking the call using the iPhone it was paired to. Nothing, only a beep, which indicating normally it was ready for a voice prompt or that it was prepared to function like usual. He holds it again pressing harder and longer this time waiting for the iPhone to prompt for a voice command and again nothing.

What could the three do if not individually but as a group all having Apple devices, to make something possible to make any attempt at contacting emergency services.

Could Apple include within the standards of "shut down on abuse" ask owner if this is an emergency - is someone hurt? "Would you like a call placed to Emergency Services or 911?"...

Could more devices be made that normally communicate with iPhone's to be made to have features such as invoke emergency call or indicate function or connectivity to the other device or prepare and run diagnostics and or show battery life on both devices simultaneously either through the phones interface or the communicating device.

Many possibilities here some that I could discuss in length but not without taking entire forum pages to go over all the circumstances or situations this one function of "Abuse Protection" that Apple could easily implement even into existing iPhone models making use of the compass and accelerometor and such.

What do you think?

I have seen many "abused" electronics in my years of working with everything from consumer portable devices to business class hardware and how easily people or "acts of God" as some manufactures have stated within their warranties put it and how this effects warranty claims that would other wise not be covered or a responsibility of the manufacture.

Does i in iPhone mean "I" or "Intelligent"?

piece of writing. This is exactly why we read the MacRumors Forum.

 

[1239689]

Going the way of Microsoft!

-

 

[wackymacky]

Well, if they let App developers have access to the API's to user the sensors it would be great!!

the iPhone could have a built in weather station with it's hygrometers (humiditiy sensor) and thermometer!!!

I'm not quite sure what to do with the accelerometer yet!

(pic attached from patient application)

 

[designgeek]

It will be interesting to see how this is implemented, I would imagine that the iPhones are first, followed by the notebooks then the desktops. My mini !

 

[thescort]

I have been sending my apple products to repair several times 4 years after the warranty expires and without apple care by just photoshoping the receipts.

Most of my powerbooks have a mayor falure just a month after the one year warranty expires, lets say logic board burned out after a system software update and things like that where I never exposed the device to any abuse.

Apple powerbooks/ mac books pros will have a mayor hardware failure all of the sudden just withing weeks the first year of warranty expire. I have 4 powerbooks and is the same thing with all of them, and Apple wants me to get apple care for selling me disposable equipment? nah, I photoshoped the receipts and they are in warranty again.

I would call that an even deal.

You are a liar, the possibility of a photoshopped receipt working is slim to nil. I work for a canadian retailer, and every receipt that gets printed can be re-printed again and again. Every time we take something in on trade or deal with a warranty issue, the receipt is reprinted. If we were handed a 'photoshopped" receipt, we would know it very fast, and we are FAR from what apple is in terms of a company.

the photoshopped receipt may work with us ONCE in a blue moon, but i doubt is would work even once. I have a feeling it wouldn't work with apple either.

GFY.

 

[kingtj]

A little over the top, perhaps ....

All the cars we drive in America already have recording devices embedded in them, to track the events that led up to a crash. (Did the person depress the brake pedal first, and for how long? What speed was the vehicle at for the last few seconds before impact? Etc. Etc.) As the article pointed out, almost all cellphones I've seen already have the little sticker or device in them that changes color if it gets wet. We're bound to see more and more of this as time goes on from ALL manufacturers.

I wouldn't say I really "like" any of it, but I understand it, within reason. At the end of the day though, a company still has their image to uphold. If everyone keeps dropping one of their phones and they're all turned away because some sensor indicates the keypad or screen broke from a fall, they've just created a P.R. nightmare. People are going to say "Hey, this phone's really poorly designed, so the thing is always slipping out of people's hands. And when it does, it apparently breaks a lot - and there's no way this company wants to help you when it does!"

That's NOT the type of company a phone maker wants to be known as ... so all the sensors and recording data in the world matter much less than what they choose to DO with the information.

Apple has always struck me as a company that is very hesitant to lay out "ground rules" for what constitutes a warranty repair. They like leaving it "open ended" so they have flexibility. (EG. Back when all the rage was LCD display makers quoting their "bad pixel policies", Apple was a hold-out that would never state a specific number of bad pixels that allowed an exchange.)

In general, they seem to go "above and beyond" what's expected when they handle a warranty claim. (I've seen plenty of times they went ahead and replaced or tightened loose laptop hinges along with doing a totally unrelated repair, or even put new rubber feet back on a device when they were missing.) That tells me they DO care about their image .... but they seem to prefer you place some "trust" in them to do the right things, vs. spelling out a lot of written promises about what you WILL or WON'T get from them.

So if you jailbreak your phone now, they will decline your warranty. If that's not the case now, it will be soon.

Don't do anything your device. Just sit there and look at your beautiful paperweight.

EDIT: For the record, hardware abuse I'm aboard with. It does have some drawbacks though. But who's to say it'll stop there or who decides the standards?

 

[kingtj]

re: next-business day service

Delays can and do happen in the computer industry...

I worked for 6 years for a place that bought every single PC from Dell with that "next day on-site replacement" warranty, and yet we had one Optiplex tower that was down for around 2 months, because Dell was "backordered" on the replacement part it needed.

Sure, the tech arrived the next business day, but only to tell us it was broken and they didn't have the parts for it in stock.

Other times, they replaced the wrong part, causing delays of several more days before they got someone back out to try again with other components.

Upper case replace that took 3 weeks and they claimed the MacBook hadn't been given to them in the first place. They had to track it down.

Dell on-site next business day is a wonder to have when you need it and are willing to pay for it. Working in education was great.

 

[killerrobot]

All the cars we drive in America already have recording devices embedded in them, to track the events that led up to a crash. (Did the person depress the brake pedal first, and for how long? What speed was the vehicle at for the last few seconds before impact? Etc. Etc.)

First, I would say newer model cars, not all cars.
Second, there's a huge difference between using crash data to make sure systems didn't fail and to make better safety equipment on later versions and using "crash data" to void your warranty or insurance - which they don't do.

 

[Mattie Num Nums]

While working at the Genius bar we noticed that during high humidity the "Liquid" sensor in the audio jack would trigger water damage.

 

[kdarling]

First, I would say newer model cars, not all cars.
Second, there's a huge difference between using crash data to make sure systems didn't fail and to make better safety equipment on later versions and using "crash data" to void your warranty or insurance - which they don't do.

Yeah, I think the insurance companies are staying away... for now. But car records have already been used to convict people.

There was the kid out on Long Island, I think, who claimed he wasn't racing when his Corvette crashed into someone. The Corvette's engine computer record said differently, that he was doing 90mph on the neighborhood street.

There was also that minister who claimed he didn't know he had run over someone late at night. The car computer's record showed he had slammed on brakes at the same time that the accident happened. He was convicted of a hit-and-run.

 

[DELLsFan]

I like the idea of equipment being smart enough to shut off if accidentally left in a hot vehicle (for example). I also like the idea of water detection devices internal to the equipment. Protection of equipment and keeping consumers honest is a good thing.

What is disappointing about a story like this is the lack of follow up by Apple to introduce optional, more expensive, Apple Care plans for computers and devices that cover "accidental" damage (like excessive shock, heat, screen/display cracking, and - yes - water damage). There is clearly a need for it and is already marketed by other companies (like DELL) for their products.

 

[logicaldog]

you are really missing the point

Hey for those of you who are good little fifth grade suck ups and sheeple, get some self esteem!! I am old, I am a mom, I am a family therapist and I remember when customer service and customer retention meant something. Its not like they aren't making a profit. I have bought 3 macbooks, 1 macbook pro, 3 I phones and countless other apple products just this year. I was transitioning to an "all apple" household. (I am the hold out with my old PC, which does work just fine...) but given these kind of practices, where they obviously don't care about customer satisfaction and are looking for ways to screw the customer I will not go that way. At this point in my life I am looking for companies who care, go the extra mile, and are accountable. So far APPLE isnt! My experience in getting service, et., is 50/50. The geniuses aren't some are outright morons and it is purely dependent on who you get-no consistency. Clearly Apple doesn't care about keeping my business as they devote more time and money to try to "prevent abuse", gag. Come on, become an empowered consumer and stop kissing up to the teacher (or daddy or mommy depending on your particular personality disorder). They produce these things for pennies on the dollar and should want to promote customer retention but the corporate personality says no. I am going shopping for a better product and in the meantime, I have a macbook that doesn't turn on, is under warranty and I sweat, worried that it may have come into contact with humidity in the summer in Washington, DC. Duh.

 

[kurosov]

Hey for those of you who are good little fifth grade suck ups and sheeple, get some self esteem!! I am old, I am a mom, I am a family therapist and I remember when customer service and customer retention meant something. Its not like they aren't making a profit. I have bought 3 macbooks, 1 macbook pro, 3 I phones and countless other apple products just this year. I was transitioning to an "all apple" household. (I am the hold out with my old PC, which does work just fine...) but given these kind of practices, where they obviously don't care about customer satisfaction and are looking for ways to screw the customer I will not go that way. At this point in my life I am looking for companies who care, go the extra mile, and are accountable. So far APPLE isnt! My experience in getting service, et., is 50/50. The geniuses aren't some are outright morons and it is purely dependent on who you get-no consistency. Clearly Apple doesn't care about keeping my business as they devote more time and money to try to "prevent abuse", gag. Come on, become an empowered consumer and stop kissing up to the teacher (or daddy or mommy depending on your particular personality disorder). They produce these things for pennies on the dollar and should want to promote customer retention but the corporate personality says no. I am going shopping for a better product and in the meantime, I have a macbook that doesn't turn on, is under warranty and I sweat, worried that it may have come into contact with humidity in the summer in Washington, DC. Duh.

With the amount of money all companies loose out on i can see more and more taking such measures i the future. That or increase the number of rejections.

You mention you are looking for a company that is "accountable" yet, These methods will be a way of proving the consumer was accountable for the damage to the goods. If it's your fault you shouldn't get a free replacement. Use any terms you like be they suck up or sheeple, but people who break a device and demand a replacement are in the wrong.