Wow. If anyone thinks that Apple is not an evil empire, surely their attempt to squash this story should cause doubts.
Apple computers and gadgets - made in China. Apple thought police - run like Chinese ministry of (dis)information.
Wow.
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Apple Tweaks Serial Number Format With New MacBook Pro
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Wow. If anyone thinks that Apple is not an evil empire, surely their attempt to squash this story should cause doubts.
Apple computers and gadgets - made in China. Apple thought police - run like Chinese ministry of (dis)information.
Wow.
A bunch of us late-2009 iMac users with flickering screens and blackout problems frequently referenced the serial numbers online to determine which production weeks were problematic and which weren't. It is sad and unfortunate that Apple has decided to obscure the week of manufacture. Clearly they don't need to add an additional letter for the manufacturing location because the existing two letters are enough for 26*26=676 manufacturing locations. Last I checked, Apple had a little over 20 manufacturing locations. Something is very fishy.
AidenShaw said:
I don't think they are an evil empire. So pray tell, what inside information do you have about why they asked for this story to be removed?
Maybe.. Maybe it was also causing devices without problems to get replaced or extra support on unnecessarily so.
Changing the serial number scheme does not actually change if a device has a problem or not. It does prevent people from reporting problems or exchanging devices based on that information alone though.
Wow. I've asked this before but I need to say it again... WHY ON EARTH do you waste your time on these forums when you clearly don't have a good word to say for Apple?
I think anybody sane can see that Apple have some serious flaws but I doubt the same sane people would be able to comprehend why you're still here!
Jeez!
Self-aggrandizement, for a start.
Apparently, a never-ending mission to dis' Apple in any, and every way possible.
To agitate, stir-the-pot, and then throw down the victim card when others call him on it.
The list goes on....
bless me father, for i have sinned. i have spoken steve's name in vain. *tears and stabbing guilt*
Self-aggrandizement, for a start.
Apparently, a never-ending mission to dis' Apple in any, and every way possible.
To agitate, stir-the-pot, and then throw down the victim card when others call him on it.
The list goes on....
Ha Ha.. Brilliant! And so spot on! Especially the Victim Card! Ha Ha
It is actually really fascinating. An adult (I am not saying grown up, which probably would imply too much
) spends hours each day in a MAC Forum in his quest to post hypocritical rubbish just to stir the pot. I especially love when he makes condescending remarks about the "fanboys" but on the same token he and his postings are hardly any better. Ha Ha... Usual highlights are when he quotes statistics about how many more users use Windows 7 or Xp over OSX 10.5 or 10.6. Sometimes I even thought A.S is Steve Jobs. Because even the most modest and open minded MAC users would become die hard Fanboyz and fall onto their knees worshipping their MACS - juts not to be on the same perceived side as him.
I swear that some of the bigger fan boys, like LTD work for Apple, just trolling through forum after forum preaching the word of Jobs. They pulled this story very fast.
If you dislike Apple's censorship you can always Google the title of this thread. There are tonnes of sites out there that have already archived the article. Now what? Ask Google to remove the search results? Just sayin'.
He's part of the crew that will flag every story here as "negative" no matter what. Even if there's no reason to flag it negative, like the current story on the first page "Apple to Release Q2 2010 Financial Results on April 20th"...there are as of now 14 "negative" flags on it for some idiotic reason. I mean...wtf?
+1
Anyway I've found the original article on another forum... Google is your friend...
Cached at Bing
Cached at Bing
"With the release of refreshed MacBook Pro models earlier this week, Apple has apparently tweaked the format it uses for serial numbers on its devices, moving from an 11-character serial number to a 12-character sequence.
Apple's 11-character serial number system has utilized an alphanumeric format of PPYWWSSSCCC, comprising two digits "PP" denoting a plant code where the product was produced, a single digit "Y" denoting the year of manufacturing, two digits "WW" signifying the week of the year in which the machine was produced, a three-digit unique identifier "SSS" to distinguish between machines that would otherwise have the same serial numbers, and a final three digits "CCC" specifying the model.
The new 12-digit serial number format makes a few minor tweaks to the format, which we have been able to decipher. The increase in length for the new format, which takes on the sequence PPPYWSSSCCCC, can be attributed to changes to the length of the "P", "W", and "C" portions of the code.
The addition of a third "P" digit to assist in identifying the manufacturing location is a fairly straightforward change, although it remains to be seen whether existing plant codes will simply have a character such as a "0" appended to them or if the system is being entirely reworked. The difference in the "W" component is more significant, however, including a shift to alphanumeric codes that will make it a bit more difficult to decipher a machine's manufacturing at a simple glance. The "W" change is also related to a difference in how the "Y" component is used.
Under the previous format, the "Y" component of the serial number was simply the last digit of the year of manufacture, meaning that a machine produced this year would carry a "0" in that position. The number in that position would obviously recycle every ten years, but it should be relatively clear from Apple's product release history whether a given machine was produced in 2000 or 2010.
While leaving the length the same at one character, Apple has modified the "Y" component to include a letter code instead of a number, and the new system will reflect in that code not only the year of manufacture, but also whether it was manufactured in the first or second half of the year. Apple has elected to use 20 different letters in this position, omitting vowels A, E, I, O, and U, as well as B. As with the previous system, letters in this position will recycle every ten years. For 2010, machines with a "C" in this position will have been manufactured in weeks 1-26, while machines with a "D" will have been manufactured in weeks 27-52 or 53. Next year will see the use of codes "F" and "G", and so on.
With the reduction of the "W" component of the serial number to a single alphanumeric digit, Apple has had to roll out a new system for identifying the week in which a given machine was produced. Previously, the two-digit code simply reflected the week of the year, beginning with "01" and moving on through "52" or "53".
The new format utilizes one of 27 alphanumeric characters to denote the week of manufacture, beginning with 1-9 and moving on to letters, omitting 0, vowels A, E, I, O, and U, as well as B, S, and Z. Because the 27 possible characters can not account for all of the weeks in the year, the "W" component must be paired with the "Y" component to determine whether the machine was manufactured in the first or second half of the year, with the "W" codes recycling every six months.
The three-character alphanumeric "S" code for unique product identification remains the same under the new system, while the alphanumeric "C" code for identifying model numbers has been expanded from three characters to four.
The ability to decipher Apple's serial number code to ascertain when a given machine was produced has been used by many customers wishing to learn more about the age of their machines, particularly when it comes to production issues. Understanding whether production date makes a difference in whether machines do or do not suffer from a given issue can help pinpoint when fixes might have been deployed and either alert or reassure customers attempting to determine whether their machines might be affected."
http://foxyurl.com/Ru7
Cached at Bing
"With the release of refreshed MacBook Pro models earlier this week, Apple has apparently tweaked the format it uses for serial numbers on its devices, moving from an 11-character serial number to a 12-character sequence.
Apple's 11-character serial number system has utilized an alphanumeric format of PPYWWSSSCCC, comprising two digits "PP" denoting a plant code where the product was produced, a single digit "Y" denoting the year of manufacturing, two digits "WW" signifying the week of the year in which the machine was produced, a three-digit unique identifier "SSS" to distinguish between machines that would otherwise have the same serial numbers, and a final three digits "CCC" specifying the model.
The new 12-digit serial number format makes a few minor tweaks to the format, which we have been able to decipher. The increase in length for the new format, which takes on the sequence PPPYWSSSCCCC, can be attributed to changes to the length of the "P", "W", and "C" portions of the code.
The addition of a third "P" digit to assist in identifying the manufacturing location is a fairly straightforward change, although it remains to be seen whether existing plant codes will simply have a character such as a "0" appended to them or if the system is being entirely reworked. The difference in the "W" component is more significant, however, including a shift to alphanumeric codes that will make it a bit more difficult to decipher a machine's manufacturing at a simple glance. The "W" change is also related to a difference in how the "Y" component is used.
Under the previous format, the "Y" component of the serial number was simply the last digit of the year of manufacture, meaning that a machine produced this year would carry a "0" in that position. The number in that position would obviously recycle every ten years, but it should be relatively clear from Apple's product release history whether a given machine was produced in 2000 or 2010.
While leaving the length the same at one character, Apple has modified the "Y" component to include a letter code instead of a number, and the new system will reflect in that code not only the year of manufacture, but also whether it was manufactured in the first or second half of the year. Apple has elected to use 20 different letters in this position, omitting vowels A, E, I, O, and U, as well as B. As with the previous system, letters in this position will recycle every ten years. For 2010, machines with a "C" in this position will have been manufactured in weeks 1-26, while machines with a "D" will have been manufactured in weeks 27-52 or 53. Next year will see the use of codes "F" and "G", and so on.
With the reduction of the "W" component of the serial number to a single alphanumeric digit, Apple has had to roll out a new system for identifying the week in which a given machine was produced. Previously, the two-digit code simply reflected the week of the year, beginning with "01" and moving on through "52" or "53".
The new format utilizes one of 27 alphanumeric characters to denote the week of manufacture, beginning with 1-9 and moving on to letters, omitting 0, vowels A, E, I, O, and U, as well as B, S, and Z. Because the 27 possible characters can not account for all of the weeks in the year, the "W" component must be paired with the "Y" component to determine whether the machine was manufactured in the first or second half of the year, with the "W" codes recycling every six months.
The three-character alphanumeric "S" code for unique product identification remains the same under the new system, while the alphanumeric "C" code for identifying model numbers has been expanded from three characters to four.
The ability to decipher Apple's serial number code to ascertain when a given machine was produced has been used by many customers wishing to learn more about the age of their machines, particularly when it comes to production issues. Understanding whether production date makes a difference in whether machines do or do not suffer from a given issue can help pinpoint when fixes might have been deployed and either alert or reassure customers attempting to determine whether their machines might be affected."
http://foxyurl.com/Ru7
Ridiculous. This kind of information should be freely available for Apple customers. What a lame request.
Fully agree! I don't understand why Apple wants to hide such information from customers...
Wow. I guess lawyers are struggling to keep their jobs too these days.
Cool. I'll be sure to save a copy now.
Self-aggrandizement, for a start.
Apparently, a never-ending mission to dis' Apple in any, and every way possible.
To agitate, stir-the-pot, and then throw down the victim card when others call him on it.
The list goes on....
But why are his posts so important to you that you refer to him in your signature?
At the request of me, I'd like the post below this post to be removed. It's not that it contains any copyrighted text, or was posted by someone who had signed an NDA, or is protected in the interests (bleh) of national security. It's not even describing some circumvention device for copy protection. Nevertheless, I promise I have a sound basis for this request!