It's not misinformation, it's literally what's going to happen.
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EU Right to Repair Rules Force Companies to Fix Out-of-Warranty Devices
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It's not misinformation, it's literally what's going to happen.
Yes. It’s outrageous!
As an Apple shareholder I would rather have Apple cutting corners and not wasting money on quality control and hardware that last.
The consumers can buy Apple care plus pro max if they want to be sure they can use the product for more than a week.
/S
There are time limits, which are defined for various device categories by existing acts and regulations. For smartphones and tablets, for example, manufacturers are already required to keep spare parts available for at least seven years.
Apple have launched an innovative trend where users are increasingly being pushed not to repair their devices, yet instead buy new ones. Not by lowering the prices of the devices but rising repair prices towards upselling on top restrictive policies to control third party repair services and expedient technical measures. This strategy is systematically being applied not only on hardware but software as well. Take for instance the App Store policies on iOS and restriction on software distribution channels.
The result is better financial results at the expense of an hefty increase of non transparent indirect acquisition costs for customers with no benefits associated and increase waste of planet resources for humanity. If this was not enough, this cross cutting strategy provides the company an upper hand over the digital assets owned by all kinds of users: regular users, developers, businesses, as well as their competitors with a reach far beyond the device and software itself.
Meanwhile to disguise this sole objective their marketing and policies play with basic human insecurities such as the feeling of lack of privacy, lack of property safety and other eventual threats to human health not to mention vanity. When indeed instead of safety and enforcing users property ownership quite the opposite is being offered. Users are ever increasingly loosing control of their owned Apple product$, loo$ing basic digital liberties and properties rights to Apple, spending too much time on screens with well known negative impact on mental health and their identity is through policies being u$ed has a currency for third party businesses, in particular leverage against potential competitors to protect their current and future business ventures in the digital service space.
This is far, far, far away from the values hinted by that incredible commercial during super ball and later the Think Different. The values of the company have changed dramatically succumbing to the pressure of shareholders demanding larger, Larger, LARger, LARGER, LLAARRGGEERR profits.
Heck they now even sell really cheap materials that can’t survive the elements 2 months of use painted as the latest Coca-Cola in the desert. Case in case an iPhone cover. No way this product was internally tested for quality but built for pure profit capitalizing on users trust. A well deserved trust created by the former CEO, Steve Jobs, that unfortunately is no longer. A trust that Mr Cook has been aggressively banking yet slowly eroding, people are noticing it, certainly making shareholders very happy in their stock journey.
Will see as the glam wares out and the name of legends are blown by the winds of time.
The result is better financial results at the expense of an hefty increase of non transparent indirect acquisition costs for customers with no benefits associated and increase waste of planet resources for humanity. If this was not enough, this cross cutting strategy provides the company an upper hand over the digital assets owned by all kinds of users: regular users, developers, businesses, as well as their competitors with a reach far beyond the device and software itself.
Meanwhile to disguise this sole objective their marketing and policies play with basic human insecurities such as the feeling of lack of privacy, lack of property safety and other eventual threats to human health not to mention vanity. When indeed instead of safety and enforcing users property ownership quite the opposite is being offered. Users are ever increasingly loosing control of their owned Apple product$, loo$ing basic digital liberties and properties rights to Apple, spending too much time on screens with well known negative impact on mental health and their identity is through policies being u$ed has a currency for third party businesses, in particular leverage against potential competitors to protect their current and future business ventures in the digital service space.
This is far, far, far away from the values hinted by that incredible commercial during super ball and later the Think Different. The values of the company have changed dramatically succumbing to the pressure of shareholders demanding larger, Larger, LARger, LARGER, LLAARRGGEERR profits.
Heck they now even sell really cheap materials that can’t survive the elements 2 months of use painted as the latest Coca-Cola in the desert. Case in case an iPhone cover. No way this product was internally tested for quality but built for pure profit capitalizing on users trust. A well deserved trust created by the former CEO, Steve Jobs, that unfortunately is no longer. A trust that Mr Cook has been aggressively banking yet slowly eroding, people are noticing it, certainly making shareholders very happy in their stock journey.
Will see as the glam wares out and the name of legends are blown by the winds of time.
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we already have two years' warranty on devices thanks to the EU. Now they help reduce toxic waste and (hopefully) wards off planned obsolescence.
This applies to all of our consumer durables which is great.
This applies to all of our consumer durables which is great.
In the decades prior to rampant corporate greed, product designers and manufacturers were proud to promote the longevity and repairability of their products. And for the Apple praetorian guard, this is not aimed at any manufacturer in particular. Let’s hear less of ‘it’d be cheaper to buy a new one’.
I wish we still had consumer protection from the EU here in UK.
I wish we still had consumer protection from the EU here in UK.
Ok, if these time limits are already in place, how is this legislation any different from now?
The time limits for spare parts didn’t give anyone a right to have their device repaired, nor at a reasonable price. But you can read the new rules and the referenced acts yourself here: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2024-0308_EN.pdf
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Ooh no, those poor companies that are racking in billions, whatever will they do when they *checks notes* have to stock spare parts as they already have been doing for decades?
In the case of smartphones and similar devices, the bigger impediment are the OS signing keys.
I would prefer it if the EU forced manufacturers to allow people to replace batteries and upgrade storage (SSD) without any problems.
This will likely result in higher prices for consumers. Manufacturers are not going to absorb this cost. These policies are advertised as "good for the consumer," but they are not free, and consumers are paying for them. Instead of choosing to pay for a longer warranty, or for the coverage as needed, everyone will be forced to pay for it in the higher prices.
It is even more likely that devices will become cheaper in order to motivate consumers to buy something new rather than opt for a cheaper repair.
Thanks! I must say, if it is as you say the legislation actually looks solid.
The goal is to make devices last longer. It's par for the course that this might increase their price. But it should also increase their resale value if you want to switch earlier.
A 3y warranty (for manufacturing defects) has been standard in most EU countries for many years so a an official change from 1y to 2y won’t change much in reality.
"My dog tried to repair my phone and accidentally dropped a sledgehammer on it, fix it Apple." What about pacemakers? Can I try and fix my dad's? If he dies will the manufacturer fix him and the pacemaker?
Will the manufacturer have to keep production lines open forever just so there's a supply of parts? What if the parts are no longer available? Will the manufacturer have to restart a production line, at a cost of millions, so the customer can get their 10+ year old device working again - even if Bezos agrees to pay to restart the production line?
It seems like companies can't say your hardware is too old for the new hardware anymore either? So 15 years from now will Apple still have to support a phone model to run the latest iOS updates?
Some limitation in product age is not unreasonable.
Will the manufacturer have to keep production lines open forever just so there's a supply of parts? What if the parts are no longer available? Will the manufacturer have to restart a production line, at a cost of millions, so the customer can get their 10+ year old device working again - even if Bezos agrees to pay to restart the production line?
It seems like companies can't say your hardware is too old for the new hardware anymore either? So 15 years from now will Apple still have to support a phone model to run the latest iOS updates?
Some limitation in product age is not unreasonable.
We need this is the USA as well. Name brand dishwasher. Front control panel gave out. Dissasembled it. Very simple board. Very simple to replace. Part cost about 90% of a new, better brand dishwasher. Completely repairable unit went to dump because a board that cost the mfg probably $15 was selling for hundreds of dollars. Unit was less than 10 years old. What a complete waste.
I've been a vocal opponent of the EU's DMA for reasons that I've previously outlined in depth. One of those reasons was the method by which the EU is specifically targeting just a few companies rather than passing general laws that all companies must follow.
I tentatively support this action and appreciate that it appears to be generally applicable. But I have some caveats.
I'm not a fan of "right to repair" because modern tech devices are so complex and the advantages of that complexity outweigh the very tiny group of people who are able to crack open their device to do repairs. I find the resultant Apple program of renting out repair equipment and complex tools to average people to be a silly solution. An example of complexity trumping right to repair, for me, would be things like making our devices waterproof; that generally means making them difficult to open and then to close again in such a way as to maintain that benefit.
THAT being said, the counter to this is to strengthen requirements for warranty and reasonable repair costs from the manufacturer. I think this is a good trend. So on this point I support the efforts of the EU.
I tentatively support this action and appreciate that it appears to be generally applicable. But I have some caveats.
I'm not a fan of "right to repair" because modern tech devices are so complex and the advantages of that complexity outweigh the very tiny group of people who are able to crack open their device to do repairs. I find the resultant Apple program of renting out repair equipment and complex tools to average people to be a silly solution. An example of complexity trumping right to repair, for me, would be things like making our devices waterproof; that generally means making them difficult to open and then to close again in such a way as to maintain that benefit.
THAT being said, the counter to this is to strengthen requirements for warranty and reasonable repair costs from the manufacturer. I think this is a good trend. So on this point I support the efforts of the EU.
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everything gets outdated at some point... why postpone the inevitable and have walking dead electronics hang around to the point it is a joke... back in the day, I inherited an application to keep current and running... I was told it needed to run on windows 3.0 to the current version... I said it would be smarter to buy a new cheap clone computer that had an up to date OS than waste staff on that... took me a year but I made sure that people wanted the latest version of the app for its features and windows 3.x was not able to cut it anymore.... long way to go for not much of a story... oh well.. it's early...
Yes, that would be. That would also mean that Apple stop redesigning the architecture internally of every new model, almost to the point of making updating a component such as an SSD proprietary. For example, this SSD only fits model A2251, nothing else.