Internal Documents Show Apple Is Capable of Implementing Right to Repair Legislation (vice.com) 94
A leaked internal document outlines a program that looks almost exactly like the requirements of right to repair legislation that has been proposed in 20 states. From a report: As Apple continues to fight legislation that would make it easier for consumers to repair their iPhones, MacBooks, and other electronics, the company appears to be able to implement many of the requirements of the legislation, according to an internal presentation obtained by Motherboard. According to the presentation, titled "Apple Genuine Parts Repair" and dated April 2018, the company has begun to give some repair companies access to Apple diagnostic software, a wide variety of genuine Apple repair parts, repair training, and notably places no restrictions on the types of repairs that independent companies are allowed to do. The presentation notes that repair companies can "keep doing what you're doing, with ... Apple genuine parts, reliable parts supply, and Apple process and training."
This is, broadly speaking, what right to repair activists have been asking state legislators to require companies to offer for years. "This looks to me like a framework for complying with right to repair legislation," Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit and a prominent member of the right to repair movement, told me on the phone. "Right now, they are only offering it to a few megachains, but it seems clear to me that it would be totally possible to comply with right to repair."
This is, broadly speaking, what right to repair activists have been asking state legislators to require companies to offer for years. "This looks to me like a framework for complying with right to repair legislation," Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit and a prominent member of the right to repair movement, told me on the phone. "Right now, they are only offering it to a few megachains, but it seems clear to me that it would be totally possible to comply with right to repair."
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THE RUSSIANS WERE NOT TRYING TO HELP TRUMP. They were trying to create division. Their plan both succeeded, and was pointless. The effect of Russia's social media campaign paled in comparison to the naturally occurring division.
If Russia was trying to get Trump elected, why did they run anti Trump and pro Clinton ads and stories? THINK ABOUT IT.
And while you're thinking about that, wonder when's the last time a president was elected with 49% of the vote, and wasn't called "lame d
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Cookie-cutter denial, the up and coming new Orange Man Bad outrage. :)
Re: Mueller Report is 300 pages long! (Score:2)
Mueller said that there was no evidence of collusion after a thorough 18 month investigation. If you have evidence there was collusion then you'd better let him know as soon as you can.
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Re: Mueller Report is 300 pages long! (Score:2)
No what he specifically said was there was no evidence of collusion and insufficient evidence to bring a charge of obstruction of justice. Let it go.
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It's the lack of upgrades (Score:2)
The Apple biosystem requires you replace your devices periodically. Opening them up to repair lets you buy non-Apple components, non-Apple batteries, and makes it highly likely you won't pay $10,000 for a computer or $1000 for a phone every two years.
Can they do it? Sure.
They have no economic incentive to do so.
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Hell, Apple isn't even in the business of repair work. Go ahead. Try and convince them to give you a reasonable price to repair your broken hardware. You'll be staring at a quote that's 90% the cost of new hardware.
That....kind of proves his point. Apple doesn't want you repairing devices. If you have a 2-3 year old device and the repair cost is 80-90% of the price of a new one, most people are just going to bite the bullet and buy a new one. This is especially beneficial for iPhones where most people turn in their old device for a new one and Apple can refurbish the old device (very cheaply given how low the cost of the components really are) and resell it as a refurb or internationally for additional profit.
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It's not quite that bad, the spare parts for any business are higher cost than third party, partially because they have to actually stock them and partially because they require much better QC. Try to buy these spare batteries and displays from an off-brand third party, check the Amazon reviews - 15-25% one star saying it doesn't work, doesn't work well, has all sorts of flaws (dead pixels on screens or low capacity on batteries) and are more often than not simply refurbished or even stolen parts.
This isn't
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Then why do Apple smartphone users need to replace their phones much less frequently?
The 5s was launched In September of 2013 and still receives updates.
Are there any five and a half year old android phones that still receive manufacturer updates? Are there any that continue to get updates after even 2?
The 5s might still receive updates, but how many current 5s owners are the original owners of that device? Apple takes in so many trade-ins to sell as refurbs or other markets that it is in their best interest to keep them up to date. If you can sell the same device 2 or 3 times with production cost covered at the original sale and at only marginal cost after that, you're into almost pure profit.
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The 5s might still receive updates, but how many current 5s owners are the original owners of that device?
*raises hand*
I'm still using my same iPhone 5s from 2013. I even just updated to the latest version of iOS earlier this week. The battery has never been replaced (iFixit sells a kit for $30, but I haven't bothered with it), so its charge only lasts about a day with light usage at this point. In every other regard, however, it's still doing well. It's slower than the newer devices in our household, as you'd expect, but its performance is surprisingly decent considering it's coming up on 6 years old. My previ
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You really think Apple sells traded phones as refurbs? I really think they probably throw them straight into a shredder. Take them off the secondary market and they'll make more money selling the newer models.
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Apple generally takes them apart for parts and recycles the metal, then all they have to do for a refurb (actually they sell those models in India as 'brand new') is put a new case and battery in it.
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That has nearly the same effect with more added evil than I could imagine up for them.
Apple says opposite (Score:2)
The Apple biosystem requires you replace your devices periodically.
Apple themselves said last year they expect people to be using devices longer and longer, which is why support for older OS's has stayed through multiple OS upgrades.
Apple's ecosystem in fact does the opposite, it keeps your device working as long as possible, til eventually maybe you want an upgrade.
I do think Apple should open up all companies to be able to get apple parts and manuals. But it's not like Apple is forcing people to buy new d
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You mean other than charging 90% of the cost to upgrade just to deal with a crack in the screen that should be fixable for $50 or so.
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Apple themselves said last year they expect people to be using devices longer and longer, which is why support for older OS's has stayed through multiple OS upgrades.
How are you so easily fooled by them? Yes they say that users are going to be using their devices longer and longer, which is why they have pushed up the device prices so much while not offering any compelling innovation to justify is as well as vehemently opposing right-to-repair so they can charge ridiculous prices for their "repair services".
Nobody wants to buy new iphones because the new ones are no better than the previous ones, they just cost a lot more so they have to make sure they last a long time
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Having done vendor certified repair of electronics in the past. I remember a lot of cases of bad repair jobs and people cheeping out that really put the equipment in much worse case then the original problem. A cheap ebay replacement battery, or power supply that saved the guy $20 off the part, ended up costing an addition $500 for a repair, because the power on the 3rd party device was way off, and damaged a lot of expensive components, or lacked the fuses/safety devices that would protect from further dam
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This is Apple we're talking about.
Economic incentive has NOTHING to do with it.
It's all about religious devotion. Think Different. You will buy what Apple tells you to buy. Have you made your annual pilgrimage to Apple WWDC to hear the messiah's successor and Profit, Tim Cook tell you what to think?
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Not really, if you're a reasonably competent person, the gasket is no big deal at all.
In fact, battery replacement kits for every iPhone have it made such that really, it's a 20 minute process as long as you can be patient and read basic instructions.
Sadly, the problem is "reasonably competent". There are way too many people who can't or don't read instructions, who can't or don't want to follow them, so they're the ones that will end
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College Days (Score:2)
But (Score:1)
Most people don't care (Score:1)
Why are there articles every day about a topic that 90+% of everyone doesn't care about? Does anyone know who is financing the "right to repair" PR and legislative agenda?
When it comes to tractors, 99.5% of people don't care about tractor repairs. But we get stories on Slashdot and Presidential candidates pandering about it.
It's very organized and strangely manipulative. Anyone know why?
I don't care about it much one way or the other, but I'm against the government bullying people on behalf of big compan
Re:Most people don't care (Score:4, Insightful)
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What PR firms? What talking heads?
That's my original question. Does anyone know?
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You may care but you obviously don't understand the issues at hand which is typical for people on your side of the aisle. There is ALWAYS more than a binary cause and solution to the problem.
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When it comes to tractors, 99.5% of people don't care about tractor repairs.
Count me as one of the 0.5%. I grew up on a farm, not having a working tractor meant you did the work by hand or horse. Being able to take something apart, figure out how it worked, fix it, and put it back together again is essential to a farm. So being denied that really hurts farmers and without farms your nicely packaged foods or prepared meals don't happen.
Of course this is just a learning period for farms. Once they realize that the newest tractor won't allow you to take the cover off without so
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People do care about the downstream effects. Expensive tractor repairs are a contributor when you wonder why your grocery bill is so damned high. It is an example of the problem faced by many in-industry and enthusiasts of electronics and IT. The target demographic of /. should be able to understand that, so the articles appear here.
As for the politicians, farmers vote. This is very much a daily concern for them.
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Expensive tractor repairs are a contributor when you wonder why your grocery bill is so damned high.
Food is cheaper here and now than it has ever been anywhere for anyone. [aei.org]
Why would anyone believe "expensive tractor repairs" make a significant difference? Who is saying they do?
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So you figure costs to a producer DON'T figure into the cost of a product? I don't know where you went to school, but you should demand a refund.
This response is just dumb. Even children know the difference between an amount that's big enough to matter and an amount that's too small to care about. Animals know it too.
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I guess you haven't seen the cost of farm equipment lately.
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For a $2 loaf of bread, how much of that $2 do you the think is "tractor repairs"?
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More than should be.
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This is slashdot... "News for nerds, stuff that matters".
Once upon a time, nerds were the people who were building computers in their basements, salvaging old electronics to build new creations, and generally taking shit apart to see what they could do with it. Farmers were not dissimilar in how they handled their tractors - many of those old timers with their self-taught mechanical aptitude could rig something up from loose bits around the farm to keep ancient tractors chugging away, doing useful work long
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90% of people doesn't care about anything. That's no reason to not write about things.
Slashdot is a technology site with a readership that contains many hobbyists, tinkerers and others who tend to want to repair things rather than throw the whole thing in the trash because one $0.50 component failed. So Right to Repair legislation is of interest to many of us.
The current situation is that repairability is artificially impaired by large companies trying to force people into the wasteful habit of throwing awa
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Slashdot is a technology site with a readership that contains many hobbyists, tinkerers and others who tend to want to repair things rather than throw the whole thing in the trash because one $0.50 component failed. So Right to Repair legislation is of interest to many of us.
That explains why some fraction of Slashdot readers care. How does that become "right to repair" legislation "has been proposed in 20 states"? Does that sort of effort happen without money and centralized organization?
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User lockout is stopped by regulation. Want to fix your own DVD player or root your own phone? Not if we can help it.
I'm not opining on companies being forced to "produce" tools and documents (that they already have) I'm opining on artificial user barriers.
Which is shitty enough to draw criticism without molemen pulling the strings.
Criticism isn't "legislation proposed in 20 states". Are there molemen?
I suppose forcing radium out of children's toys was financed by Big Safety's PR team?
I'm not 90 years old, so I have limited knowledge of this story. Why bring it up?
Where do you draw the line?
"Where do you draw the line?" is a question that presumes a perfect answer that fits every problem. I don't believe in such answers. I think people should mostly draw their own lines at their own discretion instead of having some mediocre government bureaucrats decide for them.
Is there an agenda for every complaint of a shitty situation? Every post on the internet that whined about something?
I'm only asking if there is an agenda for this. And if so, who? And why?
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I can guarantee you that 99.5% of tractor owners care about tractor repairs. The percentage is probably a bit lower for John Deere tractor owners because the ones who care most self-selected themselves out of the sample by not buying a John Deere because of the repair issues, even though they really wanted one.
Anyway, Apple products are highlighted f
Still trying to maintain control (Score:3)
keep doing what you're doing, with ... Apple genuine parts, reliable parts supply, and Apple process and training.
Having an option to get genuine parts would be great, but I fully expect an aftermarket to be created with much cheaper options.
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keep doing what you're doing, with ... Apple genuine parts, reliable parts supply, and Apple process and training.
Having an option to get genuine parts would be great, but I fully expect an aftermarket to be created with much cheaper options.
I used to buy IPhone batteries on Amazon until I started worrying a knock-off might set my house on fire
Repair's lifetime nearing its end in phones (Score:2)
"Right now, they are only offering it to a few megachains, but it seems clear to me that it would be totally possible to comply with right to repair."
Up until a couple product releases from now, when "repair" [slashdot.org] becomes an obsolete concept. Seems like Apple would do its best to keep moving towards making its phones less openable in the interest of making them more waterproof.
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what about return part pricing and cpu + ram + MB (Score:2)
what about return part pricing and cpu + ram + MB + Storage as one unit in the imac pro even when cpu and ram is an socket.