
Apple accused of overpricing, restricting device repairs - walrus01
https://www.cbc.ca/news/thenational/complete-control-apple-accused-of-overpricing-restricting-device-repairs-1.4859099
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grezql
While we’re at it. I pay 30% cut of my app revenues to Apple. So for every
sale i end up with 40% in pocket rest to Apple and government taxes.

EU should look into their app fees

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r0fl
How much would you rather pay to access 1,300,000,000 iOS users instead?

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43920
The problem here is that you have to pay the fee, even if you think it isn't
reasonable. I have no idea if 30% is a reasonable fee to charge or not, and
because no one is allowed to compete with Apple, there's no way to find out.
If you were allowed to install apps from alternate sources, app developers
could offer discounts if you pay them directly or install the app from another
store, and Apple would have to adjust its fees to match what the services it
offers are actually worth.

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1123581321
One problem with that is that Apple’s restrictions allow them to eliminate
piracy, and perform an approval process that keeps high the perception of iOS
app quality. These two things make the iOS app market much more attractive to
developers. Allowing Android-style competition would lower the value. It might
be that it lowers it by less than the difference between 30% and a “fair” cut,
but it’s hard to tell and users and developers wouldn’t be well-served by
performing an uncontrolled experiment to test the theory.

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millstone
It also gives Apple a big lever to ensure the platform stays agile. For
example, Apple was able to make 64 bit happen first because they knew what
software could be installed (so they knew what the compatibility risk was),
and because they controlled distribution.

If there were another major app store with significant market share, Apple
would find it more difficult to evolve the platform.

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tomcam
I buy about $20,000 worth of Apple gear annually, and I have noticed they are
beginning not to honor AppleCare events.

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hb3b
Experienced similar issues with a 20x annual spend on Apple gear. After a
laundry list of issues with Apple Business and some repairs we switched to
buyint from a procurement partner (CDW) and moved device repairs in-house via
Apple Self Service so that we aren't stuck with overpriced flat-rate depot
repairs.

Like the iPhone Upgrade Program, it's probably best for businesses to lease
devices from Apple than to deal with all the nonsense around repairs.

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jake_the_third
> it's probably best for businesses to lease devices from Apple than to deal
> with all the nonsense around repairs.

Heh. Apple's stance on control and repair starts to make a lot of sense when
you think of it as apple's transitioning phase to a device-renting business
model. They want to make truly owning and repairing your device as
inconvenient (and illegal) as possible so that people are more inclined to pay
monthly for access to a device.

I just hope other OEMs aren't capable of following in their footsteps.

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canucker2016
Some of the repair restrictions that Apple put in place, which Louis Rossman
complains about, made more sense after reading about the repair fraud gangs
that Apple has to deal with in [https://www.cultofmac.com/581970/iphone-
repair-fraud-cost-ch...](https://www.cultofmac.com/581970/iphone-repair-fraud-
cost-china/)

~~~
admax88q
The only reason that those "repair fraud gangs" are worth while is that iPhone
parts are difficult and expensive the obtain.

If they produced enough spare parts and sold them at reasonable cost it
wouldn't be as worthwhile for those "gangs" to try to abuse the warranty
system for parts.

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zaroth
My experience with Apple repairs is a mixed bag. For several iPhone repairs
over the years the experience has always been easy and positive.

However last year I bought my first iMac, an i7 27” 5K. Last month a line
appeared in the display; a vertical column of pixels were stuck black. The
issue is intermittent but I took pictures when it happened.

In store they were happy to schedule warranty repair of the display even
though the probably wasn’t occurring the moment when we booted.

But I got a call from Apple yesterday saying my repair was “completed”, they
found the problem, it was the two 16GB sticks of RAM I added. They said
because it didn’t match the other two 8GB sticks it would cause display
issues.

Of course Apple’s own docs state you can mix sizes as long as you do it in
pairs and keep the matching pairs on the same bank. How RAM would cause a
single column of stuck pixels is beyond me.

My only hope is it reproduces again without the RAM present before the 1 year
warranty runs out in 3 weeks. Bah!

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gonesilent
Seems like you got a ribbon cable about to go wonk. Just keep opening and
closing the lid it will show up again soon.

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krtkush
> Just keep opening and closing the lid it will show up again soon

It's an iMac not a MacBook.

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abnry
Is there a defensible argument for Apple's tactics?

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month13
Devil's advocate here, Rossman cites that only a pin needed to be bent back in
the case of the flickering display. Apple has to provide a warranty on their
service, therefore they want the solution that is least likely to break again.
Bending the pin may not be good until the lifespan of the device, it may break
off next time the machine is dropped or put down a little hard.

Of course, any sane person would have a discussion with the customer about
whether or not they wanted to try a simple fix versus replace the whole damn
thing, which is the crux of the overpricing argument.

The other argument is cost, Apple faces massive short supply on the Genius
Bar, so having more bodies that can do simpler repairs faster (ie blind part
swaps) seems to have won out over having technical talent properly diagnose
and repair the machine.

They could have alleviated this through their authorized service providers,
but hobble them with massive fees, high part prices and overall little trust
(often being last in line to receive technical documents and training for new
devices). Just check out Linus Sebastian's iMac Pro saga for an insight.

Overall, it's a massive system orchestrated to give Apple maximum control over
the entire process, and nowhere near enough supply for consumers. It's now
actively hampering their experience, leaving people without the super glossy
Genius Bar experience or a cheap option at all. I believe they've just put too
few resources into this area and are too greedy to loosen the stranglehold of
control for third parties to pick up the slack. Directly in contrast to their
whole "we want these products to last" argument from the recent iPhone release
keynote.

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bilbo0s
It's good argument, but maybe they are saying that most, (or maybe " _some_
"), people would be fine with a repair that is understood to have drawbacks
where usable lifespan is concerned?

Maybe it's like a car? You can get the mechanical issue _really_ fixed, or you
can have a less expensive repair. Most people understand almost immediately
that there is going to be a drawback if you select the less expensive repair.

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ntsplnkv2
Or maybe very few people, who knows? Shouldn't the number be quantified before
we assume what people want?

> You can get the mechanical issue really fixed, or you can have a less
> expensive repair.

Does it qualify as a repair if it's not _actually a repair_?

I'd imagine the same people who are happy with these kind of repairs with
Apple would be the same ones to complain about planned obsolescence...

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newnewpdro
Apple accused of being Apple.

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Brahma111
That's apt.. I used to support them back in 2003-04 when they were struggling
to survive. Quickly moved away from them when I realized their power abuse.
They are the Grand-dad of locking and exploiting..

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meritt
I don't think it's intentional overpricing so much as incompetent staff whose
immediate solution is replacing the entire affected component. In addition,
Apple has designed their hardware in a way that makes it very difficult for
the average hobbyist to repair things the way you can a PC.

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cptskippy
Apple has defined policy and procedures that staff are to follow. The staff
aren't free to repair faulty electronics, they're to replace failed boards or
systems.

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stunt
Thanks for doing this. I had similar experiences with Apple Support.
Definitely a movement that I'm going to support.

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atomical
It has been two months and I still haven't gotten my MBP back. Screen and
battery replacement.

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xuki
Write to Tim Cook. I had an iMac that was in repair for 4 weeks with no clear
indication of when it would be done. I emailed Tim Cook and the next day a
senior manager called to discuss my case, and the week after I got my machine
back. Worth a try.

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aaaaaaaaaab
I’m pretty sure this won’t scale.

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dodobirdlord
You might be surprised. Jeff Bezos has a similar system in place, and it seems
to be holding up to Amazon scale. Something slipping through the cracks is a
failure of process, and failures of process are exactly what a CEO wants to be
paying attention to. While I imagine the "actually gets read by Bezos" claim
is just PR, these sorts of emails actually do get read by people who have
power and influence, and the interesting ones do actually end up in front of
Bezos long enough for him to forward them to someone he suspects is
responsible.

[https://www.inc.com/business-insider/amazon-founder-ceo-
jeff...](https://www.inc.com/business-insider/amazon-founder-ceo-jeff-bezos-
customer-emails-forward-managers-fix-issues.html)

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delecti
Having worked at Amazon, there's a perception even internally that he's
actually reading those emails. Obviously it's possible that it's just
assistants, but it's not just externally that that perception persists.

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ToFab123
Overpricing. Apple? Never ...

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bickfordb
I recently replaced the screen on my 2017 iPad 9" via parts from Aliexpress. I
was surprised by how thin the display glass is. It appears to be designed to
fail.

