
United Airlines Made Its App Stop Working on My Phone - mreome
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180901/06083040561/united-airlines-made-app-stop-working-my-phone-what-this-says-about-how-broken-mobile-tech-space-is.shtml
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mreome
I think there is a very interesting discussion to be had here about the
obsolescence of mobile devices, and computing devices in general, through
software end-of-support. There seems like there are both social and
environmental concerns to consider.

Mobile technology use continues to increase in segments of the population with
limited financial resources. In some parts of the developed world mobile
devices are becoming the defacto way to communicate, conduct commerce, and
interact politically. What is the impact of limiting the capabilities of the
segment of the population unable to regularly update devices?

What is the obligation of a company/industry to make sure their devices
continue to be usable as long as possible to reduce waste, and limit pollution
from the production of new devices that might otherwise not be needed? The
environmental issue is the same one that comes up with any kind of planned
obsolescence, but the sheer volume of mobile devices makes the issue more
significant than in some other cases.

