It is flamebait, but the emphasis is not totally off, since Apple store employees are reported as spending hours trying to fix the problem without success, then telling users they have to pay for another phone to fix the problem.
Problems that (1) cause companies to charge more usually don't receive the same get-it-fixed priority as (2) problems that cause companies to lose money. This is an example of (1).
With these kinds of problems, it could be said to be laziness or carelessness causing a company to make money at the expense of users. But when a company is aware of this kind of problem and doesn't sufficiently prioritize getting it fixed, or in this case where Apple is trying to force users to pay for a new phone, eventually it is a sneaky way to force money out of customers.
Flagged for flamebait title. The actual title of the thread is "Can't activate iOS 6 on my iPhone 3GS". Please refrain from blatant editorialization in submissions.
I don't understand why you get mad at me, clearly you are not the one without your phone/contacts/emails not working. Just to make it clear, I really like Apple, is just that I expect them to keep doing well what they used to do well. The tech support is not giving any help and people is not being able to use their phones (in my case, a work tool and also the only way to keep connected while on the go) for a week with no answer whatsoever about this issue.
Hacker News is not your personal tech support forum, nor is it your personal place to vent about your technical frustrations.
It is a community expectation that all submissions should respect their original titles (whether that is a blog post, an article, or something else). This keeps the front page useful instead of just a listing of opinions. You are more than welcome to editorialize and add your own take on things in the comments.
Worse yet, yours isn't just some editorialization or sarcastic comment, you're concocting a whole conspiracy theory without any basis whatsoever.
Sure, the dialog iOS provides is not particularly friendly. To fix this issue:
Download iOS 6 GM from developer.apple.com/ios
Restart your device is DFU mode
Option click 'Restore' and select the iOS 6 GM .ipa from its download location
Restore.
Problems that (1) cause companies to charge more usually don't receive the same get-it-fixed priority as (2) problems that cause companies to lose money. This is an example of (1).
With these kinds of problems, it could be said to be laziness or carelessness causing a company to make money at the expense of users. But when a company is aware of this kind of problem and doesn't sufficiently prioritize getting it fixed, or in this case where Apple is trying to force users to pay for a new phone, eventually it is a sneaky way to force money out of customers.