Here is an interesting piece about Apple repairs. Skip to 1:43 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2_SZ4tfLns
Next Time Your Apple Product Needs Repair
- Thread starter Paul F
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filmguy123
Veteran
Thanks, I enjoyed this. As much as I enjoy the quality of Apple Products it is interesting the subtle corporate movements that screw customers in the increasing push for more profits.
The line about this happening with everything, not just Apple - vacuum cleaners, household items, etc. is interesting. We've reached an era where the quality of devices is so high, that many of them could be VERY long term purchases if it weren't for the manufacturer being able to own the repair pipeline.
It get trickier with Apple because as with all corporate pyramids, you have the profit evil geniuses at the top filtering ideas through highly paid brand messaging specialists and the message that the Genius' at the Genius bar get is the heart and ethos behind this: protecting the customer from malicious parts, ensuring a rich and seamless user experience, protecting from unauthorized install of hardware that could disable security and expose security threats, and so on so forth. I don't doubt that the Genius there was a good guy just doing his job following the Apple protocol and probably not even knowing or understanding that a bent pin could fix it. Or in some cases, I'm sure there's real tech heads who know this, but honestly buy into the messaging. Apple does a very good job of communicating heart felt vision and policies to employees.
Yet at the top, we know there's a few people yanking the chains. Afterall, these days a computer could easily last 10 years+ if you could just swap out certain components for most people's use cases. Anti-repairability has been a silver bullet to keeping margins up not just for Apple, but for all companies.
100% behind the legislative movement to make repairs easy and friendly. Apple used to be a favorite brand but I think I'm lukewarm on them now. I think what the world would benefit from most is design as sleek and polished as Apple, with a highly open-source, open repair-ability model. My sense is that Apple has peaked (I'm sure we'll see some more growth, but more in the micro sense, nothing like the last 10 years), and is on the plateu of a mega-brand. Bring on the "new" apple and massive disruptor.
It is interesting to me that in 2018, a time where the world is SO open with information and accessibility to tools, that things are less repairable then ever. This should be the age in which anyone anywhere has access to all such repair materials and tools and high quality electronic devices and otherwise become near lifetime purchases if so desired. It's possible, it's just not a profit friendly policy from a megabrand. But for a newcomer and disruptor, it is a huge opportunity!
The line about this happening with everything, not just Apple - vacuum cleaners, household items, etc. is interesting. We've reached an era where the quality of devices is so high, that many of them could be VERY long term purchases if it weren't for the manufacturer being able to own the repair pipeline.
It get trickier with Apple because as with all corporate pyramids, you have the profit evil geniuses at the top filtering ideas through highly paid brand messaging specialists and the message that the Genius' at the Genius bar get is the heart and ethos behind this: protecting the customer from malicious parts, ensuring a rich and seamless user experience, protecting from unauthorized install of hardware that could disable security and expose security threats, and so on so forth. I don't doubt that the Genius there was a good guy just doing his job following the Apple protocol and probably not even knowing or understanding that a bent pin could fix it. Or in some cases, I'm sure there's real tech heads who know this, but honestly buy into the messaging. Apple does a very good job of communicating heart felt vision and policies to employees.
Yet at the top, we know there's a few people yanking the chains. Afterall, these days a computer could easily last 10 years+ if you could just swap out certain components for most people's use cases. Anti-repairability has been a silver bullet to keeping margins up not just for Apple, but for all companies.
100% behind the legislative movement to make repairs easy and friendly. Apple used to be a favorite brand but I think I'm lukewarm on them now. I think what the world would benefit from most is design as sleek and polished as Apple, with a highly open-source, open repair-ability model. My sense is that Apple has peaked (I'm sure we'll see some more growth, but more in the micro sense, nothing like the last 10 years), and is on the plateu of a mega-brand. Bring on the "new" apple and massive disruptor.
It is interesting to me that in 2018, a time where the world is SO open with information and accessibility to tools, that things are less repairable then ever. This should be the age in which anyone anywhere has access to all such repair materials and tools and high quality electronic devices and otherwise become near lifetime purchases if so desired. It's possible, it's just not a profit friendly policy from a megabrand. But for a newcomer and disruptor, it is a huge opportunity!
Vultch
Well-known member
I am 100% with the Apple tech, this stuff is not designed for exposure to liquids, Apple and other manufacturers place "tell-tale" indicators in their gear to detect exposure. Its a slow death for electronics, everything from motherboards to connectors, even induividual solder conncetions on multi layer boards. Rapair one issue and its back in a few week.months later with another issue.
Let it go, sensational ill-informed reporting by CBC.
Let it go, sensational ill-informed reporting by CBC.
Yes, the opening of that piece is pretty corny. That's why I suggested skipping it.
Agreed about moisture. Even high humidity is a real problem for electronics over time. It can cause a carbon track to develop between traces and effectively short out signals. But a bent pin is not a moisture issue.
Agreed about moisture. Even high humidity is a real problem for electronics over time. It can cause a carbon track to develop between traces and effectively short out signals. But a bent pin is not a moisture issue.
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nyvz
Veteran
Yeah i saw this before, I kind of understand why a manufacturer would feel like they need to certify the whole product and even fix issues that didn't fit their specifications even if they didn't yet cause any symptoms. They need to certify their repair and probably warranty the repair to some extent which they can't do uniess the whole unit passes all their tests or else they'll be on the hook when the asymptomatic issue does cause a failure... That said it does make sense that that gives them a lot of power to overcharge or misrepresent or just use extra sensitive water indicators that allow them to upsell nearly any repair.
CBC seems to think this is an issue, but in some ways it is good for the customer that there are tiers of service where you can save money by doing an easy fix or do a full certified repair that may cost more but will allow you to essentially officially recertify your pre-owned computer/phone...
If anything I'd be more surprised if a manufacturer put in water indicators and ignored them when doing a repair as the independent repairer does... Just because it could be short term exposure to a humid environment that doesn't mean it was. I'd want to know if it was going to cause me to need to come back again soon for another repair.
CBC seems to think this is an issue, but in some ways it is good for the customer that there are tiers of service where you can save money by doing an easy fix or do a full certified repair that may cost more but will allow you to essentially officially recertify your pre-owned computer/phone...
If anything I'd be more surprised if a manufacturer put in water indicators and ignored them when doing a repair as the independent repairer does... Just because it could be short term exposure to a humid environment that doesn't mean it was. I'd want to know if it was going to cause me to need to come back again soon for another repair.
Vultch
Well-known member
I remember seeing one Toshiba laptop, the guardian ( it was a company machine) had spilt a fizzy orange drink across the keyboard, I am guessing he tried to clean up his mess by flushing the machine with water.
The fizzy orange was like battery acid, the motherboard was badly corroded, a 6-month-old machine junked.
The fizzy orange was like battery acid, the motherboard was badly corroded, a 6-month-old machine junked.
filmguy123
Veteran
I don't know, maybe I'm the odd one out, but I grew up in a home where "dad can fix anything" and grew up fixing and repairing PCs and all sorts of devices. The move to non-repair ability has definitely been a marketing and branding initiative. I'm not saying there is no truth to it - most well communicated things have at least a little truth to them.
But I've also worked for years as a branding/messaging specialist and deal with this exact sort of thing - communicating profit driven policies in a way that sounds like it's all about the user benefit and user experience. Apple does exactly that to their employees (I would know), and they do it very well.
Even with the push to make things smaller and lighter, there is still room for more repair friendly options. It used to be that 3rd party repairs would void the warranty, now it's strategically made near impossible. If companies stood to PROFIT from sleek design that maximized repair ability by users and 3rd parties you can bet your bottom dollar there'd be very sleek designs that seamlessly allowed for user replaceable batteries, memory, and other common failure components - not the intentional obfuscation of such.
But I've also worked for years as a branding/messaging specialist and deal with this exact sort of thing - communicating profit driven policies in a way that sounds like it's all about the user benefit and user experience. Apple does exactly that to their employees (I would know), and they do it very well.
Even with the push to make things smaller and lighter, there is still room for more repair friendly options. It used to be that 3rd party repairs would void the warranty, now it's strategically made near impossible. If companies stood to PROFIT from sleek design that maximized repair ability by users and 3rd parties you can bet your bottom dollar there'd be very sleek designs that seamlessly allowed for user replaceable batteries, memory, and other common failure components - not the intentional obfuscation of such.