No more Genius Bar bottlenecks for you, Mr Customer? Apple exports independent repair provider program to Europe and Canada Europeans and Canadians with busted iPhones will soon be able to swerve the Genius Bar and associated lengthy waiting lists, as Apple expands its Independent Repair Provider (IRP) program to third party technicians. The IRP scheme authorised independent businesses to perform out-of-warranty repairs on iPhones using genuine …
It's the same old trick. Fold before a judge makes a ruling that you cannot ignore. Every major multinational conglomerate curiously always settles before a judgement - that avoids getting an unfavorable judgement.
By initiating this procedure, Apple is just trying to quench the flames before a fire truck arrives and drowns everything under water.
That last thing Apple wants is to be obliged to conform to a pesky law. By jumping the gun, it will cost a bit at first, but it will avoid actual legal obligations and give Apple's legal eagles time to find loopholes and turn this whole thing into a profit center.
Because even if Apple has the money to buy all the a few politicians, and near-infinite lobby funds to amend existing laws, all that is a nuisance subject to the existing political climate - which doesn't seem very favorable to Apple at this point in time.
So best not bother with all that and seed the ground for future manipulations.
That last thing Apple wants is to be obliged to conform to a pesky law.
Very true. But then again, you must admit they have proven themselves masters at this "control-the-herd" game. I mean, if you read the piece carefully... They do comply, but if you then see their conditions (Brilliant isn't it? Complying with your conditions?), you realise they remain very creative at collecting idiot tax. And are not hindered doing so...
HAHAHAHAHA
Funny!
Too bad I can't use "owe me a new keyboard" at the same time. Apple doesn't refurbish anything. They bin it, sure, recycle, maybe, but never refurbish. Not in their best interest to even acquire the knowledge to do so, or let anyone learn how to do that on their own if they can, regardless of what the law says.
Strange that, my last 2 macs have both come from the Apple refurbished section of their own web store. Usually you save about 15% on the retail price. Most of them are probably ex-demo or returned items.
This is all the wrong way round:
Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of The Repair Association, last year highlighted the circa 20 right-to-repair bills under consideration in state legislatures when Apple agree to let third parties repair its gear.Apple should never have been allowed to prevent third parties from repairing their products in the first place. Measures designed to thwart the use of "pattern" parts need to be banned, or at least neutralised by explicitly declaring any action necessary to persuade a piece of hardware to behave as intended to be beyond the scope of "intellectual property" protection.
If, for example, a printer checks for a specific pattern in a memory device attached to a toner cartridge to determine whether the cartridge is "genuine", then that pattern should be uncopyrightable, precisely so that third-party manufacturers are not prevented from making compatible consumables.
Similarly, the use of pattern spare parts needs to be explicitly not a trademark violation as long as the spare part is not falsely marked with a trademark or if this is operationally necessary (e.g. because the "trademark" is an aperture which requires another part to fit snugly in it, or because the device is checking in software for the presence of the trademark), and an item which has been repaired using untrademarked, third-party parts should not be in violation of a trademark.
What's worse is, we've already fought all these battles before; with vehicles, industrial machinery and home appliances, and every time in the past, the courts have ruled against the greedy capitalists trying to exclude third-party spares and services. Computers should be no different.
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