4 ms·

Come on, we had this already with non-Apple iPhone chargers. That didn't make Apple change much to my knowledge. Edit: To add: I do not believe it made much h

by reirob 11y ago

Come on, we had this already with non-Apple iPhone chargers. That didn't make Apple change much to my knowledge. Edit: To add: I do not believe it made much harm to the Apple brand.

mwfunk 11y ago
Even if they came through it unscathed, it still must've been a PR nightmare for them at the time. Sometimes things like that stick in the public mind, sometimes they don't. Sometimes the media can make these types of stories much bigger than they actually are, and sometimes the media ignores stories that ought to be much bigger. You probably know people who are convinced MSG is bad for you, decades after the anti-MSG scare. The MSG scare could've been a tempest in a teapot that blew over immediately. Instead it lingers on decades later, more from the currents and tides of random crowd behavior than anything else. Ditto for scares surrounding pop rocks, vaccines, gluten, witchcraft, marijuana, fluoride, Dungeons and Dragons, Satanism, mind control via backmasking, UFOs, all sorts of things. Lingering public perception is (very) loosely correlated with media perception, which is (very) loosely correlated with reality, and you can't predict which falsehoods will linger in the public imagination (snopes.com wouldn't have anything to write about otherwise!).
sathackr 11y ago
Apple iPhone chargers are not inherently unstable and only kept from bursting into flames while charging by the circuitry attached to them. A lithium ion battery is prone to a runaway thermal reaction if you charge it or discharge it too fast or too far. [1][2] Circuitry in the charger and usually directly attached to the cells in the battery permanently break the circuit if the battery voltage or current exceeds a pre-set range. This is not like the Keurig k-cup DRM where they are 'ensuring quality' by forcing usage of Keurig-only supplies. This is a life safety and brand protection issue that an improperly built battery can jeopardize both. The consequences are not a bad cup of coffee. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaCMevegaiA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaCMevegaiA [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M4YuMYGclM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M4YuMYGclM edit: added links to youtube videos

by reirob 11y ago

Come on, we had this already with non-Apple iPhone chargers. That didn't make Apple change much to my knowledge. Edit: To add: I do not believe it made much harm to the Apple brand.

mwfunk 11y ago

Even if they came through it unscathed, it still must've been a PR nightmare for them at the time. Sometimes things like that stick in the public mind, sometimes they don't. Sometimes the media can make these types of stories much bigger than they actually are, and sometimes the media ignores stories that ought to be much bigger. You probably know people who are convinced MSG is bad for you, decades after the anti-MSG scare. The MSG scare could've been a tempest in a teapot that blew over immediately. Instead it lingers on decades later, more from the currents and tides of random crowd behavior than anything else. Ditto for scares surrounding pop rocks, vaccines, gluten, witchcraft, marijuana, fluoride, Dungeons and Dragons, Satanism, mind control via backmasking, UFOs, all sorts of things. Lingering public perception is (very) loosely correlated with media perception, which is (very) loosely correlated with reality, and you can't predict which falsehoods will linger in the public imagination (snopes.com wouldn't have anything to write about otherwise!).

sathackr 11y ago

Apple iPhone chargers are not inherently unstable and only kept from bursting into flames while charging by the circuitry attached to them. A lithium ion battery is prone to a runaway thermal reaction if you charge it or discharge it too fast or too far. [1][2] Circuitry in the charger and usually directly attached to the cells in the battery permanently break the circuit if the battery voltage or current exceeds a pre-set range. This is not like the Keurig k-cup DRM where they are 'ensuring quality' by forcing usage of Keurig-only supplies. This is a life safety and brand protection issue that an improperly built battery can jeopardize both. The consequences are not a bad cup of coffee. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaCMevegaiA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaCMevegaiA [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M4YuMYGclM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M4YuMYGclM edit: added links to youtube videos