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From a business perspective, it's interesting to me. Step 1: They want to increase revenue by vertical integration (repairs). Step 2: They make the process ra

From a business perspective, it's interesting to me. Step 1: They want to increase revenue by vertical integration (repairs). Step 2: They make the process rather difficult (e.g. damaging the device permanently with one wrong move), thus discouraging self-repair and third-party repairs. Also, they void guarantee in such a case. Step 3: Now that they made it rather difficult, they need to buy/manufacture special equipment (like that metal battery rolling device seen in the video). This, in addition to having the need for more "man hours" replacing a battery, is rather costly. Step 4: They can now offer repair services, which has to cover the cost of the battery itself, the time needed to repair one device plus the special equipment (which amortises rather quickly I guess). (Step 5: Constantly increase lifespan of batteries, so that selling guarantees becomes more profitable; incurring costs of necessary time for replacing batteries likewise lower)

tptacek 8y ago
This seems silly. Their repair revenue must be a literal rounding error, to say nothing of what the bottom line on their repair business probably is.
- jbob2000 8y ago
  The repair process forces you to walk into the store, past all the new models, and wait for 10-20 minutes for your genius, while your eyes dance around all the wonderful products you could buy. The repair isn't just about the revenue, but getting foot traffic to the stores. With a third-party repair model, like Samsung, all of that potential foot traffic goes to somebody else.
  - djrogers 8y ago
    Not sure if you've been to an Apple store lately, but they're not exactly hurting for foot traffic - and IME only a small portion of the crowd are waiting on repairs.
readhn 8y ago
Apple makes it hard to service so that only Apple can service. Also target apple customer is not a DIY kind. Target customer wants "luxury" experience - let apple do everything and they pay for it. Somewhat similar to any modern luxury car brand BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar - bulk of the revenue is made on post purchase services but in most cases average luxury car buyer will trade in the car before it gets old and needs a service. Similar case with average apple user - they'll upgrade to a newer phone in 2-3 years any way so no need to service anyway.
- slededit 8y ago
  For the high end cars the customer pays up front for service, including oil changes so they never see the direct costs. I'm sure apple would love to have that kind of acceptance of apple care but they haven't come close to achieving it.
  - freehunter 8y ago
    Yup, when I bought my BMW they asked if I wanted to pre-pay for all the maintenance. Oil changes, spark plugs, wiper blades, even brake pads and rotors. I sat there and did the math, and the price they quoted was less than the cost of just the oil changes alone, it was a no-brainer. One thing Apple doesn't have in their favor, cars need regular on-going maintenance. Computers don't.
philipodonnell 8y ago
I have a simpler explanation. Apple would prefer people buy new phones than repairing old phones because they make more money that way. One way to accomplish that is to make the phone harder/riskier to fix. That said, I think Apples success is mostly inertia at this point: demand in the secondary market keeps resale prices high which quickens the new device cycle. As long as it costs less to sell the broken one and buy a new one, that will be the path people take when there is an issue.
- GW150914 8y ago
  Apple’s success is first and foremost a result of the walled garden that so many here love to hate. A vast majority of people would rather know that whatever they download from an App Store isn’t a scam or malware than almost anything else. People want their phone to just work, they don’t want to tinker with the damned thing.
  - JTbane 8y ago
    Agreed- I dislike Apple for many reasons, but I cannot deny that they make computing extremely intuitive and easy for many people.
  - freehunter 8y ago
    I'll admit that's the only reason I bought an iPhone in the first place, and why I bought into more Apple products over time. I couldn't trust myself to not break my phone trying to tinker with it (bricked a Palm Pre and then two Android phones after that, all my fault), so I got one where no matter what I did, it was phone first and computer second. Then HP shut down Palm and my HP Touchpad stopped getting updates, so I installed Android but the experience was never what I wanted from it, so I got an iPad to replace it. And then my Windows machine broke down (because of a bad repair I had made) and trying to fix it broke it even further (my fault), so I went out and bought a Macbook. I got sick of being my own tech support. I do that stuff all day at work and when I get home I'm tired of it. If I have to fix my computer, I'm probably going to rush through it and make it worse, because I really don't want to be doing it in the first place. I want to be using it, not dinking with it. Same reason I ditched my old fix-me-up beater car for something with a warranty: I needed a car that started every time I turned the key. I haven't opened my own hood since, and it's taken a lot of stress off of my mind.
raverbashing 8y ago
> damaging the device permanently with one wrong move Welcome to the real world. That applies to pretty much everything, including cars, electrical wiring in your home, appliances Of course, not all actions by a skilled (but not trained on the device) will damage it. But some will.
nkkollaw 8y ago
No, it's just that they want to control what goes into their phones. For instance, I had my Moto G5 screen replaced at a non-offical repair shop here in Poland. I told them to use the cheapest thing they could find. The screen sucks. It's dimmer than the original, and the camera hole doesn't even align properly. Most importantly, the glass is not at all reinforced, and it already cracked. For me it's fine because I don't treat my phones well anyway and it was bound to happen and I saved money, BUT people that see it will think a Moto G5's screen is dim, prone to scratching, and easy to break. That's what Apple is trying to avoid.

tptacek 8y ago

This seems silly. Their repair revenue must be a literal rounding error, to say nothing of what the bottom line on their repair business probably is.

jbob2000 8y ago
The repair process forces you to walk into the store, past all the new models, and wait for 10-20 minutes for your genius, while your eyes dance around all the wonderful products you could buy. The repair isn't just about the revenue, but getting foot traffic to the stores. With a third-party repair model, like Samsung, all of that potential foot traffic goes to somebody else.
- djrogers 8y ago
  Not sure if you've been to an Apple store lately, but they're not exactly hurting for foot traffic - and IME only a small portion of the crowd are waiting on repairs.

readhn 8y ago

Apple makes it hard to service so that only Apple can service. Also target apple customer is not a DIY kind. Target customer wants "luxury" experience - let apple do everything and they pay for it. Somewhat similar to any modern luxury car brand BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar - bulk of the revenue is made on post purchase services but in most cases average luxury car buyer will trade in the car before it gets old and needs a service. Similar case with average apple user - they'll upgrade to a newer phone in 2-3 years any way so no need to service anyway.

slededit 8y ago
For the high end cars the customer pays up front for service, including oil changes so they never see the direct costs. I'm sure apple would love to have that kind of acceptance of apple care but they haven't come close to achieving it.
- freehunter 8y ago
  Yup, when I bought my BMW they asked if I wanted to pre-pay for all the maintenance. Oil changes, spark plugs, wiper blades, even brake pads and rotors. I sat there and did the math, and the price they quoted was less than the cost of just the oil changes alone, it was a no-brainer. One thing Apple doesn't have in their favor, cars need regular on-going maintenance. Computers don't.

philipodonnell 8y ago

I have a simpler explanation. Apple would prefer people buy new phones than repairing old phones because they make more money that way. One way to accomplish that is to make the phone harder/riskier to fix. That said, I think Apples success is mostly inertia at this point: demand in the secondary market keeps resale prices high which quickens the new device cycle. As long as it costs less to sell the broken one and buy a new one, that will be the path people take when there is an issue.

GW150914 8y ago
Apple’s success is first and foremost a result of the walled garden that so many here love to hate. A vast majority of people would rather know that whatever they download from an App Store isn’t a scam or malware than almost anything else. People want their phone to just work, they don’t want to tinker with the damned thing.
- JTbane 8y ago
  Agreed- I dislike Apple for many reasons, but I cannot deny that they make computing extremely intuitive and easy for many people.
- freehunter 8y ago
  I'll admit that's the only reason I bought an iPhone in the first place, and why I bought into more Apple products over time. I couldn't trust myself to not break my phone trying to tinker with it (bricked a Palm Pre and then two Android phones after that, all my fault), so I got one where no matter what I did, it was phone first and computer second. Then HP shut down Palm and my HP Touchpad stopped getting updates, so I installed Android but the experience was never what I wanted from it, so I got an iPad to replace it. And then my Windows machine broke down (because of a bad repair I had made) and trying to fix it broke it even further (my fault), so I went out and bought a Macbook. I got sick of being my own tech support. I do that stuff all day at work and when I get home I'm tired of it. If I have to fix my computer, I'm probably going to rush through it and make it worse, because I really don't want to be doing it in the first place. I want to be using it, not dinking with it. Same reason I ditched my old fix-me-up beater car for something with a warranty: I needed a car that started every time I turned the key. I haven't opened my own hood since, and it's taken a lot of stress off of my mind.

raverbashing 8y ago

> damaging the device permanently with one wrong move Welcome to the real world. That applies to pretty much everything, including cars, electrical wiring in your home, appliances Of course, not all actions by a skilled (but not trained on the device) will damage it. But some will.

nkkollaw 8y ago

No, it's just that they want to control what goes into their phones. For instance, I had my Moto G5 screen replaced at a non-offical repair shop here in Poland. I told them to use the cheapest thing they could find. The screen sucks. It's dimmer than the original, and the camera hole doesn't even align properly. Most importantly, the glass is not at all reinforced, and it already cracked. For me it's fine because I don't treat my phones well anyway and it was bound to happen and I saved money, BUT people that see it will think a Moto G5's screen is dim, prone to scratching, and easy to break. That's what Apple is trying to avoid.