3 ms·

It might be that the truth is in the middle. Clearly the design was great but hindering repairability is a legitimate criticism. I recall watching a young chil

It might be that the truth is in the middle. Clearly the design was great but hindering repairability is a legitimate criticism. I recall watching a young child from a poor family in an Apple Store trying to get the iPad that she loved repaired and the family being told that her only option was to purchase a new one which they clearly could not afford. Seeing how distraught it made the little girl really bothered me. That was the day that I started to intensely hate Apple. In fairness, however, hindering repairability feels like a business decision that Ive may not have been responsible for.

no1youknowz 7y ago
> Seeing how distraught it made the little girl really bothered me. That was the day that I started to intensely hate Apple. Some things you could have done: 1) Offer to buy the parents a replacement. 2) Offer to take the iPad to a third party to repair. Like Louis Rossman and offer to pay for the repair. 3) Offer to setup a GoFundMe for the replacement or to cover the cost of the repair. 4) Educate the parents that Android is a cheaper better option and determine the best action to recover the data (can be done) and move over to Android. 5) Educate the parents that companies like Louis Rossman exist and can repair Apple devices and to research on the internet for more information. And yet, you did nothing.
- zeropnc 7y ago
  Why would he do something when he can be morally smug at the “man” on the internet?
  - dang 7y ago
    Personal attacks will get you banned here. Please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and don't do this again. More generally, will you please (a) not post unsubstantive comments to HN, and (b) edit the nasty swipes out of the comments you do post? We're hoping for a bit better than that here.
- magduf 7y ago
  I've tried talking to friends and family (who all make much less money than me, and some are struggling financially) about switching to Android, and they just smile and ignore me. Face it: Americans are usually broke because they refuse to live within their means, and they insist on believing they're temporarily embarrassed millionaires. You can try educating them about cheaper, better options but they'll insist on buying the full-priced expensive shiny thing that all their friends have. As for #1 (and #3), why would he want to help fund Apple and their high prices and anti-consumer practices?
- dang 7y ago
  This crosses into personal attack. That's not allowed on HN. It only makes things worse, and we ban accounts that do it repeatedly, so please don't. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
zeropnc 7y ago
That story is depressing. Not the story itself, just how privileged the West is that not being able repair an iPad is poverty.
- dictum 7y ago
  One of the hallmarks of privilege is being so far removed from a problem that you cannot empathize with the people who suffer from it.
lonelappde 7y ago
Sounds bad until you realize you can buy a used iPad for the cost of a hypothetical repair for whatever the damage was.
- Veen 7y ago
  People do forget about the used market. Apple products are well-built and tend to last. If you can't afford a new one, get a second-hand one instead of a top-price new one.
oflannabhra 7y ago
Consider an alternative world: Apple decides to only make highly repairable devices, and a computer like the iPad is never created. Obviously this is not the only alternative world, but I think it is realistic. Say the design initiatives were inverted: Repairability were king and form & function were subservient to it. In such a world, we would still have giant beige boxes on our desks. That's not to say there is not a balance to be struck that could result in a more repairable iPad, but my point is that Apple's design initiatives have resulted in many new, successful computing form factors (touch, tablet, watch, AirPods even). I will hitch my wagon to the horse that continues to plow new ground, even if there is some theoretical ideal that is "better." I personally believe that Apple's resistance to repairability (or, more accurately to repairability outside their dominion) stems from a desire to control a customers experience with their product, not from some business case or greed. This goes all the way back to Steve Jobs and the original Macintosh [0]. I personally can, and have, repaired my Apple devices with 3rd party parts, and the results have been less than sub-optimal. A screen that was deeply blue-shifted (so extreme that even software adjustments didn't help), a home button that became nonfunctional, and a battery that became swollen. I've had some repairs that worked great, but buying quality parts is a bit more expensive, to the point it is worth it (to me) to have Apple repair. [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_128K#Expansion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_128K#Expansion
- blub 7y ago
  Your false dichotomy is unconvincing, because Apple were so inept in designing the iPad, they can't even repair it themselves. The non-TouchID button of an iPad broke and my only option would have been to essentially buy a new iPad, because they send the broken one to HQ and give you a refurbished device in exchange. They can't repair a broken button! That is incredibly lame. Furthermore, their devices have become less repairable and more failure-prone for no good reason. For example the MBP screen will die just from opening and closing the lid, because they used too short cables. Major fuck-up, but they will easily fix it by replacing the cable, right? No, they designed it in such a way that the entire screen must be replaced. I'd like to see you try to explain away this idiocy please. Tell us how we couldn't have had MBPs and iPads if Apple would have been able to fix their own devices instead of force-recycling them.
oftenwrong 7y ago
When I was a child we mainly played with non-electronic toys like dolls. This was mainly because my family already had a lot of older toys from the previous generation, not because electronic toys were unavailable to us. Children grow especially attached to dolls, of course, and in many cases they cannot be easily replaced when they break. I remember that sometimes we would take damaged dolls to the "doll doctor", a skilled woman that ran a doll repair business at her home. She could repair doll clothing, fix scratches or broken limbs, replace missing eyes, and more. The doll's return was like a dear friend coming home from the hospital. Some commentators here miss that the iPad may be today's equivalent of a child's doll. Not being able to replace the iPad is like telling the child their playtime friend is dead and never coming back. This strikes me as good reason to have your children bond to something easily replaceable... and consider buying a backup!

no1youknowz 7y ago

> Seeing how distraught it made the little girl really bothered me. That was the day that I started to intensely hate Apple. Some things you could have done: 1) Offer to buy the parents a replacement. 2) Offer to take the iPad to a third party to repair. Like Louis Rossman and offer to pay for the repair. 3) Offer to setup a GoFundMe for the replacement or to cover the cost of the repair. 4) Educate the parents that Android is a cheaper better option and determine the best action to recover the data (can be done) and move over to Android. 5) Educate the parents that companies like Louis Rossman exist and can repair Apple devices and to research on the internet for more information. And yet, you did nothing.

zeropnc 7y ago
Why would he do something when he can be morally smug at the “man” on the internet?
- dang 7y ago
  Personal attacks will get you banned here. Please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and don't do this again. More generally, will you please (a) not post unsubstantive comments to HN, and (b) edit the nasty swipes out of the comments you do post? We're hoping for a bit better than that here.
magduf 7y ago
I've tried talking to friends and family (who all make much less money than me, and some are struggling financially) about switching to Android, and they just smile and ignore me. Face it: Americans are usually broke because they refuse to live within their means, and they insist on believing they're temporarily embarrassed millionaires. You can try educating them about cheaper, better options but they'll insist on buying the full-priced expensive shiny thing that all their friends have. As for #1 (and #3), why would he want to help fund Apple and their high prices and anti-consumer practices?
dang 7y ago
This crosses into personal attack. That's not allowed on HN. It only makes things worse, and we ban accounts that do it repeatedly, so please don't. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

zeropnc 7y ago

That story is depressing. Not the story itself, just how privileged the West is that not being able repair an iPad is poverty.

dictum 7y ago
One of the hallmarks of privilege is being so far removed from a problem that you cannot empathize with the people who suffer from it.

lonelappde 7y ago

Sounds bad until you realize you can buy a used iPad for the cost of a hypothetical repair for whatever the damage was.

Veen 7y ago
People do forget about the used market. Apple products are well-built and tend to last. If you can't afford a new one, get a second-hand one instead of a top-price new one.

oflannabhra 7y ago

Consider an alternative world: Apple decides to only make highly repairable devices, and a computer like the iPad is never created. Obviously this is not the only alternative world, but I think it is realistic. Say the design initiatives were inverted: Repairability were king and form & function were subservient to it. In such a world, we would still have giant beige boxes on our desks. That's not to say there is not a balance to be struck that could result in a more repairable iPad, but my point is that Apple's design initiatives have resulted in many new, successful computing form factors (touch, tablet, watch, AirPods even). I will hitch my wagon to the horse that continues to plow new ground, even if there is some theoretical ideal that is "better." I personally believe that Apple's resistance to repairability (or, more accurately to repairability outside their dominion) stems from a desire to control a customers experience with their product, not from some business case or greed. This goes all the way back to Steve Jobs and the original Macintosh [0]. I personally can, and have, repaired my Apple devices with 3rd party parts, and the results have been less than sub-optimal. A screen that was deeply blue-shifted (so extreme that even software adjustments didn't help), a home button that became nonfunctional, and a battery that became swollen. I've had some repairs that worked great, but buying quality parts is a bit more expensive, to the point it is worth it (to me) to have Apple repair. [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_128K#Expansion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_128K#Expansion

blub 7y ago
Your false dichotomy is unconvincing, because Apple were so inept in designing the iPad, they can't even repair it themselves. The non-TouchID button of an iPad broke and my only option would have been to essentially buy a new iPad, because they send the broken one to HQ and give you a refurbished device in exchange. They can't repair a broken button! That is incredibly lame. Furthermore, their devices have become less repairable and more failure-prone for no good reason. For example the MBP screen will die just from opening and closing the lid, because they used too short cables. Major fuck-up, but they will easily fix it by replacing the cable, right? No, they designed it in such a way that the entire screen must be replaced. I'd like to see you try to explain away this idiocy please. Tell us how we couldn't have had MBPs and iPads if Apple would have been able to fix their own devices instead of force-recycling them.

oftenwrong 7y ago

When I was a child we mainly played with non-electronic toys like dolls. This was mainly because my family already had a lot of older toys from the previous generation, not because electronic toys were unavailable to us. Children grow especially attached to dolls, of course, and in many cases they cannot be easily replaced when they break. I remember that sometimes we would take damaged dolls to the "doll doctor", a skilled woman that ran a doll repair business at her home. She could repair doll clothing, fix scratches or broken limbs, replace missing eyes, and more. The doll's return was like a dear friend coming home from the hospital. Some commentators here miss that the iPad may be today's equivalent of a child's doll. Not being able to replace the iPad is like telling the child their playtime friend is dead and never coming back. This strikes me as good reason to have your children bond to something easily replaceable... and consider buying a backup!