6 ms·

My guess is Apple is bored of truly innovating and now has to resort to nickle-diming customers to hit quarterly numbers. Tim Cook put on his "Make Changing Ba

by roboys 7y ago

My guess is Apple is bored of truly innovating and now has to resort to nickle-diming customers to hit quarterly numbers. Tim Cook put on his "Make Changing Batteries Expensive Again" hat.

toasterlovin 7y ago
FWIW, Apple is making a huge push into services. Services revenue is dependent on a large installed base, rather than quarterly unit sales. This gives them a huge incentive to make sure customers have a great experience for as long as possible after purchase (on top of just wanting to make their customers happy). If they're doing this, there's probably a pretty good reason for it.
- rebolek 7y ago
  That makes sense. ChBaaS (Changing Battery as a Service) is probably a huge opportunity for them.
aejnsn 7y ago
Don't go buy a BMW anytime soon. Have to recode the battery, and it's been that way for years.
- metalliqaz 7y ago
  I, for one, hate when my car is in the shop. That's why I haven't been buying BMWs.
- vesrah 7y ago
  Not sure why you got downvoted, but this is true. When you replace the battery in a new-ish BMW you need to recode/register the battery since BMW changes the way it charges the battery based on age and type.
  - aejnsn 7y ago
    I'm not sure myself. I am attempting to contrast one premium consumer product with another based on expectations. I think iFixIt and others knowingly sensationalize this stuff without looking for parallels elsewhere. In the BMW community, we justify technical reasoning behind the battery coding of our automobiles' features, but apparently phones, with their comparable levels of complexity, are supposed to use AAA batteries because the company that makes replacement parts has a loud voice. Maybe I am mistaken, but this could be considered a double-standard. I am not apologizing for Apple, I have my own frustrations with the company lately, but I strive for consistency when I opine.
    - kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
      There are already COTS ICs for monitoring rechargeable batteries. These used to be built into laptop batteries when they were removable and swappable. Nothing prevents a phone manufacture from integrating the same into a removable battery to keep track of aging.
- CamperBob2 7y ago
  Same with Porsche, but it doesn't actually hurt anything if you don't have the dealer install and code a replacement battery. The car doesn't nag you about it. The coding is primarily used to determine when the auto start/stop feature can be activated and for how long, but many/most owners turn that off anyway. If Apple doesn't want to show the estimated health state for aftermarket batteries, that's fine, but they should have simply refrained from displaying that field. Displaying scary but meaningless warning messages just comes across as rent-seeking behavior. It will (or at least it should) encourage their customers to contact their representatives to support Right To Repair legislation.
- Scoundreller 7y ago
  I profited from this: Bought the code reader from AliExpress for $150. Then sold it locally once I was done for close to $200. My biggest gripe was getting the battery in and out of the trunk. Anywho, a half decent scan tool pays for itself.
  - aejnsn 7y ago
    Carly and ProTool are amazing tools too. :)
    - Scoundreller 7y ago
      But then I’d be stuck buying software I couldn’t re-sell once I was done with it. I’m also not the only driver and I like the idea of anyone borrowing it being able to pull codes at any time.
- tfandango 7y ago
  Even Chrysler is doing things like this. I had a hitch installed, super simple, all of the wires etc plug in to the appropriate places, but if you want to actually use the break lights, you need to visit the dealership to flip a boolean flag somewhere, otherwise the lights just don't work.
  - rootusrootus 7y ago
    In my experience that is pretty common. My F150, for example, has daytime running lights ... in Canada. Another boolean flag, if I had a programmer I could enable them on mine.
  - aejnsn 7y ago
    The only difference in a current Ford Mustang between making the in-dash vacuum gauge work for boost too is a boolean flag. So if you drop a supercharger on your N/A GT model, you can have your MAP sensor register in the dash as if the supercharger is OEM.
  - jotm 7y ago
    Isn't that like, terribly unsafe? A lawsuit waiting to happen imo, if someone doesn't check the brake lights on their trailer...
  - subhro 7y ago
    brake.. I suppose.
Bubbadoo 7y ago
Agreed, the spirit of Apple under Mr. Cook is vastly different then when his predecessor was directing--no, recreating--the company. Part of it, I realize, the innovation curve tends to flatten over time. If you can't make your numbers with innovative and powerful new ideas, at least capture the margin with vendor lock-in. For a good percentage of Apple customers, that may just be fine.

by roboys 7y ago

My guess is Apple is bored of truly innovating and now has to resort to nickle-diming customers to hit quarterly numbers. Tim Cook put on his "Make Changing Batteries Expensive Again" hat.

toasterlovin 7y ago

FWIW, Apple is making a huge push into services. Services revenue is dependent on a large installed base, rather than quarterly unit sales. This gives them a huge incentive to make sure customers have a great experience for as long as possible after purchase (on top of just wanting to make their customers happy). If they're doing this, there's probably a pretty good reason for it.

rebolek 7y ago
That makes sense. ChBaaS (Changing Battery as a Service) is probably a huge opportunity for them.

aejnsn 7y ago

Don't go buy a BMW anytime soon. Have to recode the battery, and it's been that way for years.

metalliqaz 7y ago
I, for one, hate when my car is in the shop. That's why I haven't been buying BMWs.
vesrah 7y ago
Not sure why you got downvoted, but this is true. When you replace the battery in a new-ish BMW you need to recode/register the battery since BMW changes the way it charges the battery based on age and type.
- aejnsn 7y ago
  I'm not sure myself. I am attempting to contrast one premium consumer product with another based on expectations. I think iFixIt and others knowingly sensationalize this stuff without looking for parallels elsewhere. In the BMW community, we justify technical reasoning behind the battery coding of our automobiles' features, but apparently phones, with their comparable levels of complexity, are supposed to use AAA batteries because the company that makes replacement parts has a loud voice. Maybe I am mistaken, but this could be considered a double-standard. I am not apologizing for Apple, I have my own frustrations with the company lately, but I strive for consistency when I opine.
  - kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
    There are already COTS ICs for monitoring rechargeable batteries. These used to be built into laptop batteries when they were removable and swappable. Nothing prevents a phone manufacture from integrating the same into a removable battery to keep track of aging.
CamperBob2 7y ago
Same with Porsche, but it doesn't actually hurt anything if you don't have the dealer install and code a replacement battery. The car doesn't nag you about it. The coding is primarily used to determine when the auto start/stop feature can be activated and for how long, but many/most owners turn that off anyway. If Apple doesn't want to show the estimated health state for aftermarket batteries, that's fine, but they should have simply refrained from displaying that field. Displaying scary but meaningless warning messages just comes across as rent-seeking behavior. It will (or at least it should) encourage their customers to contact their representatives to support Right To Repair legislation.
Scoundreller 7y ago
I profited from this: Bought the code reader from AliExpress for $150. Then sold it locally once I was done for close to $200. My biggest gripe was getting the battery in and out of the trunk. Anywho, a half decent scan tool pays for itself.
- aejnsn 7y ago
  Carly and ProTool are amazing tools too. :)
  - Scoundreller 7y ago
    But then I’d be stuck buying software I couldn’t re-sell once I was done with it. I’m also not the only driver and I like the idea of anyone borrowing it being able to pull codes at any time.
tfandango 7y ago
Even Chrysler is doing things like this. I had a hitch installed, super simple, all of the wires etc plug in to the appropriate places, but if you want to actually use the break lights, you need to visit the dealership to flip a boolean flag somewhere, otherwise the lights just don't work.
- rootusrootus 7y ago
  In my experience that is pretty common. My F150, for example, has daytime running lights ... in Canada. Another boolean flag, if I had a programmer I could enable them on mine.
- aejnsn 7y ago
  The only difference in a current Ford Mustang between making the in-dash vacuum gauge work for boost too is a boolean flag. So if you drop a supercharger on your N/A GT model, you can have your MAP sensor register in the dash as if the supercharger is OEM.
- jotm 7y ago
  Isn't that like, terribly unsafe? A lawsuit waiting to happen imo, if someone doesn't check the brake lights on their trailer...
- subhro 7y ago
  brake.. I suppose.

Bubbadoo 7y ago

Agreed, the spirit of Apple under Mr. Cook is vastly different then when his predecessor was directing--no, recreating--the company. Part of it, I realize, the innovation curve tends to flatten over time. If you can't make your numbers with innovative and powerful new ideas, at least capture the margin with vendor lock-in. For a good percentage of Apple customers, that may just be fine.