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Apple $500 DTK Program Asking for Returns – Giving $200USD Voucher
Just received an email from Apple regarding the DTK program returns, won't paste content in case they have stenographed the email (NDA'd). The program has been a joke from the start with minimal response from Apple. The developer forums are packed with complaints, hardware arriving DOA, endless reboots and no opportunity to return or refund out of the program.
Really surprised with Apple's handling here.
One of the most active threads with zero Apple input was asking "has the DTK program been set adrift" in the title with more than 2500 views.
I guess we have our answer.
- runjake 6y agoHaha, good luck with that. They gave people free iMacs with the last DTK and still didn't get a ton of them returned. Instead, they flooded the eBay market.
- immy 6y agoThose people may lose membership in Developer Program. Also, DTK will become less and less functional as it’s not supported by OS updates. But not a very strong incentive over laziness for someone who isn’t actually a developer.
- runjake 6y agoAgain, I'll point to the fact that even with an iMac for turning in an Intel DTK, Intel DTKs flooded the second-hand market for a while. I turned my Intel DTK in, so I'm not sure whether Apple took away their dev access but it clearly wasn't a super effective deterrent.
- sjwright 6y agoTo everyone who dealt with faulty hardware, I think Apple should be quietly offering refunds (not just a store credit). But to everyone else, they received the service promised by Apple in full and should be stoked at this surprise $200 return incentive. You can argue that the $500 price was too steep for a hardware loan, or that Apple should be offering a more generous incentive to return the device. I wouldn't disagree. But it's not like Apple was unclear about this. https://photos5.appleinsider.com/gallery/36365-67564-DTK-ownership-xl.jpg https://photos5.appleinsider.com/gallery/36365-67564-DTK-own... https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/1*V6If2OIL4W223oGLzT5OrQ.png https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/1*V6If2OIL4W223oGLzT5OrQ.pn...
- flemhans 6y agoI feel like there would be less of a shitstorm if they hadn't offered the $200 at all, but instead just asked the developers to return them as per the agreement.
- mproud 6y agoThat’s ironic
- sjwright 6y agoBut probably true. Though the real screw-up was not being more responsive to complaints of faulty hardware. It was unreasonable for developers to expect retail product levels of reliability from the DTK, but it was even more unreasonable for Apple to expect it. Therefore Apple should have expected a high fault rate and been ready with a low friction, no-excuses exchange policy.
- Mandatum 6y agoI expected a year lease of a working computer. I got neither.
- kingsleyopara 6y agoI find the $200 credit expiring by May 31st in particularly bad taste (doubt the new Mac's that developers would want to buy would even be out by then!)
- vimy 6y agoIt feels like a slap in the face.
- lukeh 6y agoI'm kind of two minds here, the terms were clear from the start (it's a rental and the developer program is cheaper than it was at the time of the PowerPC to Intel transition). On the other hand, it did spend a lot of its time spontaneously rebooting...
- tubularhells 6y agoAnd this is why I don't support Apple devices.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]