6 ms·

Given Apple's culture and anti-"everything this pretends to fix" I wonder if this yet another one of those things to serve as a talking point for Senate hearing

Given Apple's culture and anti-"everything this pretends to fix" I wonder if this yet another one of those things to serve as a talking point for Senate hearings but in reality they'll sell you some parts at 80% of the price of a new iPhone... ( that old gag ).

bradfa 5y ago
The prices seem very reasonable for genuine parts. Some parts have a "core charge" like automotive parts, to ensure you send back the bad ones so they can be remanufactured. The $49 rental of the tool kit gets you the use of some quite impressive tools and fixtures which are likely to greatly enhance the chance of success for various repairs.
- dotancohen 5y ago
  > Some parts have a "core charge" like automotive parts, to ensure you send back the bad ones so they can be remanufactured. This also prevents enterprising shops from buying stocks of parts for use in the future, when Apple stops selling parts for today's models.
  - bradfa 5y ago
    But this program is rather clearly not aimed at repair shops but seems much more for the retail DIY crowd. For other things which are DIY, like automotive repair, core charges are a normal everyday thing. I don't normally stock various parts for my own cars, I buy them when I need to. This feels very similar to me.
    - ATsch 5y ago
      > But this program is rather clearly not aimed at repair shops but seems much more for the retail DIY crowd. Yes, which is the point. They are offering a compromise for a tiny market (self-repair) in hopes of this distracting from and preventing laws that would benefit the market that actually matters (independent repair). It's like throwing your underpaid demoralized employees a pizza party so they don't quit, nothing but a damage control gesture that deliberarely doesn't actually help.
  - vesrah 5y ago
    How does it prevent it? Returning a core isn't required. If you want to stockpile you just need to pay a bit more.
    - ATsch 5y ago
      You need to know the serial number of the phone before ordering the components. That means repairs will for most people take two to three visits to the repair center over a week, whereas apple can do it in one visit. They know this makes independent repair uncompetitive, which is why they do it.
Nextgrid 5y ago
That's exactly what it is. The selection of parts available to order is also absolutely laughable.
- jmull 5y ago
  The list of products covered is very small -- just recent phones). But the parts available for the covered products looks good to me -- parts and all the tools needed to install them. And prices are good too. They've even got some really nice features, like tool kit rental and battery return credits.
kmeisthax 5y ago
Absolutely. Same with the IRP program. Part of the problem with Apple's repair programs is that Apple themselves doesn't want people dinking around with individual electronic components, so they don't let their branded repair centers[0] buy or touch them. This dramatically increases the cost of repair as you have to dispose of a lot of known-good chips purely so that Apple does not have to provide a supply of their proprietary components and does not have to hire skilled labor to solder them onto boards. People who actually do bother with component level repair are able to frequently undercut Apple on repair cost[1], but have significantly harder time buying the components you need to do this because Apple won't sell chips. As for why, they won't really tell, or if pressed they'll waive their arms around and say "intellectual property" and "innovation". My guess is that they don't want other companies pulling a Strange Parts and building their own iPhones from replacement parts... to which I say, who cares? If you actually do it that way you aren't saving a whole lot of money and all that money is going back to Apple anyway. Oh, and you can sed s/Apple/any other tech company/g the above paragraphs and still be 100% correct. The whole "what about the innovashun" argument is a cultural toxin that has infected basically every other company that has anything to do with electronics. It's why I don't believe Elon's intentions around Twitter's algorithm for a second[2]. Everyone in tech has been very consistently opposed to anyone other than them touching their stuff, purely because it's "theirs" and not because it actually has a cognizable harm to them. [0] AASP & IRP members inclusive [1] Even if we exclude particularly embarrassing cases like when the Genius Bar forgot to check if a backlight cable was installed correctly and recommended a full logic board swap [2] Tesla is the company that brought Apple-style repair hostility to cars. Elon does not care about "freedom" beyond hearing about it in a meme.
bogwog 5y ago
IIRC, that's exactly what this is. This program is targeted at "self service" repair, i.e. you fixing your own phone. Apple wants to make it hard/impossible for third party/independent repair shops to offer that service. This does nothing for them: the prices mean that these shops will not be able to make a profit if they try to undercut Apple's own $329 out-of-warranty flat price for screen repair. So when right to repair criticism is lobbed at Apple, they can now point at this website.
Melatonic 5y ago
Definitely this is what they came up with to try to steer the narrative away from requiring right to repair becoming actual law.

bradfa 5y ago

The prices seem very reasonable for genuine parts. Some parts have a "core charge" like automotive parts, to ensure you send back the bad ones so they can be remanufactured. The $49 rental of the tool kit gets you the use of some quite impressive tools and fixtures which are likely to greatly enhance the chance of success for various repairs.

dotancohen 5y ago
> Some parts have a "core charge" like automotive parts, to ensure you send back the bad ones so they can be remanufactured. This also prevents enterprising shops from buying stocks of parts for use in the future, when Apple stops selling parts for today's models.
- bradfa 5y ago
  But this program is rather clearly not aimed at repair shops but seems much more for the retail DIY crowd. For other things which are DIY, like automotive repair, core charges are a normal everyday thing. I don't normally stock various parts for my own cars, I buy them when I need to. This feels very similar to me.
  - ATsch 5y ago
    > But this program is rather clearly not aimed at repair shops but seems much more for the retail DIY crowd. Yes, which is the point. They are offering a compromise for a tiny market (self-repair) in hopes of this distracting from and preventing laws that would benefit the market that actually matters (independent repair). It's like throwing your underpaid demoralized employees a pizza party so they don't quit, nothing but a damage control gesture that deliberarely doesn't actually help.
- vesrah 5y ago
  How does it prevent it? Returning a core isn't required. If you want to stockpile you just need to pay a bit more.
  - ATsch 5y ago
    You need to know the serial number of the phone before ordering the components. That means repairs will for most people take two to three visits to the repair center over a week, whereas apple can do it in one visit. They know this makes independent repair uncompetitive, which is why they do it.

Nextgrid 5y ago

That's exactly what it is. The selection of parts available to order is also absolutely laughable.

jmull 5y ago
The list of products covered is very small -- just recent phones). But the parts available for the covered products looks good to me -- parts and all the tools needed to install them. And prices are good too. They've even got some really nice features, like tool kit rental and battery return credits.

kmeisthax 5y ago

Absolutely. Same with the IRP program. Part of the problem with Apple's repair programs is that Apple themselves doesn't want people dinking around with individual electronic components, so they don't let their branded repair centers[0] buy or touch them. This dramatically increases the cost of repair as you have to dispose of a lot of known-good chips purely so that Apple does not have to provide a supply of their proprietary components and does not have to hire skilled labor to solder them onto boards. People who actually do bother with component level repair are able to frequently undercut Apple on repair cost[1], but have significantly harder time buying the components you need to do this because Apple won't sell chips. As for why, they won't really tell, or if pressed they'll waive their arms around and say "intellectual property" and "innovation". My guess is that they don't want other companies pulling a Strange Parts and building their own iPhones from replacement parts... to which I say, who cares? If you actually do it that way you aren't saving a whole lot of money and all that money is going back to Apple anyway. Oh, and you can sed s/Apple/any other tech company/g the above paragraphs and still be 100% correct. The whole "what about the innovashun" argument is a cultural toxin that has infected basically every other company that has anything to do with electronics. It's why I don't believe Elon's intentions around Twitter's algorithm for a second[2]. Everyone in tech has been very consistently opposed to anyone other than them touching their stuff, purely because it's "theirs" and not because it actually has a cognizable harm to them. [0] AASP & IRP members inclusive [1] Even if we exclude particularly embarrassing cases like when the Genius Bar forgot to check if a backlight cable was installed correctly and recommended a full logic board swap [2] Tesla is the company that brought Apple-style repair hostility to cars. Elon does not care about "freedom" beyond hearing about it in a meme.

bogwog 5y ago

IIRC, that's exactly what this is. This program is targeted at "self service" repair, i.e. you fixing your own phone. Apple wants to make it hard/impossible for third party/independent repair shops to offer that service. This does nothing for them: the prices mean that these shops will not be able to make a profit if they try to undercut Apple's own $329 out-of-warranty flat price for screen repair. So when right to repair criticism is lobbed at Apple, they can now point at this website.

Melatonic 5y ago

Definitely this is what they came up with to try to steer the narrative away from requiring right to repair becoming actual law.