As devices morph into services, what is ownership?
Apple has performed a U-turn on customers’ right to fix its products after purchase
APPLE’S PURPOSE has always been to empower the users of its wares. “People are inherently creative. They will use tools in ways the toolmakers never thought possible,” once opined Steve Jobs, the computer maker’s late co-founder. So it was always odd that the firm went to great lengths to stop customers fixing its products. Repair manuals were kept secret; genuine replacement parts were hard to come by; and, most recently, replacing the screen of the latest iPhone disabled the gadget’s facial-recognition feature.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “iMac, iPhone, iRepair”
Business November 27th 2021
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