Do you suspect that Apple is planning to make your latest Mac, iPhone, or iPad obsolete? The answer is a qualified yes. And no.
That Apple is a masterful company that easily dispenses with yesterday’s technology is a known fact. That Apple plans to make what you buy today obsolete is merely part of the company’s grand plan. Someone caught on to the scheme and sued Apple.
What’s New Is Dead, But Newer!
Planned obsolescence is a fact of life, a universal axiom that predates humankind, yet lives on in everything we buy, whether for use or ingestion.
How long would Apple stay in business if every new iPhone and iPad ran perfectly for 20 years?
Oh, and no more new features would be needed. Ever.
Product obsolescence is just the way it is, and we humans, for the most part, don’t have a problem with the march of technological progress.
That is, except for the Institute of Politics and Law Software in Brazil (AppleInsider has details). They’re taking issue with Apple’s iPad 4, which launched just months after the iPad 3.
How so? They claim Apple could have introduced all the same features– Lightning connector, faster CPU, improved camera, et al– in the iPad 3. The argument is ludicrous on its face, but anyone can sue anyone else for any reason.
It seems to me that Brazil’s crazy law practices could make it the France of South America, so you never know what will happen in a court case.
The reality is this. Brazil not withstanding, Apple is better at planned obsolescence than most technology companies. And it’s not that Apple is eager to discard old products and technology. They are.
The difference is this. Apple’s products tend to last longer than competitor’s products, and hold their value longer. Obsolescence is inevitable, but we don’t mind so long as the value of using the product remains high, at least relative to competition.
Apple is often accused of upgrading products too slowly, but throwing out old technology too quickly. By upgrading the iPad to a faster CPU, a better Face Time camera, and a new connector, Apple is being accused of upgrading products too quickly.
Here’s another reality. Apple isn’t required to ensure that iOS works perfectly well on iPhones or iPads that are a year old, or two years, or even four years old. The fact that iOS 6 does work on older devices is a credit to Apple’s philosophy and concern for the value customers put into their products.
Compare that method to what happens when you buy a smart phone that runs Android OS. Most customers will never get an upgrade to the latest version of Android OS, and somehow that’s OK to the Institute of Politics and Law Software in Brazil.
Relative to how Apple handles iOS upgrades, most Android OS users are being screwed royally, because cell phone carriers would prefer their customers upgrade by buying a new phone instead. Where’s the outcry? Where’s the outrage?
I have no doubt that Apple plans obsolescence into each product. But obsolescence may have a different meaning for some, hence the lawsuit in Brazil. After all, is it obsolete if the product still does exactly what was expected when it was purchased?
About Kate MacKenzie
Apple is the king of borderline-subpar hardware specs balanced by extremely good (though inexplicably incomplete in places) software, making its products prone to fall aside when a new generation of software arrives (so requiring new accompanying hardware). It gets tiresome fairly quickly.
I have to laugh at the technorati elite and their view that Apple sells ‘borderline-subpar’ hardware. What a joke, dude.
As the writer has pointed out on many occasions, hardware specifications are a mere point of differentiation for companies that cannot produce a better user experience.
What good is a quad-core CPU if the apps and the user cannot take advantage of the power? What good is 4GB of RAM if the device runs one app at a time?
Everyone has a perspective, and critics are entitled to their criticism, but I’d prefer to see insightful analysis as opposed to insulting premise without any backup support.
Color me somewhat jaded, but are not all companies that sell gadgets interested in a planned obsolescence? Isn’t that the norm in technology?
I can usually squeeze five or six years out of a Mac before handing it off to a deserving relative and plunking down more money for a new Mac. So far as I can tell, Apple builds in obsolescence in such a way that we’re not inclined to complain about it.
Just doing the basic total cost of ownership math a Mac is a good value. The same holds true for the iPhone. I sold my iPhone 4 for $200. How is that not a good deal?
Your line about Brazil being like France is spot on. France is a horrible place to do business. Brazil isn’t far behind. Apple should just abandon countries like that.
You’re completely correct about Apple being better at obsoleting products than competition. They don’t obsolete faster. Just better. Customers see the value, even at higher prices that some competitors, and often get to use the product longer, and it has more value when it’s time to get a new one.
Yeah, planned obsolescence is built into everything, but may obsolete is the wrong word. How does an iPad 3 become ‘obsolete’ when the iPad 4 hit the streets? It still works, still uses the same apps, still performs the same tasks, so obsolete probably isn’t an accurate way to describe the situation.