Is Apple Plotting Against Your Old iPhone to Make You Buy a New One?

[marmar]

Is Apple Plotting Against Your Old iPhone to Make You Buy a New One?
By Lauren Lyster | Daily Ticker


The iPad Air went on sale Friday and consumers with the old, heavier iPad may be wondering if they should spend the $499 to “upgrade.” One thing they are certainly hoping would never factor into their decision -- if their old device stopped working as a result of some contrived strategy by Apple (AAPL).

Such a tactic is called planned obsolescence and The New York Times economics reporter Catherine Rampell explores the theory as it could apply to Apple’s iPhone in this article appearing in the Times magazine.

She points out, for example, that the iPhone 5S and 5C models were released around the same time as iOS7, which happens to make the iPhone 4 and 4S “unbearably” slow – according to her experience and then corroborated by tech analysts she spoke with during her reporting.

She writes:

To conspiracy-theory-hungry observers (and some of the rest of us), it might make sense that Apple would employ this business strategy. The tech giant, after all, has reached near-saturation levels in the U.S. smartphone market. If iPhones work forever, people who already own the devices­ won’t buy new ones. Furthermore, selling products with finite life spans can be good for consumers, depending on their tastes and how informed they are.

Already the column has attracted much attention, including critics dismissing her argument as solely "conspiracy theory" and "completely without hard evidence.” ........................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/apple-plotting-against-old-iphone-buy-one-173254624.html

[Iggo]

1. Why wouldn't they?

[Deep13]

3. yeah, obviously. nt

[wtmusic]

20. Um, because that would suck

and if you have to put it in the lowest common denominator, being a company that sucks can hurt sales.

Ask Microsoft, or Adobe.

[Make7]

2. Can anyone help me get FaceTime installed on my Commodore 64? ( n/t )

[Electric Monk]

6. Just as soon as I finish compiling a working version of Quicktime Player for my Apple ][+

Should be ready any day now...

[Make7]

7. I just print every video frame out on my dot-matrix printer and make a flip book. ( n/t )

[Electric Monk]

10. You can't fully appreciate movies like Avatar or Gravity untill you've seen them rendered in ASCII.

nt (ran out of room in the subject line)

[Make7]

14. ASCII Star Wars!

[div class="excerpt" style="display:inline-block; margin-left:1em; border:1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius:0.4615em; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #999999 inset;"]telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl

[wtmusic]

24. Wait til you see the Unicode version in 2D. nt

[Heidi]

19. I am sending you a text from my Dymo emobossing label maker. (nt)

[wtmusic]

21. How do you get the damn backing off the labels?

My complaints to tech support go unanswered.

[Heidi]

26. It's both a labor of love

and a fool's mission, but I am happy to be of assistance. You'll need to print out the following, mimeograph it, and have it delivered by Pony Express to tech support. You're welcome.

[Brigid]

4. From Apple's perspective, I did something even worse.

I got a RAZR.

[wtmusic]

22. Yes Google would never pull any crap like that.

Pure as the driven snow.

[mattvermont]

5. I have an IPHONE 4..old school, no S

Have had it for over 3 years....uploaded the new system last week, and have found nothing but improved functionality. Just putting out my data point on this. I think the Cellular providers might be more responsible for this kind of intervention. ATT has made my microcell tower stop working, with no explanation...they cant even give me an idea what is wrong. They are the ones who benefit most from my changing devices, I think.

[we can do it]

8. I have an iphone 3gs, still love it. Works fine won't get rid of it unless it breaks.

A friend of mine has one too, he said the same thing. Not everyone upgrades every time they can.

[liberal_at_heart]

9. oh, my gosh, my husband was asking this very question yesterday. He is legally blind and the iPhone

is by far the best smart phone on the market for blind people, but this new ios is making it very hard for him to use his phone. He used to love his phone. Now he hates it. The second another company comes up with a phone as good as the iPhone Apple is toast.

[Thinkingabout]

11. A conspiracy perhaps, I found myself in a similar dilemma, had Iphone 3, was

Notified I needed to update my phone, guess what they backed my phone to a version which would not work with the apps I had been using. Called for support and was told to go and purchace an upgraded phone if I wanted the apps to work. My next purchase was not an Apple.

[Cal Carpenter]

12. It would be more surprising if they *weren't* doing that.

[NYC Liberal]

13. New software doesn't run as well on a 2-3 year old phone

No "conspiracy" needed.

[joeunderdog]

15. With each passing "upgrade"

Apple is becoming its enemy. They are looking more and more like Microsoft as they conspire to steal your last dime in every way they can.

My last upgrade of Aperture (just so I could use my new camera and actually see the images) meant I had to upgrade the OS. I lost Word, the use of my calibration unit, and a scanner. Not to mention the aggravation. Oh, and now my iphone 5 won't play hundreds of songs I bought on iTunes and I just don't have the time to research how to get things like this and other stuff to work all over again.

This hardcore Apple user is starting to wonder why I spend the extra money for its products. It used to be because Apple was plug n play and no hidden costs. NOT. ANY. MORE.

[Electric Monk]

18. Although I haven't upgraded any of my comps to OS X 10.9 yet, it is free. Free, as in free beer.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10962389

I'm still running OS X 10.5 on one, and 10.7 on the other (for cloud stuff). The one running 10.5 might just stay that way for ever, because it does what I wanted it to do when I bought it.

[lostincalifornia]

31. Actually, with Windows 8.0 Microsoft is now becoming more like Apple, and that isn't a compliment

[Vashta Nerada]

16. I don't think it's a conspiracy.

It's just the way technology works.

[Initech]

17. Apple does not have a monopoly on the smart phone market.

You can use Android or Windows Phone 8, or even RIM. And contrary to the article I have a second generation iPad. It runs ios 7, I've yet to run into a single issue with it. If I did buy a new iPad it would be for increased storage capacity.

[Warren DeMontague]

23. My 4S works fine with iOS7.

Haven't noticed any slowness at all.

[Luminous Animal]

25. Yep. No problem whatsoever

I has to figure out a few of the differences but that was easy and it has been smooth sailing.

[Warren DeMontague]

27. I thought the appearance was ugly as hell, at first.

But I gave myself some cool new wallpaper that goes better with the look, and now it's fine.

[Luminous Animal]

28. The appearance does suck. It is all angles now.

[pansypoo53219]

29. the technology game since the edison gramophone. get your 8 track today! BUY THAT MOVIE ON VCR!

NO! BLUE RAY!

[lostincalifornia]

30. pure conspiracy bs, though based on the last releases from Apple there is nothing really to compel

current iPhone/ipad users to upgrade to the newer models:

Iphone 5C: C for Cheap
Iphone 5S: S for Same

For the IPAD and iPhones, nothing to really that "wow" in my view

[Berlum]

32. The new iPhones are exquisite form and function

Millions of people recognize that. I'm just sayin...

[lostincalifornia]

35. I have both Apple and Android, and since Jobs has gone, the innovation is definitely lacking in my

view.

There is no question that millions buy into the new Apple products, but unless they come up with new innovations, they will stagnate

To be honest, Samsung is starting to take the lead in the mobile market, and Apple is starting to be a follower. The next iPhone will have a bigger screen, and incorporate a lot of the functionality in the Galaxy 4 and Note 3 in the iPhone 6

The reason Apple dropped from 700 to 520 is because people are concerned about the direction.

[bemildred]

33. Planned obsolescence is not new.

Last edited Sat Nov 2, 2013, 08:17 AM - Edit history (1)

And those remaining few of us who have seen well made stuff that lasts a lifetime at a price not too far from what it cost to make it, still notice the difference.

[treestar]

34. iphone 4 I have doesn't have enough room to install the new OS

still works well without it, though one app won't work.

Maverick system on macbook did cause problems. My scanner doesn't have software for it. They are supposedly developing it. Not enough of a problem to update the laptop yet - I use those until they break.