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Batterygate: Apple betrayed its customers and now it faces a world of hurt


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Jason Perlow, a tech writer on ZDNET just posted and article with the above name.  If you are angry at him just click on the link, and click on the red discussion tag/button at the end of the article and read the posts there. I'm AreV there.

I am glad we returned our two iPhone 6 phones we tried free for one day. I reviewed them here

 

In this new article Jason Perlow wrote: ( I cut and pasted only part of the article)

" It takes decades to build up fierce customer loyalty and just one mistake to completely dismantle it.

Apple is a company that is known for its rabid, fiercely loyal customers. When it comes to computers and consumer electronics, they tend to buy nothing else.

They are extremely vocal, and will not hesitate to tell anyone how much they love their products, and why you too should own them.

On the multiple occasions over the years where Apple has done something to attract negative attention from the press, their fanbase is always ready to defend. Woe is the opinion editorial writer who either calls the company on its Reality Distortion Field (RDF) or criticizes the company about anything, even constructively.

Apple's Batterygate is a bit different than the Volkswagen scandal -- there's no direct environmental damage here (other than old phones prematurely destined for trash heaps) but the loss of trust the company is likely to incur might be just as significant.

There will be numerous lawsuits in many countries. There could easily be billions upon billions of dollars in fines levied against the company before this is over.

But Apple has plenty of money. Even if it had to pay Volkswagen-level fines it would be perfectly fine financially. What it cannot recover from, however, is the loss of confidence from its most loyal fans.

I've begun to see evidence of this already. I know of life-long Apple fans with older iPhones that have recently discovered that swapping out a battery on a three and a half-year-old iPhone 6 returns the phone to pristine operation.

They otherwise would have bought a new phone, just as millions of others probably already have, assuming the new iOS 11 with new features was taxing the system.

 

Charging $80 at an Apple store or a service center to bring the phone back good as new is something I think end-users would have accepted had this issue been properly communicated with transparency to its customers a long time ago. But they cannot accept being flat out lied to.

Apple has now offered to replace the batteries for a reduced price of $29 on all the affected phones and will be providing a software update that will offer the kind of diagnostics the phones should have had in the first place.

This is a paltry gesture -- out of the guilt of being caught -- and is an attempt to reduce its potential exposure having to pay punitive damages it may very well face in the future.

And is most certainly not enough."

The whole article with hot links to related articles, and a discussion thread at the end where you can lambaste his article and personally thank or insult him, and source content is here: http://www.zdnet.com/article/batterygate-apple-betrayed-its-customers-and-now-it-faces-a-world-of-hurt/

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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I'm not an apple/mac guy never was, never will be. Their excuse on the software they secretly installed is bs.  Many yrs ago

having a mac was the safest bet for secure internet browsing. That Road is now history. New virus's an now This. 

2000 Itasca Horizon DP (Got Total During Irma). 

Vice President of Charlotte County Defenders LE MC

http://charlotte.defenderslemc.com/

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Was not offended by Apple's attempt to keep my old iPhones functional, be it secretly or transparently done.  All Apple here and have not missed Microsoft Windows at all.  Never upgraded to a newer iPhone because I felt the old one was slowing down. 

Just my .02

2019 Jayco 5th Wheel 28.5RSTS  2017 Ford F250 Super Duty 6.2L

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9 hours ago, Pappy Yokum said:

Yep - Apple will "go under" by the end of the month, (ROTFL.

Yes, it will be the upteenth time they have folded, not.  

I’ll get my new battery later this month, keep on going, knowing Apple helped make our retirement comfortable. 😎

Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
Blog: http://www.barbanddave.net
SPK# 90761 FMCA #F337834

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Barb and Zulu,

I am a fan of Apple's and Microsoft's respect for my data and not selling our info to third parties. Android does. I only chose Android when Windows abandoned their Lumia Windows 10 mobile, and Apple would not let me copy my music directly without iTunes, which in the Windows version is bloatware.

I have given up on privacy online so Android is not the invader they were by comparison a decade ago. Alphabet has done an awesome job on Android as Apple has on iOS.

So I don't use the iPhone because it is not as configurable as I want, does not have an SD card slot for my music, and does not give me a choice of different manufacturers, and does not have a replaceable battery.

I became much happier with our Android phones when I found the Squarehome app that gave me a launcher that essentially turned our Moto Z droids into Windows phones! They look and work the same way. I even have the Apps tray I can slide out from the right side. THe tiles even move and size the same as Windows 10 Mobile!

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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Smitty!

That was too good! I almost spit Chex mix all over my 27" touch screen!

shining.gif

 

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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5 hours ago, Smitty77_7 said:

Yeah, but what RV did not say - is the new Apple Replacement Batteries are from Tesla!!!

:)!

;)!

-/:)!

(Just to be clear... I'm smiling as I type!!!)

Best to RV, and all,

Smitty

I guess the news of the “Tesla” battery is out because Apples stock is up.  

2015 Ram 3500 RC DRW CTD AISIN 410 rear

2016 Mobile Suites 38RSB3

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How much does a new iPhone battery cost?
Apple is charging $29 to install the battery, a savings of $50 over the usual $79 out-of-warranty price for replacing the battery.

How long does the battery replacement program last?
Apple has already begin swapping out batteries and says the program will last through December 2018.

Run a backup. While Apple probably won't need to reset your phone, a cracked screen or damaged enclosure could cause issues with the swap that requires a full restore. So you'll want to run an iCloud or iTunes backup before you head to the Apple Store to make sure your data won't be lost.

Looks like I will wait until this summer some time to do the $29 battery change out including labor for my iPhone 7 Plus.
Sounds like a good deal to me.
I haven't noticed any slow down of any of the 99 apps on mine yet.

And after a days use my battery very seldom goes below 60%

Full Time since Oct. 1999
99 Discovery 34Q DP | ISB
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As a former hardware and software developer (I can pretty well guarantee that you've used our products at some time) my initial response was: what's the problem?  I thought it was commendable for Apple to provide a solution that would extend the battery life, even if it slowed the phone down some.  The alternative would be to just let the battery die suddenly and leave you without a phone.

I think all the hubbub about the battery issue was something for the media to make stories about and especially for lawyers who see this as a source of income.

== John

2015 Entegra Aspire 44B diesel pusher with 2017 GMC Acadia Denali toad
Web site, albums, blog and more here

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John, I agree.  The media goes for any hint of a problem at Apple and almost always blows it out of proportion.   I also like the ideas that instead of just dying, the iPhone runs slower so I can get it charged up.   But then I don't try to stream movies on my phone (old eyes can't focus that well) and just appreciate that the thing works for me.   I'm going to wait for a couple of weeks until the initial "I must have it now" dies down.

Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
Blog: http://www.barbanddave.net
SPK# 90761 FMCA #F337834

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John and Barb,

The statement was Apple's in response to their customers complaining to Apple. John they did better than slowing down the phones. They decided there were enough unhappy campers that they reduced the price of a battery replacement from $79.95 to $29.95 for iPhone 6 and newer. I am glad to see they acknowledged the customers that did complain and made good on the hardware fix.

Here is Apple's updated statement, not media hyperbole:

"Here is the full statement from Apple, with some paragraphs left out for fair use, the whole article is at the link at the end of this Official Apple statement:

A Message to Our Customers about iPhone Batteries and Performance

We've been hearing feedback from our customers about the way we handle performance for iPhones with older batteries and how we have communicated that process. We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize. There's been a lot of misunderstanding about this issue, so we would like to clarify and let you know about some changes we're making.

First and foremost, we have never — and would never — do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades. Our goal has always been to create products that our customers love, and making iPhones last as long as possible is an important part of that.

It should go without saying that we think sudden, unexpected shutdowns are unacceptable. We don't want any of our users to lose a call, miss taking a picture or have any other part of their iPhone experience interrupted if we can avoid it.

Preventing unexpected shutdowns

About a year ago in iOS 10.2.1, we delivered a software update that improves power management during peak workloads to avoid unexpected shutdowns on iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone SE. With the update, iOS dynamically manages the maximum performance of some system components when needed to prevent a shutdown. While these changes may go unnoticed, in some cases users may experience longer launch times for apps and other reductions in performance.

Recent user feedback

Over the course of this fall, we began to receive feedback from some users who were seeing slower performance in certain situations. Based on our experience, we initially thought this was due to a combination of two factors: a normal, temporary performance impact when upgrading the operating system as iPhone installs new software and updates apps, and minor bugs in the initial release which have since been fixed.

We now believe that another contributor to these user experiences is the continued chemical aging of the batteries in older iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s devices, many of which are still running on their original batteries.

Addressing customer concerns

To address our customers' concerns, to recognize their loyalty and to regain the trust of anyone who may have doubted Apple's intentions, we've decided to take the following steps:

Apple is reducing the price of an out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacement by $50 — from $79 to $29 — for anyone with an iPhone 6 or later whose battery needs to be replaced, starting in late January and available worldwide through December 2018. Details will be provided soon on apple.com.
 

Early in 2018, we will issue an iOS software update with new features that give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone's battery, so they can see for themselves if its condition is affecting performance.
As always, our team is working on ways to make the user experience even better, including improving how we manage performance and avoid unexpected shutdowns as batteries age."

Update source: http://www.wcyb.com/news/technology/update-apple-dealing-with-battery-gate-issue-with-reduced-prices/678643149

So anyone here that is having issues can now go get another new battery installed for about what I paid just for my replaceable batteries in the past. That is a good deal and I hope y'all take advantage of it.

Safe communications folks!

 

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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RV:how dare you post the official Apple response instead of media hype. We all know that our phone better never ever run out of juice when we are expecting that call from the President. Of course no one wants to miss out on that Award winning picture of the alien appearing to us . 

Thank you Apple for allowing us to continue marching to your tune instead of forcing us to making mind bobbling decisions. Should I miss the president's call or continue surfing? Oh my gosh, I can't make this decision. Please, Apple, make this decision for me! 

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:o;) Duke,

Not one person claims hype when I post about the Windows only vulnerabilities which I am about to do again. But woe is he who posts excerpts about a problem with Linux or Apple. THey have been infected by a creepy guy who was recording Mac owners for 14years and according to some of the articles he had command and control servers that woke up the cameras when the infected computer went to porn websites! Details in the post.

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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The problem was people who found their iPhones getting slowed down that were told they had to upgrade to a newer model and not told a new battery would fix it for $79.  They spent money for a new iPhone and Apple got richer.  Can't blame the salespeople or tech people (Genius Bar) at the stores, since they did not know any better.  

2004 40' Newmar Dutch Star DP towing an AWD 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid, Fulltimer July 2003 to October 2018, Parttimer now.
Travels through much of 2013 - http://www.sacnoth.com - Bill, Diane and Evita (the cat)
 

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