[opendtv] Re: Apple Spars With Movie Studios Over Pricing Ahead of Apple TV Rollout
- From: Craig Birkmaier <brewmastercraig@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2017 21:58:39 -0400
On Sep 4, 2017, at 4:29 PM, cooleman@xxxxxx wrote:
Ah you consider a one year lifespan reasonable. In Europe we have higher
expectations about product lifespan, and therefor legally longer warranty
periods. So, every year or perhaps two you are expected to 'renew your Apple
lease'. I hope you can get 40 months out of your 6 and then get a used IPX.
I have no idea what you are talking about. What do you mean by renewing your
"lease."
I have never expected a product warranty to last for the entire useful life of
a product. The primary purpose of a warranty is to cover manufacturing defects.
I just did a search about European warranties, which brings to light the chaos
you live in.
The longer warranty period you refer to is the result of an EU Parliament
directive, and appears to only cover manufacturing defects. Each of the
European states can have its own warranty policies as well, and the
responsibility for warranty coverage appears to fall upon the seller of the
product, not necessarily the manufacturer.
Apparently Apple extended its European warranties to two years after it was
fined $1.2 million by Italian authorities for misleading customers about the
AppleCare extended warranties it was selling. But according to the following
article there is still considerable debate about the EU warranty policy and
what it covers:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/apple-extends-european-warranties-complaints-already-flood-in/
While European consumer law says a repair or replacement can be given if
"defects present when customer takes delivery", while Apple's limited
warranty and AppleCare plan says when "defects present after customer takes
delivery".
While it may seem like one word is changing, that one word means the
difference between "defects in manufacturing" to "it's the user's fault". You
rarely find problems with devices after you open the box. It's a few hours,
days or weeks down the line when faults and problems emerge if there ever are
any.
This seems contrary to EU case law which assumed defects within the first
two-years are as a result of the manufacturing process, rather than it being
the customers' fault.
So according to this, if I drop my phone on the floor and the screen cracks
during the first two years it is a manufacturing defect. That's absurd.
Here in the mother country - last I checked Apple is a U.S. corporation - if
you drop your phone and crack the screen its on YOU, unless you pay for
AppleCare or some other form of insurance. In some places they call this an
extended warranty; but you are insuring against a human accident, not a
manufacturers defect, or component failures if you keep extending the warranty
after three to four years.
In some cases here, we see class action lawsuits related to manufacturing
issues that may develop over a longer period of time. If the class action
prevails the manufacturers deal with the problems.
So it is less than clear to me exactly what the two year EU warranty really
covers. As you live under this regime, I would love to hear your explanation as
to what it actually does.
As for Samsung they are pushing OLED, that means they don't supply
replacement OLED displays, directing all parts to new phones instead. so, you
are told to send your phone in for repair, only to get the report that they
won't replace it, please pay fee. So,like I said it is not just Apple, but
Apple is the worst offender with its 1 year hard deadline.
Better check that again. It looks like you did not hear about the changes Apple
made to its warranty policy.
To me a used phone is worth very little, but I am not the target for premium
phones, or even previous generation premium phones. Pure as a phone a dumb
phone suffices. Camera, tablet, phone in one has some appeal, but it depends
on the premium required.
This is why I suggested a used iPhone. You get most of the benefit without the
premium. Kinda like buying low mileage used car to avoid the 20-25% loss when
you drive away from the dealership in a new car.
But everyone has the right to their personal choices. Bert won't pay for TV;
you have avoided moving from a phone to a computer in your pocket.
As for write-off, even at a two hundred re-sale value, you write of 500-600,
more than the non-high-end/medium-end phones cost.
Really. I paid about $750. So non-high-end phones must be free. ;-)
You should move over here - we might be able to get you an Obamaphone.
Or you could buy a Samsung phone and get a second phone for free...
Misguided, uhm, Apple upped the minimum pricing for apps, recently and not
even 99 $ cent equivalent, but €0.99, and £0.99. And it forced a 0.99 on the
labels. This might have been beneficial, but it was a complaint about the
labels and now app developers prices.
So you must pay for every app in Europe?
The vast majority of apps over here are free. Some, especially games have in
app purchases that can get expensive. And some require a separate subscription
or purchase. For example the Kindle app for this iPad is free. But I cannot buy
an e-book through that app; Amazon does not want to give Apple 30%. My DirecTV
Now app is free, but useless without the $35/mo subscription
MIcrosoft has read only iOS apps for all of the core Office applications. If
you want to create documents you'll need an Office 365 subscription.
And some apps cost several dollars or more.
So how would the IP6 compare to one of the budget kings, the 5.5" Super
AMOLED Lenovo P2. Overhere it is a little over €300, on Amazon.de it is €250.
I.e. how long does it take for premium features to trickle down. It was
released last november so a little over two years after the IP6. Of course
the 5100mAh battery is a big plus on this one.
As with most computer products you get what you pay for. With smartphones this
includes the ecosystem you are buying into. There are tons of cheap Android
phones.
If all you want, or can afford, is one device - say a phablet, then the
ecosystem is less of an issue. If you use a phone, tablet and a desktop or
laptop PC, the ecosystem matters.
This may sound a bit elitist, but in reality the total cost of my iPhone, iPad
Pro and my Mac mini was hundreds less than my first Mac in 1984. And I no
longer buy digital cameras, GPS navigation devices and hard drives - i do pay
$0.99/mo for 50 GB or cloud storage.
I was given an Apple Watch for Christmas. Not a huge fan, although it runs a
multi-timer app that is very useful at the brewery.
Enjoyable interchange...
Regards
Craig
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