this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2023
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Apple backs national right-to-repair bill, offering parts, manuals, and tools | Repair advocates say Apple's move is beneficial, but also strategic::Repair advocates say Apple's move is beneficial, but also strategic.

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[–] ZagamTheVile 60 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Yeah, this isn't suspicious in any way. Totally on the up and up.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago

I can't think of any reason why Apple, which has historically been against the right to repair, wouldn't support this!

[–] ilinamorato 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Probably marketing, and hoping California doesn't make it worse for them.

[–] coffeebiscuit 36 points 1 year ago (2 children)

No, the right to repair apple supports is the one they can control. You have the rights, but you need to buy the parts from them, you need to buy the specialized tools from them, with their terms en conditions.

In other words: you’d be better to let Apple repair the stuf cheaper instead of repairing it yourselves.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"get your iScrewdriver for only $999"

  • iScrews sold separately for $99.99 each
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

iScrewdriver stands now available for only $799

[–] ilinamorato 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Ars did the math (it's in that article), and they said that people with the know-how will be financially better-off renting the tools and doing the repairs themselves than getting them done at Apple. It's not a great deal, but it's probably enough to get California regulators off their backs. Which, again, is the goal.

[–] poopkins 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I suspect that they have found a loophole in the current bill's wording and don't want it to be changed.

[–] EmpathicVagrant 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They charge an insane amount for you to rent a repair kit for a short time to also order parts and do it yourself with no training. It’ll be ‘available’ you can self repair, but not likely.

[–] poopkins 5 points 1 year ago

Plus, you will still need their software to enable a replacement chip due to serialization. From my understanding, this entire aspect isn't addressed in the current wording of the bill.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well to be completely honest; even if Apple in no way helps me fix ther products, them simply just stopping to actively make it harder would be a giant leap forward.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

That's what they aren't doing, though. They're trying to rig it where the only parts that will work are new ones purchased from them. They're also making third party repairmen have a nearly impossible time to do it for you due to all this call in and activate part nonsense.

[–] voodooattack 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wait, so pigs can learn to fly?

[–] EmpathicVagrant 5 points 1 year ago

I mean yeah, cops have had helicopters for years now.

[–] anon_8675309 6 points 1 year ago

Totally getting a handle on the narrative. But actual RTR? Nahhh…. This is Apple.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


"We intend to honor California's new repair provisions across the United States," said Brian Naumann, Apple's vice president for service and operation management, at a White House event Tuesday.

"I think most OEMs [Original Equipment Manufacturers] will realize they can save themselves a lot of trouble by making parts, tools, and other requirements of state laws already in NY, MN, CA, and CO available nationally," wrote Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of The Repair Association, to Ars.

"If they try to differentiate between selling one type of product in New York and a different one in neighboring Pennsylvania—the border is porous, and they will only create more complexity in their distribution network than they would gain."

Gordon-Byrne noted that firms like HP, Google, Samsung, and Lenovo have pledged to comply with repair rules on a national level.

At the same time, numerous obstacles to repair access remain in place through copyright law—"Which we hope will be high on an agenda in the IP subcommittee this session," Gordon-Byrne wrote.

Elizabeth Chamberlain, director of sustainability for iFixit, a parts vendor and repair advocate, suggested that Apple's pledge to extend California's law on a national level is "a strategic move."


The original article contains 549 words, the summary contains 196 words. Saved 64%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] muntedcrocodile 3 points 1 year ago

Just waiting for Louis Rossman