France investigates Apple over alleged planned obsolescence

rotateleftbyte

If they have an issue with Apple then they have a bigger one with Tesla. Tesla is continually changing the parts that go into its cars. While they won't sell you spares, they can hide it.

As far as phones go, making sure that the part is correct is to my mind more important than anything else. There is nothing worse than ordering a part for you to find out that it is wrong when you get it. 
While not so prevalent in the phone world (AFAIK), in the automotive world, tracking which cars are affected by the change from one model year to another is important. Getting the wrong part could result in deaths.

zomp

 Curious to know the percentage of people who own and use any branded phone over 5 years old. The only reason why I'm so negative to this story is that I feel Europe would love to bring down success. I'm sorry, but if you don't like a brand, then buy the other brand. It's a simple as that - I haven't purchased a ford car since 2002 because they didn't last long, so I moved to Hyundai. Why doesn't France just say "don't like apple, buy Samsung" or visa versa. Back before apple, all phones were junk and didn't make it past a couple of years.

avon b7

zomp said:

 Curious to know the percentage of people who own and use any branded phone over 5 years old. The only reason why I'm so negative to this story is that I feel Europe would love to bring down success. I'm sorry, but if you don't like a brand, then buy the other brand. It's a simple as that - I haven't purchased a ford car since 2002 because they didn't last long, so I moved to Hyundai. Why doesn't France just say "don't like apple, buy Samsung" or visa versa. Back before apple, all phones were junk and didn't make it past a couple of years.

It can't work like that as there is a temptation for competitors to follow suit. 

Legislation is an absolute must and then cases can be put forward for investigation. 

There are revisions to various EU directives coming down the pipe that may end up with far longer hardware/software support policies being implemented.

They also include the option for users to downgrade new functionality added via software post purchase.

Before that though, the textile industry will probably be first to come under new requirements for 'forced obsolescence' accusations.