"Bowing to public pressure, Apple apologized and fixed the broken phones with a new [software] update. But a precedent had been set. Previously, Apple had made it difficult for people to fix its products by restricting access to parts and service information."

"When you buy such a machine, the hardware becomes yours. But if you ask manufacturers, theyll say that the software inside still belongs to them."

Apple's strategy has been to make repair difficult by restricting information and access to parts.

They can send C&D letters to anyone who publishes information about repair.

But what about users, who are not publishing information about repair?

Apple cannot send C&D letters to users, who are free to use the hardware however they wish.

Apple may have IP covering manufacture and modifications to the hardware, they may have IP covering information about the hardware, but they have no IP on the use of the hardware that they could assert against users.

However because users rely on Apple-controlled software, Apple could manipulate the use of the device via automatic software updates. And that is exactly what they did.

The solution for the user is to select hardware that allows users to install their own choice of open source software instead of giving away control over the hardware to a corporation via corporate-controlled software and "automatic updates".