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Comment by JoshTko | Hacker News Reader

I think the main thing that Apple here is trying to avoid is an iPhone catching on fire due to a 3rd party battery installed by a Mall Kisok repair shop guy who was hired a week ago. They know that the nuance will get lost and the story will become - iPhones catch on fire.

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Ford car tire was replaced by a Walmart employee hired a week ago. The car could have a blowout and crash. The story will become - Fords have blowouts and crash. Tires should only be replaced with factory original tires by Ford authorized service centers, right?

The main thing any of these companies is trying to avoid is loss of control. Control over the ecosystem, control over profit.

And control over users and their behavior.

Samsung sold exploding batteries, no third party repair needed.

No, it is just one of the arguments they are making off to support their monopolistic power. Just like that underclocking-on-old-battery trick. They are not making some special batteries, their chargers don't provide "magical 5V which is different than my 5V". They have some quality standards but they are not unique in this, li-ion is an industry standard.

I do not believe this, what damage did Apple(or other company) brand get because you can change the battery in the laptops?

Apple has been dinged repeatedly when people use bad third-party chargers that destabilize the batteries. Why do you think it would be any different for the batteries.

Was that on a newspaper ? Because if some random guy posted an image on reddit it does not count. There are legitimate issues with genuine batteries and still Apple does not have a repitation of bad batteries , they have a reputation for the keyboards after months of denials and fanboys accusing users of using the keyboard wrong.

Even supposing this were true, the right solution to Apple being hurt by misinformation is not restricting device owners' control over their own devices. The right solution is for the public to get better information about what faults iPhones do and don't have, and the quality of service by repair vendors.

(And I do very much doubt this is true. What makes you think so? Can you show a correlation between news reports about bad third-party chargers that destabilize the battery and stock price drops or something?)

Why is that scenario Apple’s problem?

Because people only read headlines

Or to put a more sinister way, it could be entirely prevented by Apple with full hardware signing. It could mean that having an iPhone in your hand means it's completely legitimate, increasing actual and perceived quality and resale value.

“Full hardware signing” is easier said than done.

It hurts Apple brand

And? If you sell a product, you don't own it anymore. The owner owns it and should be able to do whatever they want with it.

If someone is selling exploding batteries that fit an iphone, it's up to the government to shut them down for being unsafe, or the burn victims to sue the exploding battery repair shops.

Despite their marketing, Apple is not the only company in the world that is capable of making a non-exploding battery.

The FUD about iphones being some magical object carried down on the wings of angels and suddenly becoming unclean and flammable because a third-party battery was inserted is ridiculous.

Laptops have had replaceable batteries for decades without the sky falling down - until the Apple reality-distortion field was successfully engaged to disable people's rational thinking.

Some customers would assume that since a place did repair the phone that Apple approves of them doing so, therefor putting liability on Apple.

Any such harm coming from that phone would be first applied to Apple and Apple would have to expend money to prove otherwise.

I have no problem with allow customers to select the shop they want for out of warranty work but I am fully in the camp of manufacturers being able to provide an obvious means for shops to have certification to repair a device in warranty.

As to the idea of "Right to Repair". I work in the automotive industry and the company I work for lives by this, however by no means is it realistic that having the information, tools, and parts, would guarantee a good result for all those who undertake the work. Plus people do have an unrealistic idea of which parts would ever be replaceable. Batteries sure, but individual chips would be not be.

>Some customers would assume that since a place did repair the phone that Apple approves of them doing so, therefor putting liability on Apple.

This whole argument is that Apple should not be able to "approve" anyone from doing anything they want with the phone that they supposedly paid for and own.

>Plus people do have an unrealistic idea of which parts would ever be replaceable. Batteries sure, but individual chips would be not be.

There was a video I saw about a guy putting together his own iphone from parts in China. They can replace individual chips. But not with the DMCA.

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