“Planned Obsolescence” Vs. Reality.

It flared up again yesterday, as it does every year about this time. Apple has been sued by angry end users that claim the company intentionally slows down older generation technology with patch upgrades.

As a dutiful participant in technology debates, my long-time partners know that I was an active vocal Apple proponent and developer of the platform before the term iOS was ever a thing. The early days of Cocoa/Xcode were dark, confining and exciting. The platform was for admirers of constraint. Romantic for the memory limits and desperate to consolidate wherever possible. Design came first. Not ads, not monetization, not even scale. Simply getting your app(lication) to execute without crashing was an unforgettable release.

Flash forward to 2017. The Processors, memory, storage and base OS are infinitely better now, right? After all, I’m paying 1000$ for something I used to pay 600$ for 10 years ago.

And right there. You have the tip of the iceberg.

In 2007/2008, the first “Smart” phone had some alien features. Some features it desperately needed to work. Fast(er) memory, measurable storage, a graphic processor. But others, that were remarkably similar to the competition. A camera, some storage, a few antenna, a headphone jack, etc…

In 10 years, the innards of the modern smartphone have reached a level that consumers are content with.

A ridiculously crisp camera or cameras, suitable for shooting Hollywood movies. A processor capable of 3D rendering, recognition and composition rendering. Storage in mass quantities suitable to be dropped, shocked and allowed to die without charge. Battery life that will get you through 8 hours or 150,000 selfies. Whichever comes first.

The folks at Apple aren’t worried though. They know what you know. This year’s hot features are old news next week. You’ll need new untold possibilities, untamed boundaries and a new way to shop, text and travel soon. In order to do that, we’ll need modern hardware. We’ll need modern materials. We will need modern means for modern dreams.

I took this question because it’s encompassing to an objection we still get in the marketplace, after 25+ years of servicing computers. Why don’t computers last for(ever) longer? Because your needs don’t stay still.

The common reason is physics. Anything set in motion can’t remain in motion forever. Forces act upon that device in the form of heat, electricity, motion and atomic movement. Over time, parts will wear out and break down.

The popular blame is software. Because it’s a user-generated scapegoat, it’s easy to point blame at a seemingly evil character in the marketplace.

Does anyone remember Microsoft Windows XP? Does anyone remember how many times Microsoft threatened to discontinue its support of Windows XP? I don’t either, but I assure you it was too many. So many times in fact, that end-users swore it would never happen. And then, on April 8th 2014. It ended. Microsoft issued 1 last security patch to the gilded dinosaur. And then, they announced it publicly. What happened next? All of the remaining users diligently went to their local computer reseller and upgraded…… Nope.

3 years later, a list of 21 highly vulnerable entry points for this Operating System leaked to the internet. What followed was a month, a solid 30 days of ransomware, infection, lost/stolen data and a copious number of angry end-users. What am I getting at?

I’m not insinuating that Apple is pushing people to safer shores. I’m assuring you, they are. What feels like a kick in the wallet every 3 years is the morally ownerous technology creators dictating that we move with the times. Hanging on to your Like-New iPhone 6 is completely fine to do. But Apple is going to do whatever they have to do to keep support staff low. That means supporting only what is most essential to their brand experience. Which would be the latest, greatest (and hopefully most secure) operating systems they can dream of.

But don’t lose heart.

While your 3 year old phone may not last as long as it used to, it will always make phone calls as fast as it did when you opened it for the first time : )

Care to debate? It’s what moves the human race forward. Contact me any time at Sales@codebluetechnology.com or 804–521–7660

This Blog is written by Michael Bergamo — Senior Technologist and Brand Advocate at CodeBlue Technology