Planned and Dynamic obsolescence
There are many ambiguous things in business — like Dark Patterns, Monopolism and others. They help promote businesses, but in a way they trick consumers into buying more. One of such things is called the tactic of Planned obsolescence — deliberately reducing the life of devices in order to sell more and earn more.
They say that everlasting light bulbs were invented a long time ago, at the beginning of the XX century. But the big manufacturing companies conspired and stopped producing them since their business will go bankrupt if everyone buys such light bulbs.
This actually happened. In the beginning of the XX century, the lifespan of light bulbs had reached up to 2,500 hours. It presented a big threat to the monopolists of the market. So in 1924, in Geneva a secret meeting of the top executives from the world’s leading light bulb companies was held. Phillips, International General Electrics, Tokyo Electric, OSRAM and AEI founded the Phoebus Cartel and agreed to control the world supply of light bulbs. They reduced the lifespan of their lamps to 1,000 hours and imposed fines for exceeding this limit. And although the production costs were reduced, the Cartel did not change their prices and thus earned even more.
It was the Phoebus Cartel who introduced a tactic called Planned obsolescence — intentionally shortening the lifespan of their products. In the 1930s, the Cartel collapsed but the tactic is still used by modern businesses, including Apple.
In 2003, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Apple as it was proven that the non-replaceable battery on the iPod only works for 18 months from the purchase. Apple settled the suit out of court. But in 2017, another similar lawsuit was filed against them. One of the iOS updates caused the applications to load longer on older iPhones and even turn off altogether. Apple said that they did this intentionally to extend the life of the battery and protect it. But there wouldn’t be a need for that if the batteries were replaceable. The company bought off again and paid hundreds of millions of dollars. Still, they earned way more by selling devices with an irreplaceable battery.
The tactic of planned obsolescence harms users and makes them spend money, buy new things and throw out old ones all the time. It’s bad for the budget and it’s very bad for the environment. But if the eternal light bulbs and phones appear after all, not only business will suffer losses. Many people will be left without jobs and means of sustenance.
Plus, the consumers themselves support the tactics by constant purchases and updates. When in 1908 Ford Company had produced an almost indestructible car in a single black color, the buyers were delighted at first. In a couple of years, General Motors started producing similar cars, but in different colors. By the 1950s half of the vehicles purchased in the US were made by General Motors.
This tactic has received a new name — a Dynamic obsolescence. Apple uses it too — every year they produce a slightly different product, changing colors, style, and upgrading the technology a bit. But we fall for it and continue to buy iPhones every year, because now it’s more than a phone — it conveys a specific image of us to other people.
But all of that can change shortly. The European Union countries and 25 US States are on a verge of passing a law that will force manufacturers to disclose the data of their inventions so that they can be repaired locally, rather than buying slightly modified copies of the same product.
