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"Apple Sued Over $86 iPhone Battery"
August 7, 2007

This was the recent headline in many papers across the country. The lawsuit filed in Illinois alleges that Apple allegedly did not disclose the alleged fact that the iPhone’s non-user-replaceable battery would allegedly have to be replaced after 300 recharges at an alleged cost of $79 plus shipping to/from Apple, allegedly causing users to be without their phones for allegedly up to a week (you can never use “alleged” and its many variations too often when discussing legal matters.)

This is very iPod-ish in that the iPod’s battery is not really user replaceable either although one can do it as I now have five times (three times on mine and once on each of my two son’s iPods.) However from what I read the iPhone’s battery is really not user replaceable because, according to press reports, it is soldered in place whereas in the iPod it just sits there.

My iPod batteries have lasted about a year just as all my cellphone batteries have over the last 10 years and as a result, one of the first things I wanted to know was whether or not the iPhone’s battery was user replaceable. Since its not, I’m not an iPhone candidate, but obviously many others are. According to Apple about 270,000 have been sold to date (although interestingly AT&T says that only 140,000 have been activated.) Whatever the case those who have bought as well as those who haven’t are not without opinions as witnessed by the following comments posted Aug. 1 on azcentral.com.

“You guys are all idiots to bash Apple so quickly. Learn to research before sounding like an idiot!”

“Most consumers are idiots and, unless details are purposely hidden by the seller, they deserve all of the problems they get. Does anyone research a product before purchasing it?”

“Go to "http://www.apple.com/batter... and in the bottom right hand corner it explains how the battery works for all you morons out there.”

“Anyone stupid enough to buy this worthless product for $600 deserves to get even further ripped off by Apple's fraudulent battery scheme.”

The point? When it comes to Apple, passion is the rule from the iPhone’s battery all the way to the personality of Mr. Jobs and on balance I think that’s a good thing for Apple. It shows that people are thinking about the company and its products. What other product and/or CE/tech company can we name where that is as true as it is for Apple?

On a separate topic:

My last TWICE column (User Interface Hell: Why What You Sell Comes Back) brought the following comment from TWICE reader Richard Levine. Richard owns a CE store in Keene, NH.

“One of the most common requests I receive is for SIMPLE products that do ONLY the basics, do them WELL and RELIABLY. What a radical concept......Only a customer could think like that!”

I couldn’t (and didn’t) have said it better.

Bill Matthies is the president of Coyote Insight (www.coyoteinsight.com) and can be reached at (714) 726-2901 or wmatthies@coyoteinsight.com.

Posted by Bill Matthies on August 7, 2007 | Comments (0)