-November 17, 2021 at 8:16 a.m. Pacific Time

Today, Apple’s PR failed again because the company waited again until it was forced to take action—this time overcoming the pressure of the right to repair. The company has now finally accepted that consumers should be allowed to repair their own Apple toolkits, including the latest and most complex devices.

Apple’s previous boycott was widely regarded as both greedy and inconsistent with the company’s environmental stance. Many repairs are simply not worth doing at Apple's official price, which makes it more likely for consumers to simply dispose of the damaged device and purchase a new one.

This is not the first PR failure of this type. I previously argued that the company did exactly the same thing on the App Store: struggle hard until it was clear that it would lose the argument, and then reluctantly made a change.

This behavior makes Apple look like a bad guy, and it can look like a hero just by taking exactly the same actions in the early stages.

I previously drafted a WWDC keynote announcement that the company could have published by converting the commission from 30% to 15% before finding itself in trouble. I think this will turn a public relations disaster into a victory.

The developers will stand up and applaud. If those 2% of older boys complain about it, no one will care. The only reason Epic Games has caused even the slightest sympathy because of its status is because it claims to stand up for this little guy.

There may be no congressional investigation, nor will there be US antitrust legislation affecting Apple. And because most of Apple's funding comes from the largest developers, you won't even lose too much money by doing this a few years ago.

On the contrary, Apple made similar changes, but did not produce any similar kindness. It will only take action when it is clear that the move is defensive and attempts to respond to the criticism that has already been made. It can't even make it public at 98%, because it means admitting that it has basically changed the embarrassment of its previous position-it continues to defend this position even now.

I said it was a clever U-turn, and-considering that the company has dug a hole for itself. But it was foolish for Apple to allow itself to dig that hole from the start.

Apple uses a variety of strategies to resist the idea of ​​DIY repairs, including:

Over the years, Apple has been actively lobbying state and federal levels to oppose maintenance rights.

One of the tactics used by Apple and other technology companies to oppose DIY repairs is to claim that they are dangerous, citing everything from fire risks to consumers cutting their fingers when replacing broken screens. Although there are legitimate concerns about lithium-ion batteries, people who might solve the infamous DIY repair problem on Apple's kits are likely to be well-versed in the necessary precautions.

Many unofficial repairs are hindered or completely obstructed by effective booby traps. Examples include the DIY home button repair of the iPhone 6 that caused the device to become bricked, and the iPhone 8 screen repair also happened to the same thing. This continued until iPhone 13.

In other cases, Apple has configured the iPhone to display annoying error messages after performing DIY repairs. Examples here include battery replacement on iPhone XR and XS.

Apple also makes certain repairs unavailable, and hardware or software tools are only available in Apple Store retail stores and authorized repair shops. This started in 1984, when the original Macintosh case was fixed by special Apple bolts instead of standard hexagon bolts. Recent examples include the 2018 MacBook Pro and iMac Pro. Without Apple software tools, they would not be able to run after repair, while repairing the iPhone 12 camera proved impossible without using the same tools.

Independent repair shops are also forced to either pay high fees and agree to "crazy" clauses to obtain repair manuals, or resort to copies of black market documents.

When the news was announced, Apple was now trying to act like a good person.

Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer, said: “If repairs are required, making it easier for our customers to obtain genuine Apple parts will give our customers more choices.” “In the past three years. , Apple’s number of service points has almost doubled, and genuine Apple parts, tools and training are available. Now we provide an option for those who wish to complete the repair themselves."

This company has been using all of the above methods and more to prevent this from happening. Apple has acted now only because the pressure of doing so has become insurmountable. Let us look at a few examples from this year alone.

In May of this year, the Federal Trade Commission specifically called on Apple to implement "anti-competitive repair restrictions."

Apple also restricted access to the service manual and issued a copyright removal notice when it posted online [and] binding components to the logic board, which may make repairs uneconomical.

In July, the Biden government announced that it would take action based on this report to introduce new legislation to force companies such as Apple to allow consumers to repair their own devices, and then issue an executive order to introduce repair rights.

In the same month, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (Steve Wozniak) increased his support for DIY repairs, saying that the company was founded based on open source computing, and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a support New policy for maintenance rights.

In September, AAPL submitted a shareholder resolution calling on the company to "stop its anti-maintenance policy" to avoid damage to the company's reputation.

I can continue. The point is that Apple has been battling DIY repairs until it became clear that it faced too much opposition-and then announced a statement trying to portray itself as a generous benefactor to help those consumers who had prevented it. .

Apple put itself on the wrong side of history twice, and it was too late to correct things twice.

It doesn't matter if the only publicity is in the technology media, but both issues have also been widely reported by mainstream media. In both cases, Apple took an egoist stance, and only reluctantly took action when political and public pressure became too great. In both cases, public relations damage has been caused.

There will be other such problems. China is likely to be one of them. I hope that Apple has learned these lessons and that there will not be another Apple PR failure.

This is my opinion-what about yours? Do you think Apple should protect its financial interests for as long as possible, or should it worry about long-term reputational damage to a company whose main asset is its brand? Invest in what Steve Jobs called a brand bank? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

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Ben Lovejoy is a British technical writer and EU editor for 9to5Mac. He is known for his column articles and diary articles, and has explored his experience with Apple products over time to get more comprehensive reviews. He also writes novels, there are two technical thrillers, a few short science fiction films and a rom-com!

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