Ben Lovejoy / 9to5Mac: Apple’s Activation Lock for iPhone components will make a huge dent in the market for stolen iPhones, though it introduces another barrier to DIY repairs — Apple’s latest theft-prevention measure went live for beta testers yesterday: Activation Lock for iPhone components.
So it’s a win/win from their perspective.
Why not just lock out the serial numbers for parts from phones that have been reported as stolen?
I’m fine with this as long as they make good quality replacement parts. Not forcing repair shops to really try to scrub down a 50¢ sensor for an hour that detects when a MacBook is closed because there is no way to get a replacement 1st party or 3rd party
What’s the barrier to DIY repair?
It is because people can’t buy stolen parts anymore?
Third-party parts: You are limited to parts acknowledged by apple. They will be more expensive for no reason and you will therefore be less inclined to repair your own device.
Artificial rarity:
They will be more rare and therefore you will be less inclined to repair.
Rare and overworked repair centers:
There will be a limited selection of repair stores, potentially entirely limited to the “genius bars” because of hurdles apple puts out and therefore you will be less inclined to repair.
Also additional point-of-failure:
Phones fail more often because every single part now has additional complexity.
On the other side the additional security against stealing:
Assumed, until a pairing software is stolen from an apple store, until people figure out how to read and fake this, or until people find ways to circumvent this in an unforeseen way.
That is some seriously gish gallop. Nothing you’ve said is based on reality.
In the past, Apple has locked components to the phone by requiring proprietary pairing software to enable the use of these parts that only Apple technicians can access. This means that Apple gets a cut of any repairs and prevents you from doing repairs on your own for some components.
While annoying from a right to repair perspective, I do think this will be a good thing overall. There is a whole industry for snatching phones and getting them turned into parts.
In my city, go to the sketchy grocery stores and there are machines that you can just put a phone in and get cash for it. Pretty much no questions asked. Crackheads and tweakers on main street will smatch a thousand dollar phone out of someone hands so they can get $100 so someone can sell all the parts for a few hundred. I feel a pang of anger every time I see someone using one of those machines.
It’s kind of a simular to how there is an underworld for cadaleidic converters. I guess the government can try to make laws trying to somehow regulate used phone parts, but I’m not sure how that’d actually be effective.