“The European Union is preparing new directives that could have an impact on Apple’s future products, including ‘the New Batteries Directive,’ which proposes to mandate that batteries in electronic appliances be ‘readily removed’ for replacement or disposal,” Prince McLean reports for AppleInsider.
“While the Battery Directive now in force states that it must be easy for consumers to remove batteries from electronic products, the ‘New Batteries Directive’ now being drafted over the next year goes even further to state that electrical equipment must be designed to allow that batteries be ‘readily removed’ for replacement or removal at the end of product’s life,” McLean reports. “Gary Nevison, writing for New Electronics, said ‘the requirement is clearly intended to ensure that users can remove batteries by opening a cover by hand or after removal of one or two screws. The producer will also have to provide the user with details on how to remove the battery safely.'”
McLean reports, “Such a regulation would seem to impact Apple’s integrated battery design of its iPods and the iPhone, which are somewhat unique in that their batteries are not designed to be user replaceable and typically require special tools or professional assistance to remove them. At the same time however, the directives are not yet completed or ratified, and subject to both modification and exception.”
More in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Brawndo Drinker” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Note:
• iPod Owners: Your one-year warranty includes replacement coverage for a defective battery. You can extend your coverage to two years from the date of your iPod purchase with the AppleCare Protection Plan for iPod. During the plan’s coverage period, Apple will replace the battery if it drops below 50% of its original capacity. If it is out of warranty, Apple offers a battery replacement for US$49 (iPod shuffle), $59 (iPod nano and classic), $79 (iPod touch) plus $6.95 shipping, subject to local tax. Apple disposes of your battery in an environmentally friendly manner. More info on iPod battery replacements here.
• iPhone Owners: Your one-year warranty includes replacement coverage for a defective battery. You can extend your coverage to two years from the date of your iPhone purchase with the AppleCare Protection Plan for iPhone. During the plan’s coverage period, Apple will replace the battery if it drops below 50% of its original capacity. If it is out of warranty, Apple offers a battery replacement for $79, plus $6.95 shipping, subject to local tax. Apple disposes of your battery in an environmentally friendly manner. More info on iPhone battery replacements here.
• MacBook Air Owners: Your one-year warranty includes replacement coverage for a defective battery. You can extend your replacement coverage for a defective battery to three years from the date of your notebook purchase with the AppleCare Protection Plan. Apple also offers a battery replacement service for out-of-warranty units for $129. The length of time to complete the repair will depend upon the repair location and availability of service stock. In general, the following replacement times apply: Apple Retail: same day repair with an appointment, Apple Mail-in repair: 3-4 business days after shipment of unit to depot. More info here.
The American administration screws up the world with aggressive military action. The American private sector screws up the world with moronic sub-prime mortgages. Maybe the European directive on replaceable batteries will save us all!
Has anyone really looked at other products?? Let’s get real for a moment. The EU needs to look at a few GPS in car navigation devices. Do those products all have user replaceable batteries? i.e. a battery that the average person can easily remove. Email Garmin tech support and ask if you can buy a battery for one of their recent models. When was the last time anyone read a news headline complaining about replacing a battery in a GPS device? Give Apple a break!
Just wait till Electric Cars are the norm.
The power plant will be 1 big user replaceable battery, or 8,000 AA batteries. Ether way quite the nightmare.
Just add bulky plasticky box with wires sticking out of it to iPod/iPhones for Europe and make sure it is easily detachable for ever. Then let buyer just to use the built in battery. I hope that new law will not actually state that you HAVE to replace the batteries.
The trend, as batteries technology gets better and more integrated into the design of high-tech products, is for batteries to be NOT user-replaceable. As these products get smaller, thinner, and sleeker, it will become a big design issue if there has to be a big door for the user to “easily” remove the battery.
The EU seems to be turning COMMUNIST, DICTATORSHIP! As an American I think I won’t be traveling to europe anytime soon until the Government changes. This is an OUTRAGE!!!!
and
They can’t figure out how to solve their banking crisis, but they sure can address the replaceable battery crisis. Socialism.
My god…. this site is amazing isn’t it?. The level of stupidity and ignorance about the European Union, the workings of government, financial markets, socialism, or the cause of this financial crisis, never ceases to amaze me.
Why is it that Americans posters – for I’m sure most of these rants are from Americans – need to show their ignorance of the world outside their own borders at every opportunity?
God help us all, if these morons are also voters.
StarkReality: I’ll never trust government over industry.
And we have to thank you and others adhering to that radical ideology for the massive economical crisis unfolding right now.
Talk about “stark reality”!
Both businesses and government have valid functions in a working society. Both can screw up, but neither is all harmless or all harmful. They are both tools which need to be used — and regulated — wisely.
Both a properly functioning government and a properly functioning economy are needed.
I think we’ve got a perfect example of both royally screwing up in the US in this late 2008. Subscribing to radical lopsided ideologies is most certainly not the solution — it’s been the cause of the current problems.
Removable batteries, not replaceable batteries!
Big difference!
Why?
This directive, in my understanding, asks for a simple way to (rip) open products to be able to recycle the battery.
What is wrong with that?
MDN, you silly, silly magazine, read properly before agitating against the EU.
For a deeper understanding: Think of, for example, the Braun electric tooth brush. You can easily remove the built in, non replaceable battery, but you also destroy the carging electronics while doing so. Any consumer can better take part in recycling this way.
I’ll get myself a registration and a nick soon,
xxx
McLean reports, “Such a regulation would seem to impact Apple’s integrated battery design of its iPods and the iPhone, which… typically require special tools…”
No worries there then. EU decision making has been made by “special tools” for years!
@ JohnLee
Bad government (on both sides) brought us our current financial crisis. You can’t lead a donkey to water, let alone make them drink.
This spring, I replaced the battery in my iPod mini. Took me 15 minutes, all told. Five of those were for finding my blasted reading glasses. ‘nough said.
The amount of hateful, stupid and crazy things on this site staggers me. How does a post on EU regulations get turned into a polemic on the US financial meltdown is beyond me.
And anyone who thinks this crisis was caused by Carter-era legislation that eliminated mortgage red-lining, or the government attempts to encourage home buying, has been listening to too much talk radio. Watch “60 Minutes” from last week (it’s up on the web) and learn about “Credit Default Swaps” and other arcane financial instruments. That’s the real problem.
Hey JohnLee, your a history illiterate dummy. You dont even know the first thing about econ buddy. As of 2006 we were at an all time high in our USA economy but the American people voted in a democratic Senate and Supreme Court and now we are at an all time low. Also our founding fathers stated that government big enough to take care of our needs is a government big enough to take away our freedoms. Your nothing more than an idiot who doesnt study history nor the things our founding fathers have tried to teach us. YOUR STUPID!!!!!
There, there, kitten. It will be alright.
If you look at a disassembled iPhone, you will see it’s really tight inside. To make the battery fit extremely tight dimensions, especially the svelte dimensions set forth by Steve Jobs, the battery had to bend around the circuitry. Jobs being Jobs, the battery was sealed.
I have a hunch that this will change in the future. I have nothing to go on but my gut on this, but it’s a logical assumption. Why? Not necessarily because the EU regulators mandate this, or because some people get wigged out because they can’t replace their batteries. Not that these are bad things, mind you.
Instead, my rationale for this change has to do with the inevitable progress that will be made by the circuitry inside. As the chips inside continue to shrink because of technological progress, the functions of many chips will be combined into one or a few application-specific chips. The 3G radio in future iPhones will become significantly more efficient, as the chip designers and cell phone companies work more together to figure out ways of having the 3G radios and wifi circuitry draw less power.
The result will be that in a few years, the guts of today’s iPhone will look positively gargantuan compared to future generations. It means that the inside of a future iPhone will take up less space, and demand less power. And THAT will free up space to make the battery smaller, and – get ready – make it much easier for Apple to use a replaceable battery.
Granted, there might be some business politics involved with making it difficult for a user to replace their own battery. People’s Exhibit A: my old Palm handheld. It’s a couple of years old, and the battery is finally kaput. Dead. No more. Passed on. Pushing up daisies. Well, you get the idea. A call to Palm will teach you that since the battery is soldiered in, you’re out of luck. Or, if you have a more recent model, you can send it in for replacement.
Now, why do you think this is so? Because if it’s a hassle, it’s more likely that someone will capitulate, break down and buy a new version of the product. Or so the thinking goes. After all, if your product works forever, you won’t be likely to replace it. And sales will drop. And stockholders won’t be happy.
On the other hand, if Apple can figure out how to make replaceable batteries a good profit center, in a couple of years, once the insides of the iPhone are small enough to make this even more practical, I won’t mind paying a bit for a replacement or back-up battery. That said, others here will cry “foul!” if a replacement battery costs more than they want.
But then, it’s human nature to whine and complain. Otherwise, there would be no message boards like this one. And admit it, people: you whine. A lot.
So there’s your answer, folks. In our next lesson, we’ll discuss the topic: “Politicians: Threat or Menace?”
@Demon,
BINGO. You said it. I was thinking, make the battery easy to replace and you make it easy to throw away.
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The EU Commission, screwing the country, whether you like it or not.
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“YOUR STUPID!!!!!”
Thank you for keeping irony alive.
Huey —
If you’ve chosen this screen name in some attempt to show your great grasp of government, you’ve failed mightily.
I’m with the group that despises socialism in all forms. Including Europe’s forms as well.
@MDN Headline Simply Wrong
Exactly right. These Mac fanbois need to get over themselves. The world does not revolve around Apple. This directive is not targeted at Apple. It is simply part of the EU bureaucracy’s pathological crackdown on waste and toxins.
I like this directive, why wouldn’t I want to replace the Apple battery as technology improves and rechargeable batteries can last longer.
The EU rightly deserver ridicule for enforcing the shape of cucumbers and bananas to be straighter, however, removable batteries – YES please!
Pedrag,
Wishing doesn’t make it so. The reason we don’t have the electric cars that you desire is simply that gasoline still beats batteries for cost and energy density.
This will eventually change, but all that government can do when it gets involved in trying to override the choices we make as to what we buy, is to drive costs up and delay innovation.
-jcr
“Less government brought us our current financial crisis”
Nope.
Read and learn:
http://mises.org/story/3128
-jcr
@John C. Randolph
You’re quoting the anti-US fringe group The Mises Institute? Now I know we’ve fallen off the edge, and about to get into Godwin territory.
Here’s what Wikipedia says about Mises:
“The Institute’s stated goal is to undermine statism in all its forms… The Institute’s economic theories depict any government intervention as destructive, whether through welfare, inflation, taxation, regulation, or war. The Institute disparages both communism and the American System school of economics….
The Institute is generally critical of statism and democracy, with the latter being described in Institute publications as “coercive”, “incompatible with wealth creation” “replete with inner contradictions” and a system ” of legalized graft.”
Yeah, I trust THEM for an unbiased look at our economic crisis about as much as I trust Dick Cheney…
@macromancer;
The Leftists Paradises of Soviet Russia and Communist China have caused more damage than ANY nation EVER will.
Hack
WriterGuy,
I can see that you have no interest in finding out what the Mises instutute actually has to say, since you start out with a baseless smear.
If you consider them a fringe group, then there’s no reason at all to take you seriously.
-jcr
They should go after disposable batteries and their manufactures before regulating rechargeable devices.
Make it illegal to make stuff that takes disposable AA’s, for example, if you want to make a real impact.