“A Los Angeles-based consumer watchdog group that filed a lawsuit against Apple Inc. in 2006 has called on the company to spell out the iPhone’s battery-replacement policy to prospective buyers,” Gregg Keizer reports for Computerworld in an article headline and subtitled, “Consumer group questions iPhone battery replacement, iPhones must be mailed to Apple for battery swap; all data disappears.”
“In a letter sent Friday (PDF) to Apple CEO Steve Jobs and AT&T Inc. CEO Randall Stephenson, the Foundation for Taxpayers and Consumer Rights (FTCR) asked that iPhone battery issues be disclosed in all advertising, before retail sales close and during activation using iTunes ‘to ensure that no customers are misled concerning the performance and effective cost of the unit.’ The letter also urged Apple to provide replacement batteries free of charge throughout the life of the iPhone.”
“Under the iPhone’s standard one-year warranty, Apple will replace the battery free of charge if it drops below 50% of original capacity. This month, Apple will begin selling an $69 extended warranty that stretches the hardware repair coverage, battery included, for an additional year,” Keizer reports.
“To replace the iPhone battery, owners must pay $85.95, then ship the device to Apple,” Keizer reports. “The normal repair time, Apple said in a brief FAQ on iPhone battery replacement, will be three business days. Users, however, will receive a data-free iPhone in return. ‘The repair process will clear all data from your iPhone,’ Apple’s FAQ stated. ‘It is important to sync your iPhone with iTunes to back up your contacts, photos, e-mail account settings, text messages and more. Apple is not responsible for the loss of information while servicing your iPhone and does not offer any data transfer service.’ The program is similar to the one offered to iPod owners, which charges $65.95 to replace a battery and returns the unit sans music and video about a week after Apple receives the device.”
Full article here.
We’re going to issue a letter (we’ll even post it online in PDF format and send out press releases to places like Computerworld, to make it official) that calls on Apple to provide us with free Macs, iPhones, and whatever else we request for life. Somewhere in it, we’ll pretend we’re technologically-illiterate, too, and make a big stink about “all the data disappearing” and ignoring basic concepts like synced data between devices and lithium-based battery maintenance.
Man, oh, man, we hope it works!
Now, that said, we do hope that Apple works on the turnaround time. Three business days on average is long enough to go without an iPod, but it’s just way too long to be without your phone! Apple needs to figure out a way to do it faster (at all Apple and AT&T stores, on the spot, would be best) or get a loaner into users’ hands while they wait.
More info about Apple iPhone batteries: http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html