http://www.apple.com/support/usbadapter-takeback/
Cool move by Apple. Would it be safe to presume this follows on from the young lady who was sadly killed by a iPhone power supply which could have been third party or fake?
Apple announce 'USB power adapter takeback Program'
- Thread starter dc89
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http://www.apple.com/support/usbadapter-takeback/
Cool move by Apple. Would it be safe to presume this follows on from the young lady who was sadly killed by a iPhone power supply which could have been third party or fake?
The Faceless Master
Member
they are gonna make so much money off of this policy! and the store traffic increase! GENIUS!
Jazzy Network
Member
Another way to cash in. Cha ching.
meltingparappa
Member
This is 'Geek Squad' levels of brazenly playing off the ignorance of their customers.
It's more a response to a recent death and another serious injury in China due to knockoff iPhone chargers.
Not quite true.
3rd party power adapters bought from stores like five below (or ordered from dealextreme) have a number of problems, from long recharge times to general lack of safety. It isn't common, but I've seen people fry electronics because they dared to use one of them in a humid room. Shutdown circuits can be defective.
This isn't a "$50 HDMI cable" scenario. There are damn good reasons you shouldn't be using 3rd party chargers.
That said, apple's first party accessories are overpriced three or fourfold. $10 seems more reasonable.
In what way are they 'cashing in'? Don't the Apple USB chargers cost more?
meltingparappa
Member
OH. Well, apparently playing off the ignorance of ME.
That is a nice gesture of a program then.
Was it confirmed that they used non-Apple chargers?
Not sure, but the dangers of third party chargers have been well documented enough at this point for them to make this trade in program: http://www.righto.com/2012/03/inside-cheap-phone-charger-and-why-you.html
Jazzy Network
Member
Cost more is relative. It costs them a dollar if even that to make them.
Throw away your cheap and working cables, buy official Apple ones. The cost difference is still like $5 versus $10 and Apple still makes a lot of money they wouldn't have anyway.
I use Amazon Basics ones myself. About 40% cheaper than official but still high build quality. I am not happy to need proprietary cables, I have enough clutter to deal with. The least I can do is make sure I'm not rewarding them for it.
Well it happened in the land of knock-offs.
TwntyOneTwlv
Member
Official Apple chargers are terrible, too. About three months after getting an iPad, the end of the charger had kinked itself from all the heat of charging and now no longer works. After going online to look for a replacement, I saw all these one star reviews on apple.com complaining about the exact same issue. It seems these chargers are just shit.
Visualante2
Member
The conspiracy theorists might call this a paid recall. Blame third parties for a defective product line and turn it into a service.
Ah, I see.
Still, really, a dollar to make? Even if that were true, there are overhead costs to every product, including packaging, delivery and sales. Still, I get your point - they are making money where they otherwise wouldn't have had at all.
It's still a better offer than not at all.
And I thought this was about the charger more than the cable.
Guy LeDouche
Banned
pull it out by the plastic plug and not yank the wire and it wont happen. I've had apple cables last years without problems. It's not hard.
(in before you say 'bbbut i never pull it out by the wire!')
diggmcbadass
Member
How much do apple adapters usually cost?
I find it strange that apple is the only company that gets away with using special chargers when every other phone manufacturer was forced into adopting the standard micro usb.
I find it strange that apple is the only company that gets away with using special chargers when every other phone manufacturer was forced into adopting the standard micro usb.
TwntyOneTwlv
Member
Well that's fine. Except I don't.
Clearly I'm not the only one who has experienced the issue with the new lightning cables. They're just poorly made.
BertramCooper
Banned
Non-Apple chargers are scaaaaaaaaaaary.
Buy our shit exclusively.
Buy our shit exclusively.
The only charger I've had fail on me is an old powerbook charger that I damaged first because it wasn't a mag safe and I bumped into and bent it. It still worked after that, but only for a while.
I dunno, I don't baby my electronics, I just take precautions and care.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Are lightning cables still 30 bucks? That's probably the reason why people are willing to buy the 5 dollar knockoffs.
You're talking about the cable, not the power adapter.
You're talking about the microusb adapter, not the power adapter. The power adapter regularly costs $19.
the power adapter is non-standard too
Is it? You could be right, I think I recall trying to charge something else off it and it not working, but maybe I had a wrong cable or something. The chargers typically just have a USB port on them.
SOmething I wish Apple did was to include a USB port on their laptop chargers.
USB?
It is a usb port but it does not conform to the usb battery charging specifications so non-apple devices are limited to 500ma and apple devices will only draw 500ma from compliant chargers. It's a huge pain in the ass when buying any 3rd party usb power adapters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Power
Nah, I'm talking about every single adapter/cable/pos that apple is selling on their story, overpriced to the maximum. I fucking needed to buy an adapter to charge my apple product, because it wasn't part of the package, that's unacceptable, always.
Some people wanna charge their phones without a PC/usb device on or wont have such a possiblity to begin with. I don't want to check my itunes profile every time I load my phone, I just want it charged up to 100%.
Are you sure? I don't have an ammeter with me to test, but I was under the impression that they did use the USB Battery Charging Specification to draw more power over USB. (1A)
Sorry, I'm still not following. They include the USB cable and USB power adapter in the iPhone box?
I think iPods don't come with chargers, so the complaint is valid.
sixteen-bit
Member
Professionally installing apps for tech un-savvy people sounds like a good business opportunity. Does GS do that yet?
Didn't realize you were talking about iPods. Yeah, that sucks.
Yeh, exactly... find out there *is* a problem with your own adfapters so scare people into paying up, giving you the chance to replace your own shitty one with one that is safer.
Supermanisdead
Member
omg im using the same adapter for my galaxy tab as my ipod. will either one explode???
zephervack
Member
So its a 50% off coupon to an adapter that is already overpriced??? No thanks.
Would rather just buy 5 for $2 each at the dollar store, they have all served me well.
Would rather just buy 5 for $2 each at the dollar store, they have all served me well.
I read this blog about USB chargers - it's very thorough and long but it was really interesting. Really turned me off buying cheap chargers. It was also funny that HP Touchpad chargers were rated the best.
http://www.righto.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-apple-is.html
http://www.righto.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-apple-is.html
I used the same adapter for my 3GS, my Android and now my WP8 phone.
I died in a horrible charger related accident
Ingueferroque
Banned
I don't get it, why?
Best to bring the adapter... and perhaps the phone.
Maybe bring your house too. Trade them all in for adapters!
Junior Mint
Member
Why not just stop charging $21 for a USB cable or $30 for a USB to power plug converter in the first place?
Christoff Yurievich
Member
Huh, I read this the same week my official ipod charger breaks.
Tenacious-V
Thinks his PR is better than yours.
Maybe they could stop using expensive proprietary crap and go to the standard everyone else uses.
Oh wishful thinking.
Oh wishful thinking.
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