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Originally Posted by Fluribus
This assumes that the Big Battery Conglomeration is bigger and more powerful than the Big Technology Conglomeration. I assume that Apple, Samsung, and the rest would love to have better batteries to pump up sales. How many people would dump their version 1.0 device for a version 1.000000001 device in which the battery lasts twice as long between charges.
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Not really. As I mentioned in another thread, Apple's iOS devices are designed to wear out after a few years of average use, and much of that is the battery. When the iPod or whatever no longer holds a charge, you throw it away and buy another one.
In more philosophical terms, durability has no place in capitalism because it lessens the money you could be making off repeat customers. Selling cheap, wasteful trash makes you more money, regardless of environmental impact.
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The other difficulty with suppressing advances is that in order to apply for a patent it becomes public information. Once the patent expires anyone can access the specs and build it.
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That implies people knew about the patent to begin with. How many years did it take for someone to rediscover Gregor Mendel's research on genetics?