Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
It is a plot to get people to upgrade. Apple started this by coming out with t he iPhone that didn't have a user replaceable battery. Apple also EOLs devices that don't need to be EOLed because they can run the current firmware they are not allowed to install. Kobo is different because they are supporting more Readers then any other company. Amazon EOLed the PW3 when they came out with 5.12.5.
Before Apple and the iPhone, cell phones had replaceable batteries. Other companies saw this as "If we also have no user replaceable battery", we'll get more sales when people replace their phones when the battery needs to be replaced".
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Same things apply to Apple as they do to Kobo, even more so. It costs them $ to produce new iPhones (again argue the value of the new versus old model it's irrelevant) yet they put out a new model every year (sometimes more than one model). If they're looking at forcing, as you claim, customers to upgrade when the battery dies why would they bother putting a new model out so frequently. They certainly don't need to if they're planing on everyone being pushed in at approximately the same time. Spend that time putting together a single new product and release it every 3-5 years instead. They'll still get new adapters in the time between, possibly with a decline in the 6 months or so leading to the new one (they see this already more frequently) and they'd be able to better judge their sales because up to half the install base would have batteries that were dead or near to it.
Y'all keep saying "they're doing it to force people to buy a new reader/product every time their battery dies".
Yet none of the folks who are claiming the battery is glued in to force customers into buying a new product have addressed the issue of these companies spending on new products at a more frequent rate than the average battery will die.
And again, even when a customer buys a new product, there's nothing forcing them to stay in the same ecosystem. You kick them enough with crap batteries and they're going to look at the competition.