France is investigating Apple over it allegedly planning for smartphones to become out of date through restricting their repair, according to Barron’s.
The probe into purported misleading commercial practices and planned obsolescence has been under way since December, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. It follows a complaint filed by the Halt Planned Obsolescence (HOP) association.
HOP said it hoped the investigation would demonstrate that Apple, with its self-service repair program, is”associating the serial numbers of spare parts to those of a smartphone, including via microchips, giving the manufacturer the possibility of restricting repairs by non-approved repairers or to remotely degrade a smartphone repaired with generic parts.” According to Barron’s, the association called on Apple “to guarantee the right to repair devices under the logic of real circular economy.”
In December Apple announced that its Self Service Repair was available in eight European countries, providing repair manuals and genuine Apple parts and tools through the Apple Self Service Repair Store.
The Self Service Repair Store provides access to more than 200 individual parts and tools, as well as repair manuals. The program enables customers who are experienced with the complexities of repairing electronic devices the opportunity to complete their own repairs, using the same manuals, parts, and tools as Apple Store locations and Apple Authorized Service Providers, according to Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer.
Article provided with permission from AppleWorld.Today
