Indiana University Patrick Proctor was here

2009 November 29

Apple's smoking ban

Apple recently denied warranty-covered service to Mac owners because they were smokers. Apple made the argument that the nicotine and tar that collected on the computers as a result of being kept and used in a smoking environment left the computers contaminated with toxic chemicals. Therefore, Apple said, Apple employees could not be forced to work on a product that would potentially expose them to toxic chemicals.

This such busted logic in so many ways. What does Apple think their computers are made out of? Sunshine and candy? Their computers contain chemicals like arsenic, silicon, lead, and a host of other toxic stuff. Every time anyone cracks one of them open, they are potentially exposing themselves to toxic materials. Apple has contractors who build these machines and the people manufacturing these computers in China probably do not have much of a choice about being exposed to toxic materials.

If Apple wants to stick with the smoking argument, then fine. Let’s just ignore all of the Apple employees who are smokers and would otherwise be required to repair a nicotine-contaminated computer. They certainly do not exist.

What this is, purely and simply, is a classic case of a large corporation trying to back out of the service and support that they agreed to. This is surprising for a company like Apple, whose customer service has been outstanding for several years. It really all comes back to a company trying renege on a contract it made with some of its customers and using a bogus reason to try to make it seem reasonable.

How netbooks can ultimately hurt consumers

Netbooks have become enormously popular in the last year. In light of the economic crisis of the past eighteen or so months, people who need a new computer are more inclined to seek out the cheapest solution possible. In light of the massive uptick of $200 or $300 netbook sales, it would seem that many people are content with a small screen and limited hardware capabilities. However, this can come around and bite people who buy more powerful machines.

When thinking about the impact of a sudden influx of $200 computers, the instinctive next thought might be that it would encourage computer hardware manufacturers to lower the price points on their regular laptop computers. However, when compromising on price, computer companies tend to compromise on features, capabilities, and quality, as seen in netbooks. There could be a downside to lower prices across the board on laptop computer prices. It would not just hurt big corporations. Lower prices could just as easily harm the overall experience of laptop users.

Another point to consider is resale value. If a person pays $1200 for a laptop computer two years ago and tries to resell today, they may not be able to get as high a resale value on that notebook as they would like. With prices lowered overall by netbook prices, there will be a general perception among the masses that the price on that used computer should be lower than its true value.

So, netbooks do not just hurt user experience and computer manufacturers. They can also make life difficult for average users.