Apple Working On Tech To Detect Purchasers' "Abuse"

Toe, The writes "Apple has submitted a patent application for technologies which would detect device-abuse by consumers. The intent presumably being to aid in determining the validity of warranty claims. 'Consumer abuse events' would be recorded by liquid and thermal sensors detecting extreme environmental exposures, a shock sensor detecting drops or other impacts, and a continuity sensor to detect jailbreaking or other tampering. The article also notes that liquid submersion detectors are already deployed in MacBook Pros, iPhones and iPods. It does seem reasonable that a corporation would wish to protect itself from fraudulent warranty claims; however the idea of sensors inside your portable devices detecting what you do with them might raise eyebrows even beyond the tinfoil-hat community."

Comments

Please patent it

[kabloom]

Please patent it, Apple. Then I can buy my cell phone from someone else and know that this technology isn't included.

Re:Please patent it

[krlynch]

Many companies already include such devices in their phones. The one you have already may have passive water immersion sensors ... little stickers that change color if they get wet. I know for a fact that a number of LG and Samsung models have these, just inside the battery compartment. Google "cell phone water sensor" for a flavoring of what's already out there...

Problem solved by Free Market Supply/Demand

[newgalactic]

They can include whatever sensors they want. And I can buy whatever I want. There's no way I'll buy a smartphone that doesn't allow me to install software of my choice. This walled-garden crap is making me look to the HTC Hero, or whatever new Android phone is on the horizon.

It works really well

[Alzheimers]

Those "submersion detectors" it work really well, right up until the local weather calls for 100% relative humidity. I've seen RIM deny multiple replacement requests due to triggered sensors.

Re:It works really well

[cecille]

Indeed. I went in to the phone shop for a completely unrelated problem (my voice mail kept telling people it was full despite the fact that I had no saved messages on it). The sales rep asked for my phone, which I handed over despite the fact that the problem obviously had nothing to do with the phone itself. She opened the phone and pointed at a half-red (as in, half was red, half was white, not that it was pink) sticker and told me the voice mail was not working because my phone had liquid damage. Notwithstanding the fact that the reason she gave is obviously not right, the supposed water damage never actually happened. That was the only phone I've managed to keep until the end of its contract without dropping it in a lake or a sink or a toilet. So I asked her how exactly one would drop the phone into liquid such that half the sticker would get wet (it's not large) and she said she didn't know but humidity might cause it and the stickers on that phone model were a bit sensitive because the cover was thin.

So as much as these measures protect the company from fraud, they open the consumer up to fraud because the company now has more reasons to deny warranty repairs even if the supposed incident never happened.

Re:It works really well

[bmajik]

Apple is already happy to deny warranties based on any circumstancial evidence.

They denied a warranty claim on my wife's iBook when its hard drive got click-of-death and simply gave up. They claimed that we had spilled coffee into the laptop, and attemped to document this via "brown dots" on the metal shield on the bottom of the laptop's inner-metal liner [i.e. the exterior side, not the logic board side].

I asked them how they figured one could spill coffee against the forces of gravity from the bottom up into a laptop, and furthermore how this would prevent a hard drive from spinning up properly.

The apple store employee was livid that I would dare to question his judgement, but no matter how I pressed the issue, he simply responded with "our warranty doesn't cover your mistakes.". Never mind that hard drives are a known failure item on computers; it just happens sometimes and you get a replacement and life goes on. Not so with apple.

The actual convesration was considerably more demeaning towards me. I was reasonably tempted to commit physical assault against the guy, and it was only the fact that the conversation transpired over a phone that probably kept me out of jail.

Essentially, fuck apple.

might decrease the value of the warranty, though

[oenone.ablaze]

Apple would probably make money in the end through decreased support costs, but all the same I'd be a lot less inclined to get AppleCare if I felt that there was a significant risk of wear-and-tear getting interpreted by this sensor as "abuse."

Re:I guess this could make sense

[Lumpy]

Our sensor indicates you took your mac book to a mom and pop coffee shop instead of a Starbucks.

your warranty is voided.

Yes, but it's Apple

[WCMI92]

Apple gets forgiven for everything, but if Microsoft even hinted of this they'd get flamed.

Had Apple won the PC wars of the 80's they'd be a far greater satan than Microsoft ever tried to be.

Its harder and harder to be an Apple fanboy...

[Dr_Ken]

I can see the economic rationale for going this route but the "hip & cool" aspect of Apple stuff is going to be diminished by it. I want innovation and technical progress that lowers the price, increases the functionality, is ergonomic and looks cool as hell. It is for that reason I buy Apple products. This crap on the other hand doesn't help me that much if at all. It might lower the price a few pennies but it'll make it that much harder to make a warranty claim too and so there goes a big chunk of good will down the tubes. I hope the few pennies they save with this equals what stand to lose. Sheesh.

Re:A patent for combining Retail products

[Theaetetus]

recorded by liquid and thermal sensors I can get those already. Common in the shipping industry. detecting extreme environmental exposures How is this different than a thermal sensor? Common in the shipping industry, but not everywhere depending on the environmental element they are testing for. a shock sensor detecting drops or other impacts I can slap one of those inside any old box now. Apple puts it inside a laptop and it's a patent? and a continuity sensor to detect jailbreaking or other tampering Now, this *really* has been done. Permanent adhesives on a holographic label? Anyone? anyone?

You're right. Obviously, the Slashdot Article Summary is not worthy of being patented.

However, that has very little to do with the limitations of this application, which include:

1. A system for detecting consumer abuse in an electronic device, the system comprising:one or more sensors configured to detect an occurrence of an abuse event;abuse detection circuitry configured to receive indication of the occurrence of the abuse event from the one or more sensors and to generate a record corresponding to the occurrence of the abuse event upon receiving the indication;a memory device configured to store the record; andan interface configured to facilitate communication between the electronic device and an external device.

That rules out the holographic stickers, at least.

Summary is wrong

[Theaetetus]

Jailbreaking sensor - BINGO! This is the real money maker.

The only reason to include these things is to improve product reliability (nope), customer satisfaction (nope), profit (yup). And I don't see a whole lot of profit increase in anything but preventing jailbreaking.

No, the summary is wrong (as usual). The tamper detection circuitry is for physical tampering - adding or remove chips, etc. Software jailbreaking won't trip it.

Re:I guess this could make sense

[jeffb (2.718)]

Don't worry, the terms of use will be altered by Apple's megalomaniacal support team

Pray we do not alter them further.

Re:I guess this could make sense

[Anonymous Coward]

I have never had a problem with Apple taking care of equipment I've purchased from them.

Many years ago, I packed my laptop in a briefcase that was filled to the brim. It's the only time I had ever travelled that way, and it will be the last. The case was initially snug, but after receiving more paperwork on the job, the briefcase became too full, and when I closed the lid, the external pressure cracked the LCD in several pieces. Apple replaced the screen at no cost to me, though I wouldn't have held them to doing so, and I didn't misrepresent what had happened.

A few months ago, my MacBook Pro failed to boot. Had been shutdown properly and unplugged, but on attempted restart failed to do anything. I tried the various resets I remembered, googled for other options; no joy. Dead computer. I suspected the drive was OK, and I really didn't want to lose the work I had been doing; so I removed the hard drive and installed it in a G4 tower, moved all my files over, then reassembled the laptop. Naturally, one of the tiny exterior case screws fell into the carpet while I was reassembling, never to be seen again.

The computer was, I think, obviously clean and well taken care of; but the missing screw was probably enough to void the warranty, even without any fancier patented sensors installed. Certainly suggested the computer had been opened. Even so, Apple replaced the motherboard without question under Apple Care.

Anecdotal - of course. But it's my experience, and I'll keep going to Apple until such a time as they make it not worth my while.

Re:might decrease the value of the warranty, thoug

[MacDaffy]

I provide AppleCare service and normal wear-and-tear don't even catch my attention. I don't kick a repair for scuffs, scratches, dents, or dings. But I've been brought:

--A MacBook that was "dropped a little." The hard drive had impacted so hard that you can hear the parts rattling around in it (I still have it);

--An iMac (Aluminum) with display problems. I opened it, found evidence of a liquid spill, and the customer's daughter confessed that her boyfriend threw a beer at it;

--A MacBook whose "case had cracked"... someone to remove the top case without referring to a manual and ripped the bottom case from its fasteners on the frame;

--A wireless keyboard that "wouldn't work." Turned it in for testing and, as it heated, water came oozing out of the battery bay.

All these people expected these incidents to be covered under the AppleCare warranty. If I'm brought a machine that isn't working due to a defect in manufacturing or the failure of an Apple- covered part, I'll do everything that needs to be done to get it fixed and the customer doesn't pay a dime (but if you've installed third-party drives or memory to which a problem is attributable, tough luck, Chuck).

But if it's drowned, dropped, or ripped apart, Apple is under no obligation to pay for user carelessness. Period.

Re:might decrease the value of the warranty, thoug

[scubamage]

I ran into an issue with this as well. I lost a 500$ smart phone because they wouldn't replace it. At the time I worked for a beer distributor, which meant constantly going in and out of coolers all day. Condensation formed inside the phone because it wasn't sealed, and set off all of the water-spill stickers. However, the phone worked fine. It wasn't until the earpiece eventually failed because of poor soldering that I had to take it in. Then they wouldn't repair it. I can only imagine that going in and out of air conditioned environments would also wreak havoc on such systems.