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Senator Wants Apple To Answer Questions on Slowing iPhones (reuters.com)
The chairman of a U.S. Senate committee overseeing business issues asked Apple to answer questions about its disclosure that it slowed older iPhones with flagging batteries, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing a letter. From the report: The California-based company apologized over the issue on Dec. 28, cut battery replacement costs and said it will change its software to show users whether their phone battery is good. Senator John Thune, a Republican who chairs the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said in a Jan. 9 letter to Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook that "the large volume of consumer criticism leveled against the company in light of its admission suggests that there should have been better transparency."
I think you mean to say that the Senator should thank Apple for not letting it's customers down by capitulating to government pressure to provide a back door. A door that hackers would certainly find and exploit in order to steal our personal data. A door that could be used by law enforcement without a warrant. I applaud Apple for standing up for personal liberties, even if it makes it tougher on law enforcement.
An Aide for the Senator was quoted as saying: "The Senator believes that Moore's Law is an antiquated piece of legislation that no longer has relevance to today's technology. Instead of fostering growth, Moore's Law has become an impediment to innovation. We need to free the marketplace from these cumbersome regulations and government interference. Therefore, the Senator will be introducing legislation to repeal Moore's Law, and ensure that all software, regardless of language, compiler, or hardware affiliations will be free to continue running as fast as the day it was released on any platform, anywhere, at any time."
Check your premises.
I have an iPhone that was "throttled". I noticed that the charge would last nearly as long as when it was new. After an update it went back to the time-between-charges as when it was new. I was happy about that. (I hate plugging my iPhone "in" while in my car, etc.) It was slower, the screen would dim, it would "slumber" and take a bit to wake up. But what I considered most important -- making it through my day's activities on one charge -- was the way it was acting. I'm glad Apple installed this change. I appreciate the change. The only fault that I see is that Apple didn't tell us. The fact that they made the change benefited me. I really don't care that they didn't tell me; it just would have been nice.
It is bovine scat that Congress-critters are wasting time about this. There really are more important issues than a stinking smartphone charge IMHO.
I also don't think this change was just to make the batteries last the full day. It was also to address an issue where the device was requesting more power than the degraded batteries could provide and was causing unexpected shutdowns. I know of several people with older iPhones that random turn off. It sounds like this could have been the problem.
Fanboy or no, Apple likes repeat customers, and phones becoming useless garbage doesn't help retention. They didn't slow down their phones to make people buy new phones. They add features that are only available on new phones to do that. Intentionally making old phones not work drives people to other manufacturers. We can safely remove the tinfoil hats for a minute.
I agree completely with almost everything you said, except this:
"could have made a lot of money off of people replacing their batteries."
While that is true, it's a LOT less money than they'll make from people replacing the entire phone instead, which I think most folks would do.
The question being, which scenario would lead the user to buy a new phone faster:
1) the phone randomly shuts down when below 30% and using a lot of CPU
2) the phone displays a message "Your battery is about to die we will slow it down to ensure proper usability"
My bet is on #1.
Write boring code, not shiny code!