There's
nothing inherently wrong with consumerism - but planned obsolescence is
gross. Austin and I often talk about how easy it is for companies to
create products that can stand the test of time - the way they used to -
except they won't. My number one issue with American capitalism isn't
the nature of capitalism itself, since I genuinely believe that American
capitalism really can be the stuff dreams are made of. My issue lies in
the way that corporations and manufacturers seem to take great pride in
the fact that, if they can just make us their [expletive deleted], they
can make more money. Manufacture a product that is not MEANT to stand
the test of time, and we'll run out and buy more of it to replace what
we just purchased that has gone out of style, been updated, or just
plain broke for no reason (and there are no parts available to purchase
and fix it.) There's no reason for it. I enjoy Apple products, and again
- there's nothing inherently wrong with
using them. I think I just wish people would hang on to what they have
for a few years before upgrading. No one needs every single version of
the iPhone. What we need is to take some of that money that we're
spending on every new version of the product and invest it back into our
communities. I think if we could learn to quit over-consuming, we could
easily find a way for everyone to "have their cake and eat it too" -
not only can you have that iPad, but perhaps instead of spending $600 on
the newest version when the old version works just fine, we could all
pitch in that $600 to update the technology in a school in an
economically disadvantaged neighborhood.
Just a thought.
"According to Brazil’s Jornal do Comerciao, IBDI believes that Apple
could have implemented the technological updates of the iPad 4 into the
iPad 3. By not doing so, they believe that Apple took part in unfair
business practices. Were Apple to lose in court, iPad 3 users in Brazil
could receive some compensation.
'Consumers thought [they were]
buying high-end equipment not knowing [it] was already an obsolete
version,' says IBDI attorney Sergio Palomares."
http://mashable.com/2013/02/21/apple-sued-ipad-3-brazil/
