Mr_Grey

If Ireland has been doing this in good faith since 2004 (and they have), even if the ruling goes against them, the CFO is right that the appropriate amount to charge Apple is still "zero."  The only way Apple owes money is if the ruling is retroactive, which it clearly shouldn't be, or at least couldn't be, if the EU actually wants to be "fair."  

The CFO is 100% right.  It took the EU years to even find the time to care about this issue let alone start proceedings, and during all that time Ireland was under the impression that they were within the law.  Apple was also acting in good faith the whole time, and obeying the relevant laws the whole time.  There is certainly no fault on Apple's part. 

Retro-active payments would be punitive.  Unless they can prove that it was all some kind of nefarious plot to evade the law (and I highly doubt the evidence exists for that), they should not be charging them retroactively.  Certainly not 11-12 years worth.   

tmay said:

... For me the key event for Mac's is the adoption of TB 3/USB C, ...

I would like to see Apple instead "gift" the lightning connector to the USB group as a replacement.  In essence I agree with what you're saying, I just think that lightning could carry all the same data and it's just a better plug.  To me, USB-C is only really a better plug compared to it's clunky USB predecessors.   

entropys said:

... If Siri is deliberately steering to places like planned parenthood it could imply behaviour just as bad as if Siri was actively steering away from them in the first place. ...

This statement alone shows your huge bias.  Planned Parenthood is an institution of long-standing that provides assistance to people in need, but somehow to you (based on absolutely no evidence because none is available) it is somehow an evil institution.  

Almost every "western" country has a branch of Planned Parenthood or something very similar with a different name in operation.  This has been the case for many decades.  In all those countries, these organisations have done good work and are a greatly respected part of their respective societies.  The only exception to this is the USA.  

The USA is not only on the wrong side of history with these wild religious based claims, they have no facts to support them.  The minute religion gets involved, reason goes out the window.  In that way, the USA is basically the same as ISIS.  

misa said:

tenly said:

But it shouldn't.  These organizations exist and it's a map products job to help you find and get to the place you need to go.  It's ridiculous for a maps product to apply filters or censorship tied to the author or owners morals, values or ethics.

People don't use "maps" to research their options for making important life choices - they use search engines like Google and Bing.  Only after they've done their research and made their decision will they turn to maps to help them get to the place at which they already have an appointment.

I actually think it was appropriate to "indicate adoption" as an option, but I think the real problem was that one of their data providers had mapped queries for Abortion directly to adoption agencies as a political motivation and Apple likely had to figure out where the bad data was coming from and purge it from Siri's learning. The other possibility is that "Siri learned" Abortion and Adoption were the same thing from that data and that had to be forgotten after the data source was scrubbed for that filtering.

And if this is happening for one key word, imagine what it's doing for other political terms. What does "Obamacare" bring up?

How could it ever be appropriate to throw back information on adoption when someone is searching for abortion clinics?   If I search for Catholic Churches should I be presented with information on the nearest Satanic groups?  If I search for burger joints should I be presented with a list of vegetarian restaurants?  Complete nonsense.   

Also, your idea that it might have been "bad data" flies in the face of the reality of how long this change took. America is so backward about abortion and planned parenthood that there are hundreds and hundreds of times less clinics in a given area in the USA than there are in other more civilised countries.  It wouldn't take years to correct that data.   One person could easily in the space of a couple of days go through a list of all the abortion providers in the USA and correct the map data.  Easily. 

You are living in a dream world my friend.  Adjusting reality to fit your theories and inclinations.  

muppetry said:

gatorguy said:

Absolutely the way it should be done. Anyone complaining about it hasn't thought thru the possible even if unlikely consequences of it not working that way.

Agreed, but there should be a way to get the Phone reauthorized by Apple. I can't see any negative security implications from being able to take it to an Apple Store, verify ones identity, and reactivate the secure element.

Well, at the very least, this path would require Apple to take out the "repaired" element and replace it with a verified Apple element, so a person would have to do the repair all over again, lose all the money for the first repair and pay Apple probably double what they would have, if they had just let them repair it in the first place.  

The kind of people who would consider a cheap third party repair, and the kind of people that are hot under the collar about their phones being bricked, are unlikely to consider any of that "fair" or to be inclined to do it.  It seems very likely to me that the folks who have been bitten by this are sitting at home right now demanding (to their wives or whomever is forced to listen) that Apple fix it all up "for free."  They aren't going to just smack themselves in the forehead and say "Oh, this is all my fault!  I hope Apple can fix it for me, I'd pay them whatever they want to too so."  

bonsly16 said:

How does this not violate the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, which applies to all US products, and prohibits warrantors from refusing service if there are third party parts involved (which is why you can buy auto parts from other aftermarket vendors without requesting permission from Ford, or Chevy)?

"Warrantors cannot require that only branded parts be used with the product in order to retain the warranty.[7] This is commonly referred to as the "tie-in sales" provisions,[8] and is frequently mentioned in the context of third-party computer parts, such as memory and hard drives."

I think if you read it closely you will find that the manufacturer does have the right to enforce that replacement parts need to be "verified" (or similar language) however.  

At least that's the language found in laws like this in my country and a few others that I'm aware of.  The parts have to come up to a minimum spec that the manufacturer controls and any alternate parts must be demonstrably "the same" as the "branded" parts they replace.  The idea of the law is to prevent the manufacturer from forcing the user to buy parts from them alone, not to allow anyone to swap anything for anything and still have the warranty apply.  

If this wasn't true, then your auto warranty would still be in effect even if you were driving on cheap bald tires made out of old sandal rubber that you bought at a boot sale.  Your home insurance would still be in effect even if you replaced your front door with a beaded curtain.  Your TV would still be returnable even if you've unscrewed the back and replaced the internal speakers with some made out of a breakfast cereal box, etc. etc.  There are limits and in this case, security is one of them. 

maxit said:

iPad mini 4 user here, not interested in a keyboard (the mini is by definition my ultra portable option when my MacBook Pro is too much), but I would buy the Apple smart keyboard. I don't think an iPad should be treated like a laptop. My two cents

Glad that there are others out there that think this way.  Turning your iPad into a laptop analogue is hardly forward thinking, and everything smaller than the Pro gives a keyboard that's too small to touch type on for anyone but the tiniest of humans.  

I would buy Apple's keyboard cover for my mini just for the sake of having the option, but only if they make it significantly thinner.  It's pretty chunky right now IMO. 

mike1 said:

Been happy with the Amazon Basics Lightning cables. I've ordered them from 4" to 6' and they work just fine and are inexepensive.

This just tells me that you missed pretty much the entire point of the article.  You're buying cables primarily because they are "inexpensive," and you know nothing about their specs or who made them.  They "work fine" (so far) and that's good enough for you.  

This is the exact attitude and behaviour the article warns against.  

It's funny how Apple accessories made by other companies are always so much fairer priced than Apple's own accessories.  I'm going to pick up one of these tomorrow.   

AppleInsider is probably backing the wrong horse in the naming game here.  It's been said before by me and many others, but "iPhone 6c" makes absolutely zero sense as a name for this purported device.  It's is a ridiculous name for a device that has none of the iPhone 6 level features, and doesn't (as far as we know) come in multiple colours.  

I'm not convinced on "iPhone 5se" either, but it makes some kind of sense for a device that is based on an iPhone 5s.