jace88

It’s due to recent changes to Australian consumer law around the sale of additional warranties. Basically can’t be done until four days after the purchase. Apple basically confirms this is the rationale in their email to customers after making a purchase of an applicable device eg iPad mini. 

1. We live in a time where companies are only as good as their weakest link in the production process including external contractors/suppliers, especially when said company is a behemoth with clear power/influence to actually drive change. Apple really does have a key role to play in this given how their actions or inactions will shape not just their own 'partners' but also set the tone for the rest of the industry/sector.

2. That being said, I do balance my thought process on this particular topic with respect to India which has implemented some pretty strong 'protectionist' measures and suspect Apple/Foxconn are only doing what they need to do to meet these measures. I do wonder how big of a market India is for Apple though.

3. I appreciated the Shawshank reference above... watched it again a couple of weeks ago.

Realised my comment didn't post before but I used a similar supermarket and advertising Coca Cola analogy, or even a telco advertising an iPhone.

If developers are calling foul on the impact to margins, I daresay they need to reconsider how they price or assess the viability of their product given the distribution costs (through an App Store/Apple for example) are still part of their costs. It's not like the Apple store tax is a constantly fluctuating variable like other costs in shipping a product, and it should be relatively easy to forecast in the valuation estimates.

I've only sold/traded in a couple of iPads over the years because for the most part, even when I upgrade, the old one is still genuinely useful. It's only once they no longer get software updates and can't get the latest updates to apps that they become a bit of a paperweight but by then, they truly aren't worth anything more than a couple of bucks.

With two young kids (<6) now, there's no way I'm letting either of them play with my 12.9" iPad Pro... and with the massive market of kid-friendly "protective" iPad cases, the old ones make a great entertainment/learning device for them with Reading Eggs and Netflix/Youtube.

Glad to hear it's not just me going crazy. I thought it was either me using it wrong, or my tempered glass protector on my Ultra 2 causing issues.