Apple Starts Locking iPhone Batteries to Thwart Independent Repair

I think Rene is significantly overstating the case. There have been third-party batteries available for Apple laptops and iOS devices for many years, and while it’s possible that dodgy parts or repair shops have caused problems, I can’t think of a single instance where that has reflected badly on Apple in a big way.

In fact, when there’s a big fuss about something Apple has supposedly done wrong (like the guy who lost access to his iTunes movies because he moved countries) and the reality of the situation turns out to be different, the media is happy to exonerate Apple.

I’ll return to the car analogy. If you go to a lousy mechanic and get rebuilt or aftermarket parts that don’t work well, you complain to the mechanic, not Ford or GM. And more to the point, if someone does a terrible repair that results in an accident (which is a heck of a lot more likely with a car than an iPhone), no one expects that it will reflect badly on Honda or Toyota.

This is control freakery on Apple’s part.