Bob Edwards

Very relevant story, Bob. So in this particular case, do you pay for the Navionics app, or is it a free app?

I think we can all agree you feel Apple should keep it’s nose out of your experience, but curious your thoughts on the appropriate “exchange” with Navionics for use of their service.

If you pay directly, is that an obligation on their part not to sell your data (ignoring their actual T&Cs for a second)?

If the app is free, are you implicitly agree to allow them to monetize your data (likely by selling it back to Apple, etc.) in exchange for access?

This is similar in some ways to the idea of “buying” a movie from a digital streamer. In olden times, you bought a physical product outright, but even then the legal argument was that you owned the cassette / disc rather than the information on it.

As more of our transactions are serviced based, do you see a path to “purchase” and actual ownership? Or are all our transactions henceforth to become limited licenses, potentially subsidized by our data?

I love phone GPS…in fact, I used to get quite lost without it 🙂 This also reminds me of instances where people have been saved by Siri, who was able to call 911 for them. Did I just refer to Siri as a “who”? Unfortunately, I’ve also known someone in a dire circumstance who wasn’t able to call for help because their phone was doing an iOS update. Coming to rely on our phone may as the all-purpose tool certainly has benefits, but how “lost” are we when our phones fail us. Personally, I’ll take all the lifelines I can get. Flashlights, phone calls, traffic data, emergency calls when phone is locked, GPS, weather apps, and even access to passwords, personal documents and payment data call all be lifesavers in certain situations.

There’s no denying planned obsolescence is real in spirit, if not in literal practice, but it would seem a bit extreme for the device to turn on you while possibly still under warranty! Unless you bought it on launch day, there may still be time to file a claim.

Assuming your phone resumes its normal function or gets replaced by Apple, it’s worth thinking about how the value of your data deprioritizes the device. Apple is unique since they protect their ecosystem and make privacy a hallmark, but for many manufacturers, the device is a loss leader in order to get you on their platform, etc.

Think of all those smart home “starter kits” where the bridge is included at no charge or similar concepts.

I’m optimistic you just have a lemon as Apple puts a pretty high premium on quality. This seems a bit out of character for the experience they want to curate, but it could be a sign of an internal shift in their positioning.

Do any of you factor obsolescence into you purchasing decisions? Does the fact you can seamlessly “reboot” your profile from a cloud back up on a new device lessen the anxiety about your device performance?

Great post Bob, very informative. I would have no doubts this is happening to you. I feel like my family and I were victims of this with Verizon’s data plans a few years ago. We had a plan that was fairly inexpensive per month for a certain number of GB per month (I don’t remember how many). Around the same time, Verizon was pushing its new unlimited data plans. Magically, we started going over our data plans each month and had to pay extra per month for going over, even though our usage/habits had remained the same. There tactics basically pushed us into the unlimited plan, which was more expensive than our previous plan. The most suspicious part of it all was that our device could tell us how much data we were using but there was a disclaimer that verizon may total our data usage differently… how convenient.

I had no idea planned obsolescence was a real thing. I thought it was all in my head that when a new Apple announcement happens that my devices start breaking down. Is this a bad thing or a really good marketing strategy? Either way, they get me every time to where I am the Apply junkie running to the store for a new device.

Thinking about data, is it possible that Apple focuses so much on the new releases that there is a cut off of updating the older devices. Just how many programs are not optimized for Internet Explorer or there comes a time that you HAVE to upgrade your software?

Great post Bob! I couldn’t imagine the amount of juggling it takes to be able to keep your business running smoothly. You must have to outsorce so many things like the casing of the drugs, or the different ingredients needed to make them. What would you say is the most time consuming aspect of your job? Would you say its the project management or someting else?

I can totally relate to this post Bob! I am quite the opposite where I have over 200 apps on my phone and I have a constant battle if I should use my browser or get a desktop app. When the commercial/ad came out “there’s an app for that,” it made my heart sing. With my browser being crowded with tabs and tasks, having apps allows me to focus on a task and then close the application when I am finished. Apps also help me with my own business process of keeping everything in 1 central location. If I am using my project management tool, all of my tasks go there and not on random pieces of paper or in a random iOS note. I don’t think I have app fatigue but more so task overload 🙂