As the devils advocate I am suggesting that this continuous government interference can get a bit annoying. What actually is planned obsolescence? Planned obsolescence involves goods becoming unusable after a certain length of time with no method of repair. Obviously "length of time" is a point of contention. Who decides what is the appropriate length of time should be? As an example only: Windows XP is over 20 years old, yet there are those that still use it. Don't even let me get started about W7. Those that still use any of the above will present arguments as to why they are more than happy to continue using those operating systems, even though they are classified by "the manufacturer" as obsolete. They may be limited in some areas as to what they are able to do, but what they can do may be enough for them. Many of the posters here often refer to hardware items they use that many of us would could consider relics. But if it suits their needs then who are we to critisise? So, basically, if Apple want to take that road then let them. It is not the governments job to tell Apple how to make phones, it is their job to tell Apple that they must inform the customer of the restrictions and limitations that come with the phone. You can't keep wiping the publics noses forever. The golden rule of buying anything has always been caveat emptor!
I think it is apples and oranges comparison. Windows won't stop working, because certain date was reached. You just don't have support i.e. updates. Apple restricts hardware replacements. Other companies can't legally make spare parts that mimics them, because of patents, copyrights, trademark laws - generally things enforced by government, that can create monopolies or different kinds of corporate degeneracy that otherwise wouldn't appear on the market, so its governments job to kind of mitigate downsides of Intellectual Property rights.
I'm not exactly sure what is solution for this, but giving a lot of intellectual property rights to i.e. Apple by government should also involve giving them additional responsibilities i.e. design devices to be repairable by third parties, especially for minor repairs and common problems like broken screen etc Lately there was news coverage of disabled person having to wait for 7 months for manufacturer of wheel chair to repair minor damage (power switch), because 3rd party repairs shops couldn't do it. Things like that should not happen.
