Monday, January 24, 2011

Apple tightens the screws on iPhone 4: sources-Sydney Morning Herald

Apple is giving a new meaning to the phone with its new clamping screws.

In line with its infamous philosophy to maintain absolute control over its products, said sources Apple stores we are replacing screws on iPhone 4s led to maintenance with tamper-proof screws to prevent anyone else from opening the device.

Kyle Wiens, chief executive of iFixit, a prominent Apple repair and parts supplier, said that the purpose of the new screws is to keep people out of iPhones and prevent them from changing the battery. He said that he noticed during the month of November that the screws were is switched on.

"If you took the car service and have the hood welded shut, it wouldn't be very happy", "he said, in comparison to closure of owners of their iPhones.

IFixit, based in San Luis Obispo, California, has become famous worldwide technology for running "teardowns" of Apple devices, often within hours or minutes of the launch of a new product. The company promotes repair to trim on electronic waste that goes into landfill.

According to two people with first-hand knowledge of the practice, when a customer brings an iPhone 4 on a Apple us store for repair, swap technical staff on commonly used Phillips screws, with which the device is shipped and replaces them with the screws of the so-called "Pentalobe".

Customers are not told about the switch, these people said.

It was not clear how widely used are the replacement screws, but one of these people said swap lives was started in the fall and is now a standard practice at the Apple stores there. This person said that the iPhone 4 shipped with Pentalobe screws in Japan.

Apple had no comment for this story, but it is known that Apple discourages individual changes.

4 the iPhone went on sale last year and became the fastest version Apple's iconic device. More than 16 million iPhones sold in the quarter ending December.

Apple will replace iPhone batteries free of charge if the device is under warranty, but otherwise costs $ US79.

Wiens said with old vines battery of iPhone 4 was easy to change even if it was known to many customers. "Apple wants to be in the business of selling is the new battery," Wiens said.

Great technology company the more acts quickly to protect its secrets. When a prototype iPhone was found by an outsider in a bar last year and sold to tech blog Gizmodo, Apple kicking up a furor and investigators raided the House of journalists.

Pentalobe screws require a screwdriver that is not available on the market, said Wiens. The screw is similar to a screw Torx commonly used, but has five points instead of six.

Wiens, iFixit, that sells repair kit for iPhone and other Apple products, searched everywhere for a screwdriver Pentalobe first specially put into a vendor to make one of them-and even this is not a perfect match, he said.

The screw Pentalobe appeared on the section of a portable computer battery Macbook Pro in 2009, said Wiens. Can also be found outside of the new Apple notebook MacBook Air.

Reuters


View the original article here

No comments:

Post a Comment