The saga began with a simple post – and ended with a rare Apple admission. On December 9, 2017, reddit user TeckFire posted a note titled “iPhone slow? Try replacing your battery!” It sparked a flurry of comments from iPhone 6 owners.
On December 20, a few days after a damaging test report was released by developer John Pooler, Apple admitted its iOS software intentionally slowed down the performance of older iPhones. “Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices,” stated Apple.
It wasn’t the best start to the unfolding trust crisis: offering some waffle rather than a direct apology, and only after being publicly “outed” by a third party. The company claimed it was just a technical issue to do with ageing batteries, and not a devious marketing ploy designed to encourage frustrated users to upgrade to a new phone. Critically, the company had failed to tell people that a simple battery replacement would solve the slowdown problem.
Apple has a history of responding to customer complaints by laying blame at anyone’s door but its own. For instance, in June 2010, iPhone 4 customers grumbled about reception issues. Apple’s response? It was the customers’ fault for gripping the phone in such a way that it reduced reception. In September 2014, when hackers broke into the iCloud accounts of Jennifer Lawrence and other celebrities, stealing nude photos and posting them online, Apple dismissed the breach as “low-tech”. The hackers merely guessed weak passwords. Apple could take a little paraphrased advice from Shakespeare: “The fault lies not in the stars, but in ourselves.”
A barrage of damaging accusations followed the reddit post and Apple’s initial response. Among them that the admission of the slowdown was proof of suspicions about “planned obsolescence”.
So, Apple tried dousing the flames again, formally apologising on December 28, 2017 for what it called a “misunderstanding about the issue”. It also promised to replace the batteries of iPhone 6 or later in stores for £25 – a £54 discount. It was an effort to “regain the trust of anyone who may have doubted Apple’s intentions”, the company said.
Apple was right to focus on intentions. Intentions are powerful when it comes to trust. It doesn’t matter whether we’re deciding to trust a bank with our money, a babysitter with our kids, or Apple for its smartphones, the four traits of trustworthiness are the same: competence, reliability, benevolence, integrity. The last trait is often the hardest to get right. It’s the ultimate trust test for companies: whether their words match their actions. As Dr Seuss put it, “Be who you are and say what you mean.” Companies with integrity don’t waiver. They are consistently straight with their customers. The bargain-priced battery, and the public profession it would never manipulate a product like that, were an attempt by Apple to show that their interests were aligned with those of the customer.
During Apple’s Q1 2018 earnings call, held in early February, Tim Cook, the company’s CEO, was asked by an investor whether he expects iPhone upgrade rates to decrease now that customers are aware they can replace their batteries to jump performance.
“I don’t know how it will impact upgrades,” Cook replied. “We did it because we saw it as the right thing to do for our customers.” And, he might have added, because a gesture of goodwill is a powerful builder of trust, even if it’s well overdue.
Apple sold 77.3 million iPhones in its first quarter, down 1.24 per cent year-on-year from 2017 (78.3 million). Was the slump due to the battery debacle? It’s possible. However, despite a media backlash and intense legal scrutiny (Apple now faces more than 45 class-action lawsuits about the software update), total sales are up 13 per cent year over year.
It may be that the entire Apple ecosystem of products have become so indispensable to users that brand loyalty can take a few knocks before they switch to Android. For consumers, convenience can trump issues of trust, to a point. User forgiveness has its limits. When Apple is not upfront with customers, suspicion starts to brew. What other shortcomings we don’t yet know about might lurk in the system?
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