Apple iPhone battery replacement program disappoints consumer advocacy groups

Apple has just revealed their iPhone battery replacement program which would cost the customer around $85.95 per unit.

The battery in the iPhone is apparently soldered to the device and this means that the customer cannot replace the battery by himself.

One of the criticisms on this revelation is that the company announced the battery replacement program after the launch of the product.

Consumer Advocacy Groups are now complaining that Apple should have announced the program before making the iPhone available in the market. Customers had no clue about the cost of the program when they went to buy the iPhone on launch day.

Another criticism faced by Apple is that they are charging customers $29 for a loaner iPhone for the time the customer’s iPhone would be in repairs. This is unlike the deals offered by other mobile phone manufacturers.

Wall Street Journal tech columnist Walt Mossberg had this to say about Apple and their iPhone battery replacement program: “The cell phone industry is notorious for not being consumer-friendly while Apple has a fairly good reputation, so for Apple to stand on a technicality of a hidden disclosure that’s going to cost the user as much as 20 percent of the purchase price I think will prove to be a colossal mistake.”

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