STOP CONSUMER ABUSE

Apple Inc. has filed a patent in the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a technology, that will help Apple in detecting consumer abuse in case of Apple devices such as, iPhone, iPods etc., thereby enabling Apple to establish the nature of the damage and thus determining whether or not, the warranty of the devices cover such damages or not.

This system will enable the mobile devices to store in their memory, user behavior towards the devices, such as exposure to extreme weather conditions (cold, heat and moisture), and would Apple void the warranty of the devices, if such damages are not covered by the warranty. This new system is known as “Consumer Abuse Detection System and Method.” Currently, Apple has embedded liquid submersion indicators in the Apple MacBook Pros, iPods and iPhones, wherein the devices change their color if damaged by water. This technique helps the repair engineers and the retail stores to determine, whether or not the damage was caused by the consumer himself, resulting in a void of warranty.

According to the Patent,

“The system may include an interface by which a diagnostic device may access the memory to analyze the records and determine whether a consumer abuse event occurred, when the event occurred, and, in some embodiments, what type of abuse event occurred. By providing the capability to quickly and easily detect whether consumer abuse occurred in an electronic device, a vendor or manufacturer diagnosing a returned product may be able to better determine whether or not to initiate a product return under a warranty policy.”

Apart from judging the validity of the warranty, this new system will also protect critical parts of the devices, in case some defect is detected. With the help of the Consumer Abuse Detection System and Method, Apple will be able to shut down the device completely, thereby preventing any further damage to the critical parts of the devices such as, screen, processor, memory and SD or Compact Flash cards.