I read this petition from Sum of Us that asks people to sign up to ask Apple not to take action in their plans to change the 3.5mm headphone jack when it releases the iPhone 7 later in this year. The concern is that this change will force users to buy new headphones causing a massive creation of electronic waste due to the fact that the iPhone7 owners will no longer be able to plug in their past earphones to their new smartphone.
According to the United Nations, up to 90% of the world’s electronic waste is illegally traded or dumped each year. This is an alerting number and Apple, by being such a huge and international company will cause an enormous negative impact by implementing this strategy. Unless the company decides to do something to counteract this, tons of electronic waste will be exponentially added to the world in a matter of 1-2 months.
I don’t know exactly how many users will actually need to buy new headphones because maybe not all iPhone 7 users use headphones as well, but the point I want to make here is that big companies such as Apple that are keystone players on an industry’s ecosystem should take care of their decisions and consider how one of their moves (maybe just aimed to be more innovative) can actually cause damage. If this new feature is released for iPhone 7, probably the competition will make the change as well so their smartphones are compatible with the newest designs of headphones that will be created for Apple’s phone. This will increase even more the electronic waste that will be created, not even to mention all the new machinery, technology and packing supplies that will be needed to make this little change.
As a keystone player, I think Apple should take a second thought about this and analyse it thoroughly to see if the benefit it will take (for itself, for the industry, and for the environment) from this innovation will be higher that the damage it will cause. It’s also good and great that customers are also aware of this and are raising their voice even though they know this is a huge player that might be hard to talk to. Communities gathered by a cause can be very strong and, if they’re right and show their concerns effectively, they are capable of changing big companies’ course, because sometimes even this big players can make mistakes and need some word of advice.
I fully agree that large players in almost any industry can have a drastic direct impact on consumer behaviour and consequentially, a negative indirect impact on the environment. Even the education system is being affected by technological innovation, as more schools are ditching old desktops for for new, lower-cost tablets. Google has recently entered this market by offering Chromebooks, which allow schools to decrease costs and have data stored via Google’s cloud software. As you mentioned above, the other big players in this industry (Apple & Microsoft) are trying to compete with Google. However, Google is also offering Chromium, which is an open-source version of its operating system that can be utilized on separate devices; This is currently being capitalized upon by lower-income schools who cannot afford Chromebooks (in partnership with a startup called Neverware). If more schools are able to keep their older devices but receive the newest operating system, this may decrease the amount of desktops ending up in the landfill and also further Google’s competitive advantage.
For more information about Chromium and Neverware, visit: http://www.theverge.com/2016/2/17/11030406/neverware-google-chromebook-chromium-os-education-microsoft
This is such an interesting topic, because when I heard the rumor that the iPhone 7 was not having a headphone jack, I was very concerned. I assume, however, that Apple would try to sell an adaptor that would connect the iPhone 7, to a normal headphone jack. Which would result in people not actually throwing their headphones away, but in the production and the consumption of yet more technology. As a keystone player, as you mentioned, Apple should really invest in being more conscientious about the environment on average. iPhone’s screens, chargers and headphones, break pretty easily, and are replaced every year. We don’t need thinner phones, we need a sustainable way to own technology.
I agree that the environmental impact of fast fashion in e-products is a rising a concern as the amount of e-waste produced is becoming more and more each year, and there is little effort in e-waste recycling in general. The increasing amount of e-waste produced is caused not only by user behaviour, but also the planned obsolesce within many e-products. Apple’s plan to change its headphone design for the upcoming IPhone 7 is a perfect example of manufacturers using planned obsolesce as a business strategy to create continuous sales. I really wish Apple and other electronic producers could rethink the way they compete and take some responsibility in e-waste recycling by offering a take-back program for its customers.
Great post! I was definitely concerned with Apple changing their headphone jack as well. Look at the new MacBook Air, they don’t even have a USB port and that angered a lot of consumers as well. I wonder if this petition will work in persuading Apple to not change the headphone jack. 200,000 petitioners is a small number of people compared to their total worldwide number of customers.
I did a bit of research as to WHY Apple wanted to change the headphone jack, one of the reasons was to increase the screen space, and another was to increase internal space. This made me think that aren’t consumers the ones demanding bigger screens, flatter bodies, faster Internet, better cameras, etc? This is definitely an ongoing conversation about where do you draw the line between customers demanding too much, and companies changing their systems to fit consumer demands?