From time to time Apple will unveil another of it's products - usually a feat of marketing as much as design.  The latest example is the iPhone.  There are indications that the honeymoon will be over for it's users in about a year's time when the batteries, designed for a lifetime of 300 to 400 recharge cycles, will fail.  Depending on how you look at it, and how realistic your view of Apple is, this news may or may not be surprising.

About a year after the launch of the iPod, users were blind-sided by Apple's policy on replacement of iPod batteries (for *only* $65.95 per unit).  So it shouldn't be surprising that a product in the same line from the same company would feature a similarly schemed $114.95 charge about a year later.  Not how I'd try to keep a customer, but they must be doing something right.

Remember Apple TV from back in January?  It was yet another totally new idea from Apple.  The thing is, it wasn't as new as was implied.  Compare the price/features to a modern MSN TV (used to be WebTV) and Xbox 360 variants (for example, other non-MS devices perform the same functions):

I guess when it comes down to Apple there are three things that rub me the wrong way.

1. They're the most expensive "disposable" consumer electronics that come to mind.
2. Their advertising is typically misleading and inaccurate.
3. Their products are rarely offer a good value compared to other offerings in the market.

I'm glad that Apple offers competing products that are generally well designed and of high quality, it's just the way that they opportunistically cut corners when it comes to customers that bugs me.  It wasn't as irritating when Apple products were just toys for the wealthy, but as they start to reach down into more mainstream consumer markets I'm getting tired of seeing my friends and relatives getting ripped off.