Interesting - Apple tamper-resist labels patent application

[NickK]

Apple appears to have been taking an increased interest recently in addressing circumstances which could result in a customer voiding their warranty due to misuse of or unauthorized access to the internals of their devices. Another recent patent application from Apple described methods by which a device could determine and record whether it had been exposed to a variety of conditions including liquids, extreme temperatures, excessive shock, and unauthorized tampering. Repair technicians could later access these recorded "abuse events" in order to determine what may have caused a given device failure.

source

So it'll not be long before you're unable to add your own hardware rather than pay the great apple and still have Apple Care..

 

[james.miller]

dont see a problem with a tamper label, it seems to refer to hand held media devices anyway - not sure what hardware you'd want to add to an ipod for example. its the second patent that bothers me - acelerometer-based menu navigation. can they really patent that?

 

[Deleted member 651465]

Yes. Providing they reference other patents involved in the process.

It's likely that they're just patenting a load of stuff (as per usual) in the event they need to use it in the future.

Besides, there's been tamper labels around in some capacity for years. If you really want to upgrade it, it won't stop you. An example where I think they've fallen down in sealing in the batteries on the notebooks.

It might be necessary for the space requirements but it makes it a lot harder than a sticky label.