ethernet76: ProfessorOhki: Abe Vigoda's Ghost: Which means, they are sending you a refurbished iPad with a new battery.
This saves them time and money, other then special handling your iPad that you send in for a new battery.
Either way, it's not just being dropped into a landfill.

True enough, but the device is still non-functioning from the user perspective. Once the battery goes, the official stance is, "you give it to us for a replacement." What they do with it on their side doesn't factor into the user experience. It's obviously more sustainable, but culturally... the people returning them don't care if they get refurb'd or shiatcanned as long as they get a replacement.

It's a stance apple has taken on many of their iDevices.

Personally I prefer the replacement instead of shipping it off to get fixed. Walk into an Apple store with a broken device, and you'll walk out of there with a replacement at no cost if it's under warranty.

The other alternative is to wait for them to fix it and ship it back. Most times it takes 1-3 weeks.

I'm of the school that prefers being able to simply put a new battery in my device and recycle the old one. I don't like Apple's method because, even if odds are the one you get is fine, why would you ever want to swap your well-cared-for "like new" device for a refurb? Even if they could do it in-store, I don't think I'd go for their idea of support.

I like the experience I had with my HP laptop. HDD started to go bad, call it in, still under warranty, they send me a new drive, and give me two weeks (IIRC) to take care of transfer and wipe, mail back the busted one with the enclosed label, done (don't mail it back and they charge you for the new HDD). Zero added down time, no cost to me, completely ideal. No reason a battery replacement couldn't be like that. Now Toshiba on the other hand, "you can't buy a key switch," "no, you can't buy a keyboard," "unless you want to mail the whole thing in, take it to this hole-in-the-wall 'authorized service center' near you and we'll work out what the warranty covers later." Seriously, fark you Toshiba, it was a goddamn busted H-key; it didn't require 'professional' servicing, just mail me the $0.000002 scissor-switch.

/csb

MightyPez: lohphat: How so? If the power source of the washing machine can't be replaced without replacing the entire unit, how is that not apt? Ok, in the case of the car how about the engine? Blown gasket? New car time!

Power sources on appliances are not typically replaceable by users. Same with many Apple products. A savvy user can replace it, but your average joe six pack will probably call a specialist, much like a washing machine or a refrigerator.

So maybe you are great at apt comparisons. Just not in the way you think.

Power sources on appliances are usually a cord that goes to the wall. If you can't figure out how to replace that, you probably shouldn't own a refrigerator, you might lock yourself in.