I saw online that the repair for the HomePod cable is $29. Aleeha > On Feb 11, 2018, at 2:28 PM, M. Taylor <mk...@ucla.edu> wrote: > > I went to pick up my Apple HomePod and got a dire warning > Commentary: When you buy Apple's new musically smart speaker, you're told to > be very careful with it or it'll really cost you. > By Chris Matyszczyk, February 11, 2018 9:30 AM PST > > It really is quite pretty. > Andrew Hoyle/CNET > It was such a sunny day in Northern California on Friday. > Little did I know that it would be clouded by portents of doom. > After all, I was wandering along to my local Apple store in Marin County to > pick up an Apple HomePod on launch day. > I'd never bought a first-generation Apple product before, preferring the > company to iron out kinks before I give it my louchely earned lucre. > For utterly irrational reasons, I felt good about the HomePod. > Yes, it's expensive. But I couldn't bear the idea of a Google Home or Amazon > Echo -- aka the salt cellar and the garbage can -- in the house. Aesthetics, > you understand. (I can feel you pitying me.) > I presented the QR code kindly texted me by Apple that morning and the store > employee, a rather positive sort, insisted I'd be so very, very excited > about getting my new toy. > "We've been playing with it here all morning and the sound fills the whole > store. It's incredible," he said. > "Incredible sounds good," I thought to myself. "But is that better than, > say, magical and revolutionary?" It's hard to tell with Apple's constant > embrace of superlatives. > We chatted pleasantly for a little while, as we waited for the HomePod to > emerge from the back. > But when it did arrive, the atmosphere changed. > "Now I have to warn you," the store employee began. Oh. > "The cable is permanently attached to the HomePod. If you rip it, it'll cost > you almost as much as the HomePod itself to repair," he said. (Naturally, > someone has already tried to rip it off.) > I didn't have time to react, as he continued: "A pet or a vacuum cleaner > catches it, and it'll be really expensive." > I insisted I had neither of these things. > He barely listened and added: "Unless you've got AppleCare." > Aha. > The math is painful. The HomePod costs $350. Repairing it costs $279, as > revealed by Apple support -- and my Apple store salesman -- on Friday. > As for AppleCare+ for HomePod, which extends your coverage to two years, > that's $39. > The Apple store employee admitted that he was duty-bound to lay out his > fears for my gadget-caring inadequacies. > It is, though, rare for a product to cost almost as much to repair as to > buy. Repair costs for Apple products are going up, though. The cost of > repairing an iPhone X screen? Why, $279. > In the case of the HomePod, unless you have AppleCare+, why wouldn't you > just buy a new one, rather than wait an unspecified period for your own to > be repaired? > Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. It's likely, > however, that the high cost of repair is linked to the fact that the product > is one whole piece, with seemingly no place of entry to outsiders at all. > The mesh of the device, though, will surely attract some scratching-obsessed > cats. Which, in my experience, is most cats. It'll be fascinating to see > whether there will be a sudden surge of cat-related snafus. > I walked out with my head hanging a little lower, worried about a neighbor's > cat wandering into our house. A few hours later, it actually happened, as a > lithe ginger cat sauntered in to look around. (The front door's open when > it's warm.) > I want to end on an uplift, however. Let's talk about the HomePod's cable. > It's thick and study-looking. It doesn't look as if it will fray like, well, > every other Apple cable I've owned. It doesn't look easy to yank off, even > if you're an aggressive vacuum cleaner or a rabid cat. > Why doesn't the person who designed this cable design all of Apple's others? > I brought my HomePod home. It took but a minute to set up. It's actually > quite pretty and the sound is clear and strong. Although Siri has already > begun to protest that she's can't play my music any louder than she is > already. > "Try harder," I keep pleading. > Now, though, it's me against the neighborhood cats. I wonder if I could > charge their owners $279 if their cat scratches my HomePod. > > Original Article at: > https://www.cnet.com/news/i-went-to-pick-up-my-apple-homepod-and-got-a-dire- > warning/#ftag=CAD-09-10aai5b > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or > moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: > mk...@ucla.edu. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at > caraqu...@caraquinn.com > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
-- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: mk...@ucla.edu. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at caraqu...@caraquinn.com The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
