It's rare that you see a company highlighting its own flaws when everything is going perfectly. Once you apply some pressure, you reveal the frayed edges, the blurred lines, and both the real and the perceived faults. Apple's Error 53 has been bubbling away for months, but received wider recognition this week with The Guardian's Miles Brignal explaining the issue that has led to Apple to bricking thousands of iPhones during the iOS upgrade process.
The issue appears to affect handsets where the home button, which has touch ID fingerprint recognition built-in, has been repaired by a “non-official” company or individual. ...The problem only comes to light when the latest version of Apple’s iPhone software, iOS 9, is installed. Indeed, the phone may have been working perfectly for weeks or months since a repair or being damaged.
After installation a growing number of people have watched in horror as their phone, which may well have cost them £500-plus, is rendered useless. Any photos or other data held on the handset is lost – and irretrievable.
Tech experts claim Apple knows all about the problem but has done nothing to warn users that their phone will be “bricked” (ie, rendered as technologically useful as a brick) if they install the iOS upgrade.
Apple believes it is right to disable these handsets. Tim Cook has made a strong play on the security of Apple's products, and that includes the storage of biometric details. Replacing the TouchID unit breaks the 'seal' around the secure portion of the system, and there's no way for the hardware to know if it has been exposed to a genuine repair or if a system has been compromised, perhaps with a hacked TouchID that records the biometric details for later use or an external computer that's feeding data directly to the iPhone in a brute force attempt to unlock the device.
To me it is curious that this only happens when an iOS update is installed. It feels like the sort of software check that should be performed whenever a unit is switched on, or calls in to the Apple servers to check for app updates. Aligning it with a process that is relatively rare in the lifetime of an iPhone seems counter-intuitive if security is paramount.
The counterpoint to Apple's attitude is a simple one. Once you buy an iPhone it is yours, You should be able to repair it yourself, you shouldn't need to replace a $700 smartphone for the want of a single part (or an Apple Store repair that costs over $250). Third-party repair shops flourish in areas where there is no Apple Store to visit to arrange a repair. At the very least Apple should be able to re-authorise a device after a suitable inspection process, rather than a 'sorry it's bricked forever, would you like to buy a new one?'
And if you want to go down the 'it's all about the money' route, the Error 53 news broke in the same online news cycle that presented Apple's new trade-in program where it will offer discounts on new iPhone handsets if you trade in an older handset, in a working condition or otherwise.
I'd chalk this up to co-incidence, but many others with connect the dot that says 'we'll brick your repaired iPhone because you didn't use us' and the dot that says 'we'll give you some money for that bricked iPhone as a part exchange'. And this is where Error 53 starts to shine an uglier light on Apple.
Looking at the Error 53 story, I see three major issues with Apple. Its current ability to get its view over to the public, the brutal nature of its software interface, and a difficulty in relating to the human condition.
Once upon a time, the power of the Reality Distortion Field was infinite. Steve Jobs could proclaim pretty much anything and it would be taken as gospel, with little questioning. It permeated the launch of key products such as the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad. That power has diminished, and Apple struggles to get a clear message out of Cupertino. With so many of the geekerati focused on security and protecting user data and IM conversations, I would not have expected something along the lines of a collapsible circuit around your biometric data to be a hard sell for Apple. Apparently it is.
Tim Cook had to explain to journalists the mess of the launch of the iPhone's Smart Battery Cover after the launch - ie. once the damage was done - to try to lay out why Apple was making certain choices. I get the feeling an Error 53 interview is being lined up now to try to set the record straight with a few softball questions pitched at the CEO.
Again, the PR team has lost the ability to control the story, or to foresee consequences. At the very least with momentum behind Error 53 building (and presumably The Guardian reaching out for comment ahead of publication to give the team some warning) someone should have paused the announcement of the trade-in program.
Consider the presentation of the error to the user. A dialog box that relays an error code and no more information. No guidance, no explanation, just an obscure number that means absolutely nothing. It kills what could have been the start of a positive feedback experience with frustration. How a system fails is important, and Apple 'fails' the TouchID security in the manner of a bug report on a BASIC application typed into a TRS-80. Actually that's not fair, the Trash had a two-letter abbreviation to help comprehension, Error 53 doesn't even have that.
Finally, the idea that the Apple Store is the only choice for a repair and that everyone will use Apple services happily no matter the cost may make for easier planning and a stronger balance sheet, but it rarely reflects the real world. While the geekerati will have an app to tell them the nearest shrine to Cupertino, the rest of the world is less fanatical. High repair costs are a huge barrier to many, especially when those repairs can be more than the subsidised price of the handset.
There should be a little more leniency from Apple, and an awareness that there is more than one way to repair, to handle, and to use an iPhone.
Error 53 on its own seems like a clean-cut decision. But it reflects an uglier side of Apple. A side that is authoritarian and will not yield, a side that expects others to conform to its view of how the world works, and a side that offers little emotional understanding or empathy for the crazy ones, the misfits, or the rebels. That Apple is coming more into focus with each product release and engagement with the public.
If anything is going to bring Apple down, it will be Apple itself. And the arrogant view that could accelerate that process is on full view. That is the error that lies behind Error 53.
