Apple Permits Only One Water-Damaged iPhone

Recently, I violated the cardinal rule of Apple  Inc.  (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone ownership — I got mine wet.  Worse, the “incident” occurred in the bathroom.  Details will be spared, but suffice it to say I was sober and my wife wanted to kill me because, sadly, I have done this before. Apple seems to have accepted the fact that there are plenty of dolts like me.

I concocted a story to get a replacement which blamed the fact that my device wouldn’t start on my the actions of my 4-year-old son, who was not with me at the Apple store to defend himself.  Later, I learned that it’s stupid to lie about water damage since as soon as the  iPhone gets soaked a Liquid Contact Indicator (LCI) turns red.  Moreover, it turns out that I should have just told the truth.

The Genius Bar employee who waited on me quickly saw through my fib, but nonetheless gave me a replacement phone I did not deserve.  He also matter-of-factly informed me that Apple would only forgive this level of stupidity only once.    I am on my own for any future wet iPhones.   Though his point was well-taken, it got me wondering why Apple decided to be so nice to me.   The reasons are many.

For one thing,  Apple didn’t want me to angrily walk out of the Apple store and buy a cheaper smartphone powered by Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android operating system, which market researcher Canalys says is the number one mobile platform based on unit shipments.  Then there are legal complications, as the blog iPhone FAQ notes:

Problem is that a class-action lawsuit in 2010 claimed the LCI is overly sensitive or even defective, providing many false positives and preventing iPhone owners from collecting on valid warranty claims. Humidity in a pocket or sweaty palms have been implicated in triggering the LCI to change its color. Now it seems that Apple has changed its tune, and is training Genius Bar employees to take into account more information about the state of the iPhone in addition to just the LCI color.

The Apple Store offers a variety of refurbished merchandise as do other vendors.  AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), which is losing its exclusive franchise to sell the devices, is offering a refurbished 8 GB 3GS model for $29.   You have to wonder how many of these iPhones were saved from a watery grave. At least one service advertises that it has a 90%  success rate in resurrecting wet iPhones left for dead.  There are countless articles on the Web that offer step-by-step instructions on bringing your  wet iPhone back to life, which to me looked too complicated for a novice to attempt

Though I am grateful that Apple forgave my sins,  I am still baffled by the company’s attitude.   For instance, lots of people mess up their cars in ways not covered by their warranties but are able to get their problems fixed by car dealers.  It seems strange that for all of Apple’s technological prowess, that the company can’t figure out how to design devices that don’t shut down when they come into contact with a tiny amount of water.

–Jonathan Berr