Wednesday 3 June 2015

Bose In-Ear headphones have bad cords : Planned Obsolescence

Cord tearing, fraying and disintegrating on the Bose in-ear headphones seems to be a pretty common problem. The rubbery material on the Bose cords ages badly.

As evidenced from the screenshots of various complaints, I am just one among a lot of the company's customers noticing their unethical strategy. The problem is not limited to in-ear headphones alone, it is also quite prevalent on its on-ear models.

It is sad that the company is opting for "planned obsolescence", thereby doing disservice to its founder, whose name "Amar Bose" literally means "Everlasting Bose" ["Amar" is a word of Sanskrit origin, meaning Immortal, Eternal, Forever-lasting.]

[planned obsolescence : a policy of producing consumer goods that rapidly become obsolete and so require replacing, achieved by frequent changes in design, termination of the supply of spare parts, and the use of non-durable materials.]
The rationale behind the strategy is to generate short-term sales volume by reducing the time between repeat purchases (referred to as "shortening the replacement cycle"), until customers catch on and move to another product platform.
No one expects these to last forever, but is  6-7 years in the least too much to ask ?

Here are some pictures of the torn cord on a pair of Bose IE 2 headphones bought in Jan 2012 and used with care (maybe once a week) only at home till June 2015. The headphones still work perfectly as the internal wiring is not affected at all.

For a pair of headphones that cost more than $100, this is a let down - having used it with utmost care and always storing it in the provided case when not in use.

I expected it to last longer, but I guess that Bose is playing the planned obsolescence game. Though I must say that these headphones sound brilliant and its Stayhear tips sit very comfortably in the ear.

I used scotch tape to try and patch up the tear, but after a few days I noticed new tears on the cord below the taped patch. Even a gentle bend in the wire seems to create tears.


A simple search on Google, Twitter & Youtube reveal plenty of complaints over the past year. 




https://twitter.com/CoincidenceNow/timelines/641861023335600130
(about 4 on the same day as the search)



Here are a few of the in-ear headphone complaints just on twitter. In some countries the users have received replacements despite being out of warranty.
Initially I was planning to get a cheaper pair and discard the IE 2. (I am guessing that this is what a vast majority would have done.)

The above screenshots are just a few that could be retrieved using a simple search, from among the company's customers who decide to share a photograph of their headphones. Therefore it is pretty safe to conclude that a statistically significant number of the company's customers have experienced this.

The company seems to have done nothing to correct this obvious problem in future iterations of its model. 

Below : Optimization Test Rig
Accelerated Aging Tests


It is not that they are unaware, given that it is a high technology company. They won't do it as it does not suit their strategy. For all you know, these tests maybe to optimize non-durability - ie: to determine the optimal choice of material that will fail due to aging, after a specified time but not before a specified lower limit (warranty).

I guess they are pretty sure about returning customers, who are addicted to the sound, the brand, the in-shop experience and the feeling of exclusivity.

High quality sound complemented by poor quality non-durable materials : These are by far one of the most comfortable in-ear headphones - the features that define this unique selling point are patented. Hence the company can afford to reduce longevity with the deliberate use of non-durable material, in order to ensure more revenue from returning customers addicted to the experience. 

Over a 1000 patents !
http://products.bose.com/static/patents/index.html

http://stks.freshpatents.com/Bose-Corporation-nm1.php


List of patents
Planned obsolescence tends to work best when a producer has at least an oligopoly, protected by patents and armies of lawyers. Before introducing a planned obsolescence, the producer has to know that the consumer is at least somewhat likely to buy a replacement from them. In these cases of planned obsolescence, there is an information asymmetry between the producer – who knows how long the product was designed to last – and the consumer, who does not.

Bose Authorised Service modus operandi


At the local authorized Bose service center, the technician tries to attribute the problem to the weather, wear and tear due to use, not clipping it on while using it ..... etc.

I have handled these headphones with a lot of care, never using them for any sort of exercise and always carefully storing them in the case when not in use. Looking at the complaints, I seem to have been lucky that these head phones lasted 3 years - most of the other complaints are for 6 months to 1.5 years.

I have quite a few other headphones that are older than the Bose IE 2 , cheaper, produce more base, and still work perfectly though I have not been as gentle with them. The only plus point that Bose has over these head phones is that the StayHear silicon tips are very comfortable and easy on the ear. Bose twitter Support says that the New SoundSport headphones are more durable.
Original cost: 5175/- (INR)

I handed them over to the service center where they gave me a receipt and told me that they would contact me with the options.

When they called me up to get my decision, I requested them to email it to me.

I am presented with the following options :
  • Repair cost : 2191/- (guaranteed for 3 months)
  • Exchange option with the same model : 3319/- (guaranteed for 6 months)
  • Trade up option with below models: A 25% discount will be applied
  • Soundtrue IN Ear – 6188/- MRP after discount 4641/- (guaranteed for 1year)
  • Soundtrue Mobile IN Ear – 9338/- MRP after discount 7004/- (guaranteed for 1year)
If I choose the repair option, which is the cheapest, I would get the repaired headphones the next day.

Since these options are presented after formally handing it in to the service center, Bose Corporation reduces chances of the customer deciding not to pay any more money to Bose and taking his business elsewhere. You see, all these options could just as well have been presented to me when I visited them (They were not busy at all, but their protocol requires them to take the product in before suggesting options)

On being asked how they were going to repair it, they gave me a reply that was quite hard to believe, about running it through some kind of machine that totally strips away the existing rubber insulation and replaces it. The jack will be replaced but the inner wire wont, yet the whole cable will be new - I really don't know what to make of this. I asked them if I would get back the same headphones that I had given [This is what the technician told me personally and later confirmed by phone when I sent an email begging a clearer explanation.]

I visited the service center again intending to just take back my headphones as they were working perfectly, except for the cosmetic tears on the rubber sheathing. But since I had already written so much, I again asked them how they were going to repair it if I chose that option.

Repaired or refurbished ? - not truthful or transparent

Will I get my own headphones back after repair?
The technician gave me the same dribble, adding that various parameters would be checked (like impedance etc) before returning the "repaired" product to me, trying to convince me that the repaired product would have the same specification as a new pair of headphones.

Some questions from me :
  1. Where do you "repair" it? -Here
  2. So what exactly are you going to change ? the wire ? will you open the earpiece and solder a new wire ? -We will run it through the machine ...it will remove sheathing....wire will be the same
  3. Will the jack plug be changed?-...different jack plug.... it will check all the parameters... It will go through a manufacturing process....
  4. Do you have this machine here ? -Yes
  5. Can I see it ? -No
  6. The serial number of my headphones is 132H. Will this serial number change ? - Yes
  7. But how is that ? Then how is that "repair"? -.... But we check the parameters....
They probably did not expect me to know about the 4 character alphanumeric code located on each earpiece. Bose has very cleverly limited the serial number on these headphones to 4 alphanumeric characters (possibly representing 4 or more parameters like date of manufacture, batch number, origin etc...). The serial number on mine was 132H. If managed properly this would allow them to pass off refurbished items as repaired items. ie: I do not get my own personal in-ear headphones that I used over 3 years. Instead I get one that was used by someone else for a similar period of time before handing over to the Bose Service Center.


fool me once shame on you
fool me twice shame on me


In-ear head phones, being quite a personal piece of equipment, I am pretty sure that few people will opt for the repair. Most will just want to trade-in or Exchange.

So I got the headphones back without being repaired, in a slightly worse condition than I had handed it to them in.




Jury rigging videos
(makeshift repairs or temporary contrivances)


I had initially hesitated writing about this, out of respect for Amar Gopal Bose - the founder of Bose. He was a Philadelphia-born son of an exile from India’s struggle for Independence.
"At a time when Indians were already making waves in all walks of life, there were no great successes yet in innovation that would put Indians at the top. Amar Bose filled the void and was a true pioneer in that regard. What a great Indian and indeed a genius worthy of adulation everywhere." - Jagdish Bhagwati, University Professor at Columbia University
“The first Indian name to become a household word in America was Bose -- a name soon associated with quality, elegance, fidelity and style, virtues not commonly thought of as Indian. In creating that aura around his name lies Amar Bose's first and most enduring contribution to the community that remains so proud of him." - Shashi Tharoor, India’s minister of state for human resource development and a former New York resident when he was the senior-most Indian in the United Nations.
It is a paradox that Amar Bose (Everlasting Bose) founded a company that now uses planned obsolescence, to shorten product life.

In fact, there is nothing new in this policy - A few decades back excellent Japanese Tape recorders were available, which came with flimsy buttons that would snap off pretty quickly.

Digression : Speaking of paradox, I am reminded of an incident - A decade ago, my father's friend had bought the VCD of a movie called "Tuck Everlasting." While watching the movie for the first time the disk cracked. Coincidentally he had told me about this while referring to observations of paradoxes in names.

Maybe I am being too harsh in my judgement. Bose probably intended for the cords to degrade very quickly out of concern for the environment, which is apparently suffering from a lot of non-biodegradable plastic. But won't this create more waste, increase energy utilization and contribute to more pollution.

It takes years to build up a reputation but just three seconds for it to come crashing down. If it were not for the photographs and complaints on social media, it would have been nearly impossible to get an idea about the planned obsolescence strategy adopted by the privately held company, whose business statistics are relatively hard to get.

It is a funny coincidence that tomorrow is World Environment Day (Friday June 5 2015).

In 2014 Bose revenue was up US$ 2.97 billion. I guess this is how they do it.
Firms that pursue this strategy believe that the additional sales revenue it creates more than offsets the additional costs of research and development and opportunity costs of existing product line cannibalization. In a competitive industry, this is a risky strategy because when consumers catch on to this, they decide to buy from competitors instead.
Link to other articles:

Further explorations :


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