A big announcement came in this past Monday, August 5th, when IT giant Apple announced that its customers can exchange their third-party USB power adapters and get a brand new one if they throw in an extra $10(USD). This offer, according to Apple, is for a limited time and they further announced that each customer could make this exchange if they validated their Apple device. Owners of iPhone , iPod and iPad can make this exchange from August 16th onwards with a limit of one exchange per device.
According to a released statement from Apple officials: “Starting August 16, 2013, if you have concerns about any of your USB power adapters, you can drop them off at an Apple Retail Store or at an Apple Authorized Service Provider. We will ensure that these adapters are disposed of in an environmentally friendly way.
If you need a replacement adapter to charge your iPhone, iPad, or iPod, we recommend getting an Apple USB power adapter. For a limited time, you can purchase one Apple USB power adapter at a special price — $10 USD or approximate equivalent in local currency. To qualify, you must turn in at least one USB power adapter and bring your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to an Apple Retail Store or participating Apple Authorized Service Provider for serial number validation. The special pricing on Apple USB power adapters is limited to one adapter for each iPhone, iPad, and iPod you own and is valid until October 18, 2013.”
This announcement came as a rebound off an incident which took this billion dollar franchise by a surprise. An iPhone 5 user in China, 23-year old woman, was answering her phone while it was charging and was hence allegedly electrocuted which ultimately caused her death. This incident forced Apples administration to declare that they would look into this tragedy and try to prevent this sort of accident to happen again.
Apple announced that this program was to help customers so that they would own purpose built adapters with high precision in safety so that any such accident could be prevented. They declared customers safety to be its priority.
Bad experience with adapters has haunted Apple before in the past. In 2008, Apple called their iPhone USB adapters off the market due to some concerns over prongs that would break off in outlets and thus caused distress amongst customers. Later Apple released redesigned adapters with a green dot which were declared “safe for use”. Currently the 5W adapters are priced at $21 and 12W power adapters are priced at $19 from Apple.
Source: iPhone In Canada