iPods and Giles Slade's Book Entitled Made to Break

In a recently-released book entitled Made to Break, author Giles Slade addresses the trend of American companies creating products that are destined to malfunction. The book was released in April of 2006 and broadly discusses the issue of product consumption in America. Slade, a freelance writer, spoke with CNN earlier today about the subject.

One of the largest latest trends has been the increased popularity of Apple's iPod. Slade references the composition of the iPod itself and the decision the company made to encase the battery inside. By doing this, when the battery dies, there is no way for the consumer to replace it independently. They must either send it back to Apple or ultimately buy another iPod.

Taking this one step further, the average life of an iPod battery that is used regularly is thirteen months. This lifespan is conveniently just one month after the warranty of the product expires.

In one quarter of business, Apple sold 807,000 of the iPod digital music players. Currently, about forty million people own iPods. Since the iPod became such an important asset to mainstream America, there have been a number of updated versions released.

Recently, with the release of a new iPod mini, Apple joined forced with Nike to create an exercise program. Nike has made a new shoe to fit a chip from the iPod mini. The companies have worked together on this concept and produced a brand new software program. Not only will this boost sales for the iPod alone, but Nike and Apple as a whole as will significantly profit.

According to the author's research, the average person spends $2500.00 a year on consumer electronics. Slade references a phenomenon known as "Mohr's Law" which states every eighteen months, some newer, better product is released.

Software is becoming more and more advanced, so much so that new hardware is needed to support the needs of the complex programs. Manufacturers have capitalized on this by purposely conceptualizing more intricate programs. Slade references Microsoft to further display this idea. The company has boasted that for every dollar consumers spend on a product, they will ultimately spend approximately eighteen more dollars on upgrades.

In Made to Break, Slade refers to Americans as currently participating in what he terms a "throwaway culture." When taking into account recent technological advancements and their rapid increase, this notion becomes all the more obvious. Why settle for the original product when it has been improved multiple times?