Apple Lends Support to California State Right-to-Repair Bill ⇥ techcrunch.com

Brian Heater, TechCrunch:

In a surprise move, Apple this week penned a letter to California state senator Susan Talamantes Eggman, voicing support for SB 244, a “right to repair” bill currently making its way through Sacramento’s State Capitol building.

Apple has, of course, softened its stance on right to repair legislation in recent years, including last year’s addition of a Self-Service Repair program. The offering, which was viewed by many as a preemptive measure against looming state and federal legislation, provides users with rental tools to repair iPhones and Macs at home.

Jason Koebler of 404 Media posted a full copy of Apple’s letter (PDF). If you are interested in how SB 244 evolved over time, I have uploaded a comparison between the bill text introduced and the latest version. One update that caught my eye is that, according to the definition on line 56, a “desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or cellphone” are all considered “general” or “all-purpose” computers.

Pressure works.