I think if Apple would have done any one of these individual things, it would have been okay:
- Communicated via release notes that the newer iOS version may make their device slower to improve battery performance
- Allowed users to downgrade their iOS version if they want to
- Informed users that their batteries may have degraded, and can be replaced
- Gave users a toggle (buried away in settings, if need be)
- Admitted publicly that they're doing this instead of lying
I actually don't think Apple had malicious intentions, but I do think they deserve the criticism because their communication was so tremendously sloppy here. They deserve the fine because the sloppiness happened to benefit their bottom line and sell more phones. France has decided that this shouldn't be an excuse for Apple, nor any actually malicious company in the future, and wants this kind of thing disclosed to consumers before it's rolled out.
- Communicated via release notes that the newer iOS version may make their device slower to improve battery performance
- Allowed users to downgrade their iOS version if they want to
- Informed users that their batteries may have degraded, and can be replaced
- Gave users a toggle (buried away in settings, if need be)
- Admitted publicly that they're doing this instead of lying
I actually don't think Apple had malicious intentions, but I do think they deserve the criticism because their communication was so tremendously sloppy here. They deserve the fine because the sloppiness happened to benefit their bottom line and sell more phones. France has decided that this shouldn't be an excuse for Apple, nor any actually malicious company in the future, and wants this kind of thing disclosed to consumers before it's rolled out.