DRM for batteries

[Izaac]

On Fri, Jan 04, 2008 at 04:38:07PM +1300, Peter Gutmann wrote:
>At $1.40 each (at least in sub-1K quantities) you wonder whether it's costing
>them more to add the DRM (spread over all battery sales) than any marginal
>gain in preventing use of third-party batteries by a small subset of users.

The calculus here has little to do with unit profit margins.  It has
everything to do with mitigating product liability suits, recalls,
and bad press.  (You won't read a report of "Chiwonkistan Knock-off
Battery Destroys WidgetCo Laptop".  You'll read the report "WidgetCo
Laptop Catches Fire.")

It is an industry still reeling from a hit of many megabux in a
recall of perfectly good batteries.  I suspect that kind of insurance
is, in their minds, a small price to pay.

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