Industry Committee on March 1st, 2018

[Jacqueline Famulak]

I think that when people do a software upgrade and it has a ReadMe announcement prior to the upgrade that says “fixes security bug” or that updates a flaw somewhere in the software, they should be doing that. We encourage that, and I think that whether or not a person reads it, the fact that they no longer are having unexpected shutdowns is a benefit to them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Masse, you have five minutes.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you for being here today.

One of the things I'm curious about is where you do your testing for the iPhone.

[Jacqueline Famulak]

We do it at our headquarters in California and probably at every manufacturing site where we would make batteries.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Is that where you do your cold weather testing as well? It's a serious question, because when people are using their iPhones in very northern areas, cold would affect performance, and you identified that. Everybody knows that. Do you do your cold weather testing in California?

[Jacqueline Famulak]

We would probably be doing it in cold rooms, yes. We have extensive testing facilities for doing these things under all different temperatures.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Okay. Who made the decision on a shutdown at 30%? What Mr. Baylis was getting at was that somebody decided on that 30% to have the software activate and go from being dormant, I guess, to active. Why was it not 20% or 40%? That's what I think he was getting at. Who made that decision?

[Jacqueline Famulak]

Mr. Poole used that 30% number, and I'm not sure it's entirely accurate. I described the other factors that come into play when a battery is going to determine whether it needs to manage its performance or whether it's just going to shut down.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Okay. Let's get rid of the percentage. Who makes the decision? Obviously it was decided that the software be installed on the phones, and across the global platforms, I suppose. Who made that decision?

[Jacqueline Famulak]

To update the iOS for the unexpected shutdown?

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Yes, and to not disclose that to the public. Who in Apple decided? It's a known thing that you had there.

You have the product and then you have the software, which is designed to affect the phone. The phone then was affected, but that wasn't disclosed to the public. Who made that decision in Apple, in your organization, not to disclose that to the public, including Canadian operations? Who was that person?

[Jacqueline Famulak]

There was no decision made not to disclose. We did provide the statement that explained it.

If I could step back, when we first did the update, it was designed to prevent the unexpected shutdown, and it was successful. We have a huge number of our customers who do these updates regularly.

Moving forward, we started hearing that some of our customers were concerned about a slowness. We looked at the data and we found that the algorithm this offer was using.... Is it cold? Is the battery old? Is it depleted? It was that sort of thing. Also, how is it managing it? We provided a statement on December 28 that we put out to the public. We put it out directly to our customers so they would understand and to try to calm the noise that was going on about it, because all that information was causing concern.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

I still don't know who made that decision. That's important for me and for Canadian consumers. Was that decision made in California?

[Jacqueline Famulak]

This issue can affect phones worldwide.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Why do you think Apple is now in front of the Department of Justice in the United States and in Spain, France, and South Korea? There are a number of different.... What is it about this case that is now bringing you in front of them? Do you think there was something wrong in what Apple did, and what was that?

[Jacqueline Famulak]

I don't think Apple did anything wrong.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Okay, so is it generally the other countries, including Canada, and the consumers that are wrong, not Apple?

[Jacqueline Famulak]

No, I believe that we continue to communicate to the consumers in the best way we can by communicating to them directly about what they are experiencing. I can't comment at all about what the other countries have alleged or are investigating.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

With regard to the refund of $35, I notice that in all of your media things you mention that it's $99 and you do it for $35. Why was that figure chosen? Who chose that figure? It was $99 originally, and then there is shipping as well. Why not just replace the battery? You affected the performance anyway....

[Jacqueline Famulak]

To be clear on what the program is, it is a replacement program for $35, so we're not refunding people $35.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Right.

[Jacqueline Famulak]

Anybody can go to a retail store or an authorized service provider in Canada and obtain the battery replacement for $35.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

If you live in northern Ontario, for example, you have to use shipping. Why wouldn't Apple cover that?

[Jacqueline Famulak]

I believe that we have service providers. We have over 1,300 service providers across Canada.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

In terms of the decisions, though, it was $99 and went down to $35. I just think you should be doing it, but that's my personal opinion. Where was that decision made? I'm curious. I think Canadian consumers want to know.

Is it all coming out of California? If that's the case, fine, but we're looking for answers here.