Apple care is an insurance policy for the devices manufactured from the apple company. A person is supposed to pay up-front cost that will be applicable in covering any forecasted problems. This insurance plan is comprehensive, as it extends the period of the hardware coverage in terms of both the repairs and support. In this regard, every iPhone is known to be accompanied with a year that will facilitate hardware coverage in terms of any repairs, through the limited apple care warranty along with a maximum of 90 days, which are applicable in complimentary support (Baig, & LeVitus, 20).
The warranty related to apple care tend to be more diverse, as it carters for parts and labor offered by authorized technicians. However, such coverage involves the phone itself, the battery, earphones and accessories, among others. Software support is also part and parcel of the apple care warranty. In this case, the designated apple experts can assist in troubleshooting issues that may be troublesome to the phone (Baig, & LeVitus, 22). Such issues may include; using iCloud and the iOS, connection to wireless networks, and any other questions that may arise as a result of the apple software. These questions may relate to applications such as mail, calendar and face time. It should be noted that apple supports four types of plans namely; iPhones, iPods, apple TVs, Ipads, Macs and Apple displays.
For the plan that covers Macs and Apple display, the warranty provides three full years of support. This means that it extends the support period by 33 months, as the limited warranty also prolongs by two years. In covering the other products, Apple is known to provide a support period of two years as earlier on mentioned. It is however easy to purchase Apple care, especially when shopping for a new hardware, but one do not have to buy it this way. For instance, when it comes to Macs, Apple TVs, displays and iPods, an individual can purchase the protection plan at any given time as long as it is within the warranty year (Baig, & LeVitus, 26).
The warranty related to apple care can be seen to be beneficial to the consumers. This is because; the plan provides a guarantee that makes an individual believe that it is worth the money. The other benefit to the consumer is that one does not need to set aside funds that will be used in future repairs. In this regard, one should consider paying the up-front cost which will inculcate a peace of mind, instead of living with worries of uncovered repairs (Baig, & LeVitus, 32). The other benefit to the consumer is that, a person can transfer ownership of the warranty to a third party, in case he or she decides to sell the phone. This will be beneficial in that, the value of the selling price will increase.
The warranty also has several shortcomings in that, when a credit card is used in the purchase of other things, the warranty period automatically extends by a year. This is however not the case as far as the warranty provided by Apple care is concerned, since the credit card does not in any way extend the warranty period. The other disadvantage or rather problem to the consumer is that of convenience. For instance, if a person lives in a location that is far away from the Apple store, he or she will have to follow lengthy procedures such as shipping the device for repair (Baig, & LeVitus, 27). In this case, an individual will have to incur the shipping charges, hence making the pursuant of the warranty to be expensive.
Works Cited
Baig, Edward C, and Bob LeVitus. Iphone for Dummies. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons, 2012. Internet resource.
