Fujitsu: No U.S. LifeBook4Life program, for now
Fujitsu Siemens delivered an early holiday present to its U.K. customers late last week when it announced the "LifeBook4Life" program.
Essentially, anyone in the U.K. who buys a select LifeBook laptop and a three-year warranty will be entitled to trade the system in for a replacement laptop (of "comparable specification and value," with a 10 percent adjustment for inflation) after three years--and continue trading in LifeBooks every three years for the rest of his or her life. For free.
Sweet, no?
Naturally, we wondered if and when this particular idea would cross the pond to include the company's customers in North America. We asked our contact at Fujitsu, who replied that LifeBook4Life is U.K.-only at this time, but that they're "gauging the interest in such an offer in the U.S." Translation: if you're interested in buying once and enjoying laptops for life, make your voices heard.
Meanwhile, perhaps another manufacturer can crunch the numbers and determine whether it'd be worthwhile to offer some competition. I know I'd certainly be tempted to go with a particular laptop brand if I knew I'd get a fresh one every three years.
Michelle Thatcher has been reviewing technology products for nearly a decade. Her current focus is laptop reviews, with some kitchen gadgetry and Web 2.0 thrown in for good measure.
My only worry is from the company's standpoint of not losing a bleep-load of profit in the long term over this. But, they'd clean house and force competitors to do the same to keep up, drastically altering the business landscape of portable hardware.