If you’re a class-action attorney, this might be a great time to be alive. You may have a big, bad multinational corporation in your sights, one who is allegedly infringing on the rights of innocent people worldwide. It’s time for that corporation to pay the piper and for you to pad your wallet with huge fees.

The alleged oppressor of individual rights is Apple Inc., a company that has faced class-action lawsuits in the past, and they’d seem to be an easy target. At least that’s the theory. Technically, that theory may even be correct, but let’s really see.

So consider this: You have an iPhone 6 or later. Something happens that impacts the Touch ID button, so you have it replaced. Now most units are still under warranty, even if it’s AppleCare Plus or a third-party protection plan such as SquareTrade. In the former case, the unit would be fixed or replaced under warranty. In the latter case, you’d go to a warranty company to take care of things.

But those who bought their iPhones in the few months where warranties have expired have important decisions to make. Should you take your unit back to an Apple Store and pay a not-cheap price to have repairs done, or seek out an authorized or perhaps a non-authorized third-party repair shop?

So here’s the problem: Your iPhone 6 family handset, including the original and the 6s versions, requires a repair the impacts the Touch ID system. The sensor is replaced as part of the process. For reasons of cost or convenience — and there are many who live far from an Apple Store — the repairs are performed by a third-party repair shop not authorized by Apple.

All well and good. You take home your iPhone, and get a prompt about an iOS update. After it’s installed, the unit stops working with an Error 53 message. The phone is bricked so, therefore, it must be Apple’s fault.

Are we clear about this so far?

You will be naturally upset, and want to blame someone for your misfortune. After all, from a practical and legal standpoint, you really did nothing wrong. You should not be forced to pick the manufacturer if you choose not to — or can’t — and if the proper parts are used, everything should work properly. Except when they don’t.

So what’s Apple’s take on the matter? Well, according to a statement given some media outlets, “We take customer security very seriously and Error 53 is the result of security checks designed to protect our customers. iOS checks that the Touch ID sensor in your iPhone or iPad correctly matches your device’s other components. If iOS finds a mismatch, the check fails and Touch ID, including for Apple Pay use, is disabled. This security measure is necessary to protect your device and prevent a fraudulent Touch ID sensor from being used. If a customer encounters Error 53, we encourage them to contact Apple Support.”

So this is supposed to be a good thing, a way to protect you and your iPhone’s data? It means that someone can’t just steal your iPhone, disassemble it and use a bogus Touch ID system to bypass security checks and grab your data.

The fix is, supposedly, to replace the original Touch ID sensor and cable, which will reestablish the proper secure connection between the fingerprint sensor and the internal chipset that stores the security token. Or just let Apple figure it all out for you.

But if you do choose to contact Apple, you have to confront the political fallout of your decision to use someone else to make the original repair. You see, if Apple suspects that the handset of a normally covered iPhone has been tampered with in some way, or damaged by a third-party repair shop, they could, in theory tell you that you’re out of luck. Just go back to the third-party shop or buy a new iPhone. Chalk it up to experience.

Now one thing that’s not being mentioned in all these reports, which is just how many people might have been impacted by this problem. Among the things that do break, I expect Touch ID is not so high on the list. Even then, if you tell Apple a good sob story, I do not seem them sending you on your way disappointed, particularly if you live in a place where no Apple Store is nearby, or near enough to be reasonably accessible.

It may also be that a repair scheme will have to be devised for third parties that will guarantee the integrity of the replacement process, so in the event you need such a repair, you’re not forced to choose Apple. Indeed, the class-action attorneys would cite any requirement to use a manufacturer’s repair people to fix a consumer electronics device as evidence of infringing their rights. It doesn’t matter that Apple really didn’t intend to do any harm. Laws are also likely being violated.

I also wonder what happens if the fingerprint sensor is busted on a Samsung Galaxy smartphone. Can you just take it to any repair shop, have it fixed and go on your way, or will any software update cause the handset to stop working? Does Samsung even have such a tight security scheme? At least with a Android device, the chances it would be able to even receive an OS update are extremely low.

Regardless, I am sure we haven’t heard the last words from Apple on the subject. Just don’t call it “Touchgate.”

On occasion, I’ve read articles suggesting that Apple deliberately wants to make its gear obsolete, as soon as possible, so you’ll rush to buy the latest and greatest. Certainly the upgrade cycle is an important way of doing business. A company cannot always depend on attracting enough new customers, but selling more gear to existing customers — or services — keeps the business going in grand style.

Now with Apple, the upgrade message has been mixed. If you have an older Mac, from 2007 to 2009, you can still install OS X El Capitan and get pretty decent performance. There are some hardware features that won’t work, such as Metal graphics support, and we already knew that the Handoff feature of Continuity was a non-starter on older hardware. It’s not that Apple will hold back new features because older gear, long out of warranty, isn’t supported. That equipment still otherwise works, however, which is a change.

The same holds true for the iPhone and the iPad. iOS 9 supports the same gear as iOS 8. Not with the same features, and I wouldn’t shout about performance with the oldest models. But it does show in unusual commitment, although some might suggest that tepid performance may force customers to replace their iPhones, if that’s the hope.

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Editor’s Note: I missed a few deadlines due to a nasty flu virus, so I’m playing catch up. I’ve got lots to write about, though, so stay tuned.

Now we know that Windows 10’s upgrade pace has been  slow but steady. Sure, Microsoft claims that over 200 million PCs were upgraded as of January. It sounds like a huge figure, but don’t forget that the Windows user base is 1.5 billion. So it’s not nearly as compelling as you might think.

It’s not that Microsoft isn’t doing everything possible to push updates. It’s free for consumers, at least until the time when it won’t be. They even downloaded the installer in the background on an unknown number of PCs, without your permission, so you’d take the hint. More recently, they claimed that many PC buyers of equipment with the new Intel Skylake chips must use Windows 10 for full compatibility even if they prefer Windows 7 or, perish forbid, Windows 8/8.1. But they’ve also distributed a list of products that can escape that requirement.

So is something wrong with Windows 10? Well, it was a little shaky out of the starting gate, but Microsoft has released a slew of updates that fix bugs and add missing features. So it ought to be OK now, but does that make it a must-have?

Certainly it undoes some of the really bad choices of Windows 8/8.1. The Start menu is back, and the user interface is not so different that the Windows 7, so the user should get acclimated in short order. Windows 10 also offers integration with 2-in-1 or convertible note-books that double as a tablet, though certainly not the sort of tablet you see from Apple. It’s also supposed to support mobile handsets from Nokia and whatever other makers Microsoft can entice to run its relatively unpopular mobile OS.

By the same token, businesses are examining Windows 10 for performance and compatibility, but right now they’re sticking with Windows 7, which still dominates over half the user base. So when the free download period ends, does Microsoft relent and extend it? Or will those who would otherwise have to shell out $119 and $199 for the upgrade be left to their own devices? How will that speed up adoption anyway?

My expectation is that Microsoft may relent on ending the free update policy for consumers if the adoption rate isn’t a lot higher come this summer.

But it’s not just Microsoft who might be confronting resistance to its newest operating system. The adoption rate for OS X El Capitan appears to be tapering off.

Or at least, that’s what a certain blogger claims. But when you look at the figures, it may not be quite so bad. So the adoption rate as of the end of November was 38%. This would seem to be a pretty good share, but its predecessor, Yosemite, had a 44.5% share as of the end of December the previous year.

The comparison is based on the fact that Yosemite arrived a couple of weeks later in 2014, and being 6.5% ahead more than two months later somehow makes it quite a bit more successful. I would think, however, that a proper comparison would stop at December 16th. It would seem that El Capitan would still run somewhat behind Yosemite, but by a smaller margin.

Now Yosemite was a troublesome experience for some. It took several updates to vanquish Wi-Fi connection problems reported by some users. Indeed, both Yosemite and El Capitan received tepid reviews from the Mac App store, a mixture of extreme satisfaction and extreme disappointment. That said, perhaps some people would rather not bother until things settle down.

After all, the promise of El Capitan was fewer new features and improved stability. The App Store reviews are all over the place, reporting problems with Mail (which also exhibited problems with Yosemite), Safari, and such services as Wi-Fi and USB. Some report printer issues, and I suppose that could be the result of a driver conflict. None of the printers I’ve used, from Brother and Epson, display any glitches, and I have several USB devices, including an external SuperDrive and a mic mixer, which work just fine.

Overall performance, including boot times, was said to be slower for some, but not for me. Some of the complainers state that they ended up reverting to Yosemite to solve the problems, and I presume that required backing up and restoring their systems.

No doubt the unfavorable reviews represented one factor in dissuading some from upgrading to El Capitan. It may also be that the new features just aren’t compelling enough to persuade people that it’s a must-have. That’s particularly true if there are bugs of one sort or another that are still not resolved as of the recent 10.11.3 update.

Unfortunately, the problems do not appear to be consistent. I have not had any notable issues with El Capitan except for Mail, which as of 10.11.3, still freezes for a brief time. I’m told this bug has been addressed with the 10.11.4 update that’s currently being tested by developers and public beta testers.

What is most troubling is that a huge number of Mac users have had access to the betas, but there are still reports of rampant problems. So is that the fault of testers failing to report serious problems, or Apple not taking such reports seriously?

When Tim Cook talks to the public or to Apple employees, everything is coming up roses. I understand why he wants to put positive spins on the situation, but still.

That Apple sold over 13 million new iPhones the first week the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus went on sale last September seemed promising enough. It fed the expectation of continued rapid sales growth for the iPhone. But after the needs of the early adopters were met, it appears that sales growth has stalled. The iPhone barely grew in the December quarter and sales are fated to fall in the current quarter.

So was something wrong with the iPhone refresh? Was it not significant enough?

That’s one argument, but it doesn’t hold up so well. You see, Apple has upgraded the iPhone on an alternate-year basis since the beginning. One year, it’s the same case design with new hardware features, and the following year the case is changed. In the case of the former, the critics routinely claim that, since it looks the same, an iPhone refresh isn’t refreshed enough regardless of what’s changed.

Either way, there has been steady growth through the years. More to the point, most people aren’t in the habit of upgrading an iPhone every single year, though some of the lease plans allow for such upgrades. It’s usually every other year, which means that the design is going to be different. On the other hand, there are economic headwinds around the world, particularly in China where sales growth, while still in the double digits in the December quarter, was nowhere near as much as the previous year.

It may also be, in part, about product saturation. How many people are planning to buy their very first premium smartphones? While Apple continues to expand into developing countries, sales might have focused on lower-priced models. But if that were true, why were average sales prices up slightly in the last quarter for Apple?

There are also rumors of a new 4-inch iPhone to meet the needs of an up-to-date product that’s not only cheaper, but offers the smaller form factor some buyers still prefer.

Since I own an iPhone 6 that I purchased with no down payment in 2014, I would not be a candidate for the iPhone 6s unless the enhanced camera and 3D Touch appealed to me, and I was willing to spend the extra money to upgrade early. They’re not, at least for me, but that would have applied to the iPhone 5s compared to the iPhone 5 too. But since I had an iPhone 4s then, switching to an iPhone 5s made sense.

In short, I don’t think Apple necessarily did anything wrong, or that there’s something that Apple might have done better, except, perhaps, to better satisfy the need for smaller handsets. There are market conditions over which Apple, despite its size, cannot control. Consider the overall PC market, where most companies are seeing lower sales. Fewer Macs were sold too in the last quarter, and that’s a trend that’s hardly going to change overnight. Indeed, Microsoft Windows 10 does not appear to have sparked a large PC upgrade cycle, and it may be that there will never be another major PC upgrade cycle.

In the TV business, manufacturers are trying to foist 4K on us, but it’s mostly a hard sell. The actual visible difference requires a large set to detect unless other 4K features, such as the higher dynamic range and enhanced color gamut, are included. That’s the reasoning behind the Ultra HD Premium scheme, which will give the buyer a clear indication that these enhancements are included in the models they’re considering.

So perhaps, if Ultra HD Premium sets aren’t too expensive, it may actually boost sales. But probably not till there’s actually much to watch in 4K, and there’s not. Maybe the arrival of Ultra HD Blu-ray, if accompanied by a rich selection of titles at reasonable prices, will help some. I don’t think it’ll be near as bad as the 3D TV debacle.

Even then, the improvements in 4K, even with Ultra HD Premium, are nowhere near as drastic as standard definition versus HD. So it may help some, but the changeover would be part of the natural upgrade cycle as customers buy new sets. Selling cheaper sets with the enhanced color/contrast features will help, but I don’t see a revolution.

When it comes to smartphones, in addition to market saturation, feature saturation may also play a part. There are just so many gee-whiz features that handset makers can conceive each year, and many are hardly compelling enough to fuel upgrades. With the new pricing policies, where the cost of buying or leasing a handset is separated from the cost of the service, more customers may decide to just let the prices drop after their gear is paid for, particularly if the new models aren’t so appealing.

That’s clearly happened already in the PC market. Performance boosts of 10% or so each year are hardly noticeable, and PCs tend to last longer nowadays, so there’s not so much of an incentive to upgrade. Apple’s ongoing switch to Retina iMacs surely helped boost sales somewhat, but far more note-books are sold regardless. Maybe if the MacBook Air goes Retina this year with similar pricing to current models.

When it comes to tablets, it’s not at all certain when or if a major upgrade cycle will start. Maybe this coming holiday season, assuming Apple has some compelling product refreshes in the offing. Or they provide more compelling reasons to upgrade or even buy one in the first place.