Planned obsolescence, or built-in obsolescence if you are in the UK, is the decision by a manufacturer to purposely design, manufacture and distribute a consumer product to become obsolete or non-functional specifically to force the customer to buy the next generation of the product. This plan will be implemented before the ‘Next Generation’ is even off the drawing board. Planned obsolescence is of course, very beneficial for a manufacturer because it means a customer can’t just buy a product once and have it last for many years thereby never having to buy again – the life of the ... more ...