Device lifecycle
❗This article is a stub. You can help by expanding it.
#appeals channel in either Zulip or Discord to request removal.An article may be flagged as a stub when it is missing major elements needed to make it useful to a reader. You can help by adding missing sections, verifiable sources, relevant company policies and communications, etc. to make the article more complete.
Lifecycle means series of stages which something (services, products, ..) passes during its lifetime. [1]
Standard product lifecycle consists of multiple phases from manufacturer's perspective:
- Imagine
- Develop
- Useful life
- Introduction
- Growth
- Maturity
- Decline
- End of life
And similar lifecycle model from consumer's perspective:
- Purchase
- Useful life
- Repairs, modifications
- End of life
(Combined from multiple sources, not yet fully accurate. Will fix it bit later. Sorry!)
Why understanding the concept is important
Understanding different lifecycle phases and concepts makes it easier to identify all the practices that manufacturers can use to control the lifecycle.
It might also help estimate Total Cost of Ownership in advance. Majority of manufacturer adjustments for shorter useful life work in a specific way where people make purchase decisions based on past performance/track record and thus assume too optimistic useful life duration. Manufacturers benefit significantly from the asymmetric information when consumers get the information only when it is already too late. This leads to increased Total Cost of Ownership.
It is paradoxical that the manufacturers or their contract manufacturers in general keep a keen eye for factory equipment useful life with other metrics and at the same time cannibalise the useful life of their end products.
General strategies for manufacturers to control lifecycle
Examples
References
- ↑ "Life cycle definition". 2025-09-04.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)