You got a cheap earphone from Apple. Let’s say 30 cents a pair. Breaks down more often. Some customers will just buy new ones (profit in), few will complain.
The wage of the employee is e.g.12USD/hour, 20 cents a minute.
The minimum cost to replace a defective unit is 2 minutes by 20cents + 30c for the earphone, totalling 70c. If the process required 3,5 more minutes for complaint handling, receipt printing or discussing, Apple would lose this 70 cents again.
And it is still cheaper, than delivering quality earphones for 35cents… because the customer time is not calculated in. You drove, parked, spent your time for free.

Beside that, if your perception is that you got great service and you are happy, then this is what you need and delivering it is a wise business concept.

But you do realize those things cost less than $1 to make.

It would have cost Apple more time to listen to the rest of your explanation than to just hand you a new set.

mr. pants… the cinema display is woefully outdated in color gamut and response time compared to some of the newer offerings out there such as the HP lp3065 30″ LCD.

Now I just need to save up for one of those beautiful cinema displays. That’s enough to make me get an iMac right there.

I mean, that must have cost them… 20 cents? 15 cents?

And it certainly takes a “genius” to follow a headphone replacement policy. I mean, the average person that might work at Best Buy or CompUSA would NEVER be able to figure out something like “if a customer brings you a pair of Apple earbuds and claims they are having problems with them, grab a new pair and hand them to the customer.”

Now that’s service right there. I think I’ll go throw my HP laptop in the bay tonight and run down (and I do mean RUN) to Apple tomorrow and get a new iBook. And an iPod. And an iPhone. At least I’ll always know that if the cheap pair of earbuds they give me ever have issues, I can get another pair – FOR FREE!!!!

And the 100 dollar “refund” Steve Jobs gave you on your 600 dollar phone sure was nice. You’ll be able to buy a lot with that (as long as you spend it at iTunes).

I had a similar issue with my iPod earbuds(http://tylerbt-who.blogspot.com/2007/03/crushed.html).

Keep taking those awesome photos and thanks.

So, last weekend I was floating on a raft in the pool listening to my iPod. Well, my headphones dropped in the pool. So, I’ll be testing Apples willingness to give me another pair. I expect I’ll have to buy another set but it’s worth a try!!