I agree with the comments of JohnOfStony. However, the simple answer as to why make a device hard to repair is because you can sell more devices....period. The manufacturers want us to discard and upgrade, rather than preserve and refurbish the device. That is one of the reasons I hate devices that you cannot service your own battery, which is usually what goes first. Until I got my I-pod Touch, I avoided all personal media player devices that had a battery that could not be changed by the consumer. I finally gave in to the the I-pod because not a one of the replaceable battery devices had the features of the I-pod. Along with that purchase, I had to eat some crow. My I-pod Touch is now a couple months into its third year. The battery is pretty well deteriorated. I have overcome that somewhat by having chargers convenient, like my car and the office, and my briefcase. I have to charge it everyday with normal use. I have a Nook Color, and again had to suck it up on the battery issue because I know of no readers or tablets that have replaceable batteries. I have to charge my Nook about every three days and have had it from the day the Nook Color came out last year. I am careful to let it run down almost completely before recharging as a strategy to extend the battery life. As for other devices, I go through cell phones about once every two years, again because it is so hard and expensive to get them repaired, and also because the replacements always have better and more features than the one you would like to keep running. However, just from normal use, cellphones last about 3 years. Finally, I think that there is built-in obsolescence. The technology is changing so fast that even perfectly running devices start becoming unattractive or inconvenient well before they expire from use. Manufacturers probably depend on this aspect as much or even more than the useful lifetime of a device. Still, there are some things I wish could be reasonably and easily repaired, like cellphones and personal media players.