Remember that to stay in business, they must sell something. Since they are selling something designed to last a very long time, they need to expand their customers and sell other products, or both.

Some consumers want to get new product regularly. There is reason to stop them. As long as they continue to make their products to last, the rest of us get what we want, and the company is more profitable, sounds like a win-win.

This appears to be an effort to convince people to try their products - good for them! My answer to your last question is yes. Capitalism is not bad - amoral or unregulated capitalism is bad.

PostmarketOS and other custom ROMs is the true "Keep Club". When you can keep a phone for an extra decade because people keep porting security updates and Android versions long after the company that sold it give up, that's reducing e-waste. Not buying more shit with "points".

I don't think anyone would spend money just to get a few points in their rewards program, and they don't have that much stuff to sell in their shop anyway. If anything I think it will reward those who buy replacement parts the most.

As long as they sell spare parts and make schematics available, they can sell as much stuff as possible.

I guess there is a small incentive to buy more phones for friends and family, that's not a bad thing.

But they should stop with the ewaste earbuds and rather think of something else people might use. I hear home automation is a big market, and lots of space for open, sustainable products.

I think you're overthinking this.

Right now, Fairphone's major challenge is increasing market share.

I don't know if this will help, but I don't have a better idea. I do think it's useful to look at cars to see how it can work.

The major auto companies only started taking EV's seriously because consumers and governments created an opportunity that Tesla took. Once consumers were choosing Tesla instead of Audi or Lexus, it forced Volkswagen and Toyota to start taking the competition seriously.

I think the same should happen with consumer electronics. Standardization, repairability and long life need to be incentivized in a much stronger way than they are now.

Once those incentives are there, Fairphone will be able to take advantage and then Samsung, Google and Apple will be forced to follow.

Let me point out a more positive view of this program: fairphone may want to bind customers to them. They now sell more than just phones, including headphones and earbuds. Customers can choose freely which brand they want for each of these. But if there is an advantage in buying them all from fairphone and not from some less sustainable brand, that creates a positive impact on society.

But your points stand. I believe that as a startup, it is simple to keep up noble goals. As an established company, that gets harder over time. So far, I have my trust in this brand to provide fairer electronics than the rest. And not every company must necessarily lose their ideals during growth. But they are a company after all, and are subject to the same forces as all other companies.

The word "sustainability" is a joke when it comes to the Fairphone. In fact, they don't even deserve to be called "Fair"phone, the moment they declared that removing the headphone jack actually reduces e-waste, all whilst conveniently starting to sell wireless earbuds at the same time. Fairphone are basically a sham company now. They may have started with good intentions, but like most companies, they've now gone down the enshittification path.

They could have definitely done more to actually reward sustainability. The only reward for it (so far) is that every year since you bought your phone, they give you 2€ off of your next purchase. Also, they give you a guaranteed 2€ trade in credit for your old Fairphone (not usable on the phone you are trading in for). Those incentives seem to be about increasing your spending rather than actually doing any sustainability.

I would give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that the program is well intentioned, but it is very badly executed if it is.