Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 13th Feb 2009 20:25 UTC, submitted by Moulinneuf
Apple The iPhone, Apple's current cash cow and best selling cellular phone in the United States, is a completely closed phone in that only applications from the App Store can be installed on the phone. However, by jailbreaking the iPhone you can install applications from whatever source you want, which might be desirable if an application you want isn't allowed into the App Store by Apple. The Cupertino company has never had an official stance on jailbeaking, but this has now changed: according to them, it's a breach of copyright.
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RE: Not surprising, is it?
by dagw on Fri 13th Feb 2009 21:57 UTC in reply to "Not surprising, is it?"
dagw
Member since:
2005-07-06

When your reaction to evidence of your customer's demands is to sue them

iPhone end user aren't really Apples customers in this market, the cell phone companies with the exclusive deals are. So yes, Apple is doing exactly what their customers demand.

Reply Parent Score: 3

RE[2]: Not surprising, is it?
by tupp on Fri 13th Feb 2009 22:21 in reply to "RE: Not surprising, is it?"
tupp Member since:
2006-11-12

Those who buy Apple Iphones are Apple customers.

Apple's actions cannot be justified by blaming the cell phone companies who are Apple's partners.

Reply Parent Score: 4

StaubSaugerNZ Member since:
2007-07-13

Yes, even though Apple may get money off the telephony companies their customer *still* is the end-user. Without those end-users Apple and partners cannot make any money. Sure, they can temporarily make sales "stuffing the channel", as Microsoft did with Vista, but once they forget where the source of the demand is they are on the road to ruin.

It'll take a while but once people get pissed enough with Apple's restrictions (it takes time for people to learn for themselves, as most ignore the warnings of others) then there'll be a move to open platforms like Android etc. Apple still can still prevent this migration (by easing restrictions) but I don't think it is in their DNA. People will blame Apple's demise on Job's health but it is actually their authoritarian impulses that really irk the cognoscenti that buy their products.

It would be a different story if there were no alternatives (Android etc). I personally have eschewed getting an iPhone, because it is so closes, while I wait for an Android-based product to be imported to my location. My colleagues all are tempted to 'jail-break' their iPhones (and it is well within their technical abilities) but realise how Apple will 'brick' their phones with a later update if they do this. They are starting to wish they'd waited for Android-based phones. Poor bastards.

Edited 2009-02-13 22:43 UTC

Reply Parent Score: 4