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Not just Psystar is it? Its also efi-x and PearC, not to mention the hackintosh forums, and its also jailbreaking the iPod. The locked app store is legally different, but its the same basic approach in terms of business model: its the lock-in.

Stop the OS buyer from using the 'wrong' hardware, stop the iPod user managing their database from the 'wrong' OS (Linux), stop them buying their tunes using the 'wrong' software (anything but iTunes), stop them for as long as you can playing their bought tunes on the 'wrong' kind of player. Stop them putting their iPhone on the 'wrong' networks, stop them getting applications from the 'wrong' place (anywhere but the app store), stop people putting the 'wrong' applications into the app store for purchase....

The issue is, as a company, your time and energy are limited. The amount of communication you can do with your customers is limited.

How much of that time and energy do you want to spend stopping them from doing what they want to do, suing them, trying to control them? How much of it do you want to spend trying to meet their needs and enable them to do what they want to do?

After you get through answering the question, if you are Apple, you will come up with the answer that as a company you want to spend as much time and energy as it takes to keep on with the lock-in business model. Then ask yourself a simple question. Why?

And as a customer ask yourself the equivalent simple question: why do I put up with this?

I for one don't put up with it. The only thing Apple that I 'own' is the Quicktime player, and I only do that because I 'have' to.

If someone can show me an alternative that plays all the current movie trailers, etc then I'll dump Apple in a heartbeat.

Maybe they will get the hint that it's an arms race, and open the damn device so people can hack on it without jumping through so many hoops as we have to do now...

One can only hope, of course.

Do you still have to buy quicktime pro to do mundane things like full screen videos? That used to irk the hell out of folks, hence the popularity of VLC in most Apple fora, I guess.

Rationally (now theres a word that's out of favor in this day and age) the only thing Apple could do is say that you void your license by using the non-Apple app store. Then again, since you have already voided your license by jailbreaking the phone it's a moot point.
Knowing Apple, it probably won't stop there though.
I just love how the IT industry think it's so special and does not have to play by the same rules as other industries.

Edited 2009-03-09 09:25 UTC