Linked by Eugenia Loli on Fri 24th Jul 2009 22:52 UTC
Every few years we geeks have our own kind of popcorn show to watch: tech companies showing teeth to one another. This time around, it's Palm vs Apple. In all seriousness though, how ethical is the battle around iTunes?
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Member since:2005-07-06
Your definition of a monopoly is incorrect by the same token one could argue that Microsoft has no monopoly because everyone can create an alternative OS.
In my view, Apple has a monopoly on song player device (iPod) and on song digital purchase (iTune), which is fine in itself but which create restriction on what they can do or not do: preventing other song player device to access iTune would be fine if they didn't have a monopole but as they one, it's illegal IMHO.
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Member since:
2006-10-06
Tell that to Microsoft who had to ENDURE all these years of court-dragging about IE! If Apple (which already has a monopoly with iPods/iTunes in the US btw) is to be allowed to do "whatever they please" with their products, then Microsoft should have NEVER be tried about IE neither in the US or in Europe.
But as you can see, people wouldn't let MS to do whatever it pleased. Why should we let Apple?
I don't think Apple has a monopoly with iTunes/iPods. They have the largest marketshare, sure - but I haven't ready anywhere about iTunes preventing Amazon MP3 downloads (or other downloads) from working. Or Apple trying to push mp3 startups out of business. Or iTunes not allowing third parties to access and sync data from iTunes with a standard spec.
There is very little case for Apple being a monopoly. Are they a juggernaut in the online music download business? Are they the main player? Yes. Would we all like to see more variety and more competition? Sure. But Apple is hardly a monopoly.
One might make a case about music prices, since Apple smartly tried to standardize them around .99 a track. They might be throttling the marketplace in that way, but it's probably a good throttle cause I don't want to spend $20 for an album download like I used to spend on a CD.
I am glad that Apple/AT&T and other integrations/contracts will be explored, because I don't like it either. But you know, I will buy from any music download store that offers great selection, integrated access with iTunes, and good prices. Amazon has actually been edging out iTunes in some of those area lately. That's good, and I hope it keeps going. Amazon just needs to make its website better looking IMO.