Very few people get the chance to make history. Even fewer get the chance to make it twice. Perhaps that is why it is so fascinating to watch Steve Jobs as he tries to usher in the era of mobile touch computing today, just as he ushered in the era of the personal computer three decades ago. But I wonder whether he is repeating the very same mistakes which relegated Macs to a niche market. Or did he learn from those mistakes so that Apple comes out on top this time?
Jobs is once again pitting Apple’s complete product design mastery against the rest of the industry, except this time he thinks he will prevail. Whether it is his repeated moves to keep Adobe’s Flash off the iPhone or his growing rift with Google over Android, Jobs is making the iPhone and iPad a relatively closed system that Apple can control. All apps need to be approved by Apple, the ads shown on the apps will also start to go through Apple, and no matter how hard Adobe tries to open up the iPhone to its Flash developers Apple will keep blocking all its efforts.
Developers and pundits can cry foul all they want about Apple’s lack of openness. But remember, companies are only open when it is convenient for them. The fight with Adobe has always been about making developers play by Apple’s rules. And right now they can make those rules because they have all the customers.
In the desktop era, Windows had the most apps, which translated directly into sales. Today on mobile, the iPhone has the most apps and Jobs wants to keep it that way. Allowing Adobe or Microsoft to port apps developed for other devices to the iPhone devalues the iPhone, which is why Apple is cracking down so hard on Adobe. It is not about Flash, it is about developers. As John Gruber writes:
The App Store platform could turn into a long-term de facto standard platform. That’s how Microsoft became Microsoft. At a certain point developers wrote apps for Windows because so many users were on Windows and users bought Windows PCs because all the software was being written for Windows. That’s the sort of situation that creates a license to print money.
But how long will that license last? The iPhone faces a growing threat from Google’s Android phones, which are the PCs of the mobile world. Only Apple makes the iPhone, but many phone manufacturers make Android phones just like many PC makers produce Windows PCs. Slowly but surely, those Android phones are getting better. And already Android sales are collectively catching up to iPhone sales.
Of all people, surely he sees what is coming. Is he ignoring his own history, or does he know it so well that this time he is going to try to rewrite it by changing the outcome? As long as the iPhone remains the leading smartphone, he can try to lock out Google’s ads and lock in developers with their apps (and, by extension, customers who want those apps).
Still, it seems like history could repeat itself, with the rest of the industry closing the innovation gap with Apple fast. With Google subsidizing the mobile OS, other phone manufacturers have an economic advantage as well. Jobs is trying everything he can to hold back the Android advance, including suing HTC, the largest manufacturer of Android phones. He is fighting Google with everything he’s got—undercutting Google’s pending acquisition of AdMob by entering the mobile advertising market and creating fear among Android partners with his patent lawsuit.
In the end, it is the victors who write history. Right now, Jobs is winning. Can he keep winning or is history against him?
He’s inventing a new world. History will just follow.
may not be..
But we cannot deny that he had already made a name and a niche for himself that most of us internet users won’t easily forget.
Steve Jobs is a true entrepreneur who never gave up on Apple when it was down (probably when he made the wrong decisions before).
flash is must.
They can run flash in separate isolated process in ipad safari, just like pc safari. Or let there be button popup in the browser to enable flash after every page load, with flash being disabled by default.
That statement is untrue. You acnnot run virtualized cod by Apple’s rules. Threfore blocking Flash all together!
Flash is missing because Adobe is lazy. Otherwise why the “open” Google Nexus One is still missing Flash?!?
Flash 10.1 will be relased on Nexus One in the next few weeks. You can see plenty of videos of it in action if you care to look. In fact, it will be on 19 out of 20 of the most popular smartphones by the end of the year. Do your research.
Actually, you don’t seem to know what you are talking about- Adobe isn’t lazy, they have had a version of flash for the iphone for years and just as the article states, Apple is blocking it purely for it’s own benefit.
Actually, if that’s the criteria, then its not only Jobs that’s rewriting history. In fact, many before him did it and other (Schmidt, gates, etc) men at this time.
With the success he has achieved, he can ignore history only to make progress.
I just hope, he can rewrite our time in a good way, before he retires.. and not in a bad way.
Why doesn’t adobe start using html5, an open standard? It reminds me of Aol not willing to change when broadband access started creeping in, everyone at Aol was stuck saying dialup is the only way users will access the internet, not willing to change when all signs pointed to innovation. Adobe needs to stop fearing the future and embrace it. You build great authoring tools, I’m sure you can build great html5 ide instead of continuing to fight with open standards.
Let’s try an analogy, consider a bank, Bank of Adobe, starts issuing currency (flash platform) from their bank. Along comes another bank, Bank of Microsoft, that want to start issuing their own currency (Silverlight). And then there’s also the Bank of Sun issuing their own currency (Java). And so on and so forth. The economy will be flooded with everyone issuing their own proprietary version of applications that do the same thing. Wouldn’t it make more sense if the community as a whole (ie federal reserve) collaborate and issue one common currency (html5). That is the true open network, not supporting the growing number of platforms companies come up with, there will be no end to it and soon the web won’t work with all the glut in platforms. It’s already starting to get crazy, some sites won’t work without java, or silverlight, or flash, or.. etc etc..
Everyone seems to be asking, “Why doesn’t adobe start using html5, an open standard?” I have to ask them.. Why are they using Apple and not Android (or FreeBSD or Linux on the PC) then? Why not an “open standard?”
They either don’t get it or say they want to… Ignorance is bliss…
6 months after the HTML 5 standard is released, Adobe can update flash with new functionality. They can continue to do this, ie making flash better every 6 months or so.
HTML 5 won’t improve until HTML 6, which will probably be released in, say, 5 years.
Actually, I heard that the next version of Dreamweaver will have support for HTML 5, and I think Illustrator can export to SVG or used to.
Hey @cordmp, do you think you can write farmville in html5? Lemme know when you have that done.
If Google can port Quake 2 to HTML5, I think a silly resource game shouldn’t be a problem.
1) This is not about the Flash runtime on the web, it’s about static compilation of Flash programs to native iPhone OS code.
2) That’s an incredibly stupid analogy. Programming languages aren’t interchangeable, content-free, symbolic tokens, and abstraction layers are fundamental to programming.
Dreamweaver CS5 has plenty of HTML5/Canvas support. I’ve seen it myself at Adobe conferences.
Steve Jobs is currently still trying to learn to write.
The Padrino
http://www.thepadrino.com
apple has no choice.
imagine if flash was allowed to export an .IPA to the app store. everyone with a PC and a cracked copy of flash would be flooding the app store with barely usable apps. it would be a nightmare.
already long submission times would skyrocket…
And the morons just keep on coming!
Oh Getreal, your’ re right. At this time, the appstore is only filled with fantastic and marvelous applications. No crappy stuff. Only apps with a fantastic usability.
Oh yeah, and apps like Pull My Finger, written complete in XCodes Obj-C are certainly better than the crap which would flood in with Flash compiles.
Sheesh. Have you even looked at the crap which passes for iPad apps?
Mr Jobs is “The Wizard of the Modern Times” (c) me
Hrmm, I want to give a good informative response to this great article, but I need more time to think about it.
I would like to hope that this will stir thoughtful responses, but teh comments will be flame and spam and straw men and red herrings as always.
He may not make all the right choices, and not the ones I would make, but I respect steve jobs, and I admire what apple computers are. I can’t see teh future, but I will sit back and take it all in.
I do plan on writing a more lengthy response, but I guess it’ll have to wait and be posted on my blog. Check it later i guess. Great work
http://justinherrick.com
“In the end, it is the victors who write history.”
- what are you smoking? have you even attended history class in high school?
I understand Apple is unique in its own way, but it makes me sick how everyone puts them on such a high pedestal. Apple isn’t rewriting history in any which form or fashion. Microsoft rewrote history with the first GUI OS, and I’m sure credit goes out to other companies who invented the first Tablet PC and smart phone. Apple didn’t invent these things, they only improved upon the concept!!! Don’t forget that please…
Steve jobs is a dictator to his cult following. What he says goes, period. What we need is a revolt in order to make Steve open up his closed ideas. Not only would this make for better Apple products, but it opens up new doors for businesses.
You had me up until the hyperbole in the last paragraph. Can we have an honest discussion without the imagery found in hollywood films being conjured up for emotions sake?
That being said, I agree. Apple didn’t even the Smartphone, the tablet, or the PC, but they did make it better. I think the freemarket will win in the end. If enough people are upset with their closed system then they will lose and its up to them to decide if they want that fate.
Me too. The end was just over the top.
Well, actually they did invent the pc… :)
My main problem with apples policies are that they got the proportions wrong.
The control they excersise is good for quality, but blocks innovation and user needs. And in many cases it’s way too obvious it’s only to maximize sales.
They’ve changed the way we think of mobile devices. Then they kinda sit back and expect this’ll be enough on the long run. It won’t.
Big jump the iphone was. With iPad Android devices will be released very soon afterwards. Look at the wepad.
IPhone OS4 is great and I’ll probably buy the new iPhone, but right now I rather put up with the less great appearance and more freedom. And I write this comment on a Droid. And this (or rather a Desire) will remain my primary device until iPhone will have real multitasking where I can open a website and quickly check mails while it loads.
“Well, actually they did invent the pc… :)”
The Kenbak Corporation, Datapoint, R2E, Xerox, and especially MITS might have a bit of a disagreement with you there.
Look at MSs 3 level system for Xbox 360 live arcade. Works great. Ensures quality, let’s users have their freedom. One of the few things MS got right. If only they had a similarly good team on winphone…
Agreed, :D
Joe, the line about the victors writing history is actually a Winston Churchill quote.
Well actually Apple did invent the PC and laptop and mouse. They also released the first commercial GUI operating system.
Now the iPod, iPhone, and iPad are not original ideas But you can’t deny that they made it better. Hell they practicly own the smartphone market…and they sell only one device.
Neither microsoft nor apple invented the gui os. Apple released one way before microsoft, but they lifted everything from Xerox’s research lab.
Henry Ford did not invent the car either, Carl Benz did, and he in turn did not invent the internal combustion engine. Otto did. But Otto did not make cars, Benz and Ford did. So it is not a matter of who invents but who sells it. Millions of stuff we take for granted and buy from large companies, are not invented by the sellers or integrators, but from unknown inventors, universities and labs that make money from licensing or selling their patents. This is how the market works. Jobs is no different, he follows the norm and puts his logo whenever he gets a chance. I would do the same in his shoes. Its just business. Nobody remembers the inventor aside for history books. Thats a FACT.
Doug Engelhart and Bill English made the first mouse in 1964. In 1968 on the Joint computer conference, Engelhart presented a full PC with a 3 button mouse, keyboard AND graphical user interface.
Apple wasn’t even incorporated until 8 years later.
Apple didn’t invent any of those things.
Once again, I must correct the misinformed. Xerox had the wisdom to see that electronic media would greatly reduce the need for copiers. They opened PARC, a research and development facility. It was the engineers of PARC that developed the GUI. The Xerox execs didn’t get it and shelved the idea. Steve Jobs paid them a substantial amount of money, between 1-2 million dollars, to tour the facility and take what he was interested in. Jobs saw the potential for the GUI. It was extremely flawed and didn’t really work, it was APPLE that made it work. Gates was working for APPLE, he secretly reverse engineered the GUI and made deals with Compaq, HP, etc., before APPLE could announce it. If it wasn’t for APPLE, PCs wouldn’t be where they are today. APPLE hardware and the MACINTOSH OS have always been the best. That is why in the pro world of music, film, graphics, and publishing, they have always ruled the market. If you want to work on your computer, get a winDOOs box, if you want to get work done on your computer, get a MAC.
I dont know who is misinformed. Jobs paid for the tour alright, I am not sure what it means by “take what he wants”, the statement itself makes me laugh. I believe there are enough law suits around between those guys on who took what. I dont think anything gotten proved one way or other because of vagueness associated with technology and patent definition. That being said, I agree that Apple has done a good job of copying and Jobs has the right to do what he feels right, whether history will side him is something we have to see. But this whole notion of Apple copying/reverse engineering based on some wimpy “paid tour” is better than what M$ did is laughable. Argument that without Jobs there would be no PC is as defendable argument as “if jobs did not do what he did, we’d have had a better computing device in 80s itself!”. Progression is inevitable, path may be little nudged one way or other by great visionaries like Jobs, Gates etc.
The first GUI-based operating system was introduced in Apple whether in Lisa or Macintosh which are based on Xero Alto computer which is derived from PARC project that Apple -invited- to it.
All the above is history, Microsoft in 1984 -copied- the prototypes of Macintosh & started developing Windows 1.0.
Microsoft had a prototype GUI up and running in 1983, as detailed in an issue of Byte Magazine. They’d had been working on concepts for GUIs since 1981.
Fail argument is fail.
Microsoft may well have had a prototype GUI running in 1983, but Apple actually launched the Lisa for sale in January 1983. Thus there must have been Lisa prototypes running in 1982 and before. Meanwhile Microsoft Windows wasn’t released until November 1985.
Furthermore the Lisa project at Apple was started in 1978. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Lisa
I dont understand why all hate apple now. Apple delivers good quality and and empowerd the independent developers. Everybody can develop apps for iphone os and sell them over the app store. They just shouldnt try to replicate core functionality of apples services and applications and avoid porn. I can live with that. The consumer gets countless applications and games.
So there are 4 questions:
1. Should they try to license their OS and Services(app store etc.) to other Hardware manufacturers?
2. Should they allow apps to be downloaded independent of their app store?
3. Should they avoid prohibiting certain types of applications in their store?
4. Should they take less than 30% of apps sold?
Answers:
1. Difficult because they produce hardware themselves. And hardware always was one of the core parts of apple product monetization and experience.
2. They could take royalties from developers and dont care how and where the apps are sold, but that complicates things especially for small independent developers. Also it becomes harder to enforce certain standards for their plattform, whats important because apps are are another core part of the experience and monetization of apple products.
3. Some of Apples decisions might be questionable but I can understand that they avoid porn and reserve some core functionality for their own applications.
4. I guess they could take less if they only wanted to finance development and maintenance of appstore and developer tools. But they also want to make a profit here.
Oh, so Microsoft made the worlds first GUI OS before Apple, did they? Windows?
Are you suggesting that the Mac OS (1984) copied the Windows user interface?
This wasn’t really that good of an article. It’s a simple rehash of the boilerplate “Apple should get into licensing!” argument. The writer himself seems to be ignoring history. RECENT history. A history where Apple swatted down PlaysforSure, Microsoft’s licensing scheme for music.
A history where Microsoft more “open” Windows Mobile platform failed in the face of proprietary “closed” platforms running on Blackberries and iPhones.
Maybe that’s the history we should be looking at, not the PC versus Mac wars that played out over twenty years ago.
I have to agree that the PC v Mac debate is slightly old hat at this point, but I based my opinion on this being a good article on the fact that it was thought provoking.
Any post that inspires its readers to think into an issue greater than what is held at the surface in a way that is coherent and knowledgeable deserves some praise in my book. However, that is only my personal opinion on the matter.
That’s exactly how the article come across to me. One of the best articles I’ve read on Techcrunch for some time!
Well done Erik.
Wait .. where was licensing MacOSX suggested in the article ?
This is about open vs closed and apps not hardware … OSX is open and thats its strength, ad why we love it. OSX Mobile on the other hand…
I can’t, in good conscious, support a man who supports the severely limiting at best, tyrannical at worst policies that Apple is using on their devices. I have never met Steve Jobs, so I can’t say I dislike him, but I certainly dislike his policies, and from what I’ve seen of his moral and social character through quotes of what he’s said to people, I don’t think he’s a particularly nice person to hang around anyway.
On that note, I can’t exactly respect a person who still thinks misspelling “the” is cute or funny.
The ‘teh’ you are referring to was an honest typographical error and an oversight on my part for not checking over my post before hitting submit.
I neither asked for your respect nor expected to it, but thank you for bringing the straw-men to the debate.
It’s ironic that you criticise the typographical errors of others when you made a clear, non-typographical, error yourself: “good conscious” or “good conscience”? I will refrain from pointing out your grammatical errors, as they will likely be lost on you, but please don’t lambaste others when you, yourself, butcher the English language.
Justin Herrick,
What a great wordy post saying absolutely nothing.
And then of course there’s the tacky cheap plug for your blog. How does it feel to be a cheezy spamming junk blogger?
The same way it always feels to be me. I think I acknowledged that I said nothing of importance and that instead I would later. I felt the need to post my blog because thats where I would write my response.
I am honored that you took the time out of your extremely busy day to reply to my comment though, Thank you for that.
“I think I acknowledged that I said nothing of importance and that instead I would later.”
*Brilliant* approach, Justin. Let’s hope millions will do the same!
Seriously: I think TechCrunch works great without moderation. Most of the time. But sometimes an exception should be made. Blog spam.
I have nothing to say either. I’ll think about it and call my grandma to share my feelings about it once they’re fully hashed. If you’re interested in my feelings about the article – you can call her sometime on Sunday. She gets home from church around 12:30pm PST. She loves talking about me to people. Give her a jingle!
hew needs time to think it so nothing yet… but give him time.. after all he posted a website with his name at the bottom.. he is big time but you have to wait 4 it
Closed vs Open is so 90s. Welcome to the new world, where in business, media, entertainment, play, information, transactions…
people want what they want when they want it on the device they want it on.
Right now, nobody does that better than Apple. Nobody.
Well, actually Apple does this “what/when” poorly – cloud integration is abysmall with no smooth file, music, pics, books cloud synchronisation. All apps reign in separate ivory towers. If only reasonable way to import/export files to iWork is e-mail…
Form factor is excellent.
UI is excelent.
Workmanship is excelent.
But it is not cloud animal and I have to use it with a lot of eford to cirqumvent Job’s paranoias.
First of all the “Cloud” you so lovingly refer to is SO 1980’s. It’s just a rehash of the then-called client/server garbage the personal PC made obsolete.
I personally LIKE having MY files stored on my own device and not out out on someones server farm that you have no idea what they are doing with it or if you actually even OWN it anymore.
Get over the “Cloud”. Some company somewhere is fooling you with marketing client/server technology and you are buying it.
I want a good Google Voice experience on the iPhone without having to jailbreak it.
Millions of iPhone users (and people in general) have no idea what Google Voice is. There’s a discussion here about playing towards your userbase, but it’s Friday and I don’t feel like writing much.
apple also knows that you want google voice. but right now, they haven’t found the right solution to your use case. when they will, you will have google voice or apple voice.
the thing about apple: they do listen to the market, but they ignore it until its the right time to take action.
Good point. High-five rh.
Actually, Apple listens to the market, and waits to take action until everyone has given up and bought their product, then releasing a v2 of the product with said enhancements. Usually just over a year later.
I had Google voice and it worked okay. Have you seen or heard of YouMail? It’s pretty cool… it works with your contacts and answers your phone with the contacts first name. Everyone that calls me says how slick they think it is. Youmail will transcribe the message, just like Google Voice, but they charge a small monthly fee to do so.
Check it out: youmail.com
“people want what they want when they want it on the device they want it on.
Right now, nobody does that better than Apple. Nobody.”
Are you sure? I feel like right it is more “People get what Apple wants and the device that Apple wants.”
Right now it seems Apple does that better because well they are the best option and can currently keep up with what people want. How long will that last?
> people want what they want when they want it on the
> device they want it on.
Okay – I want to play Flash content on my iPhone, right now. Hmmmmmm. Okay, let’s hack some Ruby code. No? Oh.
Time to break out the eeePC then.
And you say Apple does this better than anyone else? Were you paid for that comment?
people want videos, games, books, news, etc.. content, entertainment & services, not technology.
99% of users don’t care if it’s flash or some other technology delivering it.
If iphone have sold so well it is because they are amazing products. I’m not a fan of apple’s walled garden app store, but I’m not one of adobe’s proprietary delivery platform (flash/air) either.
‘people want what they want when they want it on the device they want it on’
If Apple keeps resorting to protectionism and fails to play ball with the likes of Adobe and Google their offerings will in the long run become inferior just like what happened in the 90’s and history will repeat itself.
Look up the ‘duplicate functionality’ policy Apple has with developers. In this day and age it’s crazy to impose such restrictions. Not the best way to treat the people who are a key value proposition to your products.
Expect Android to keep growing in popularity as a platform. Apple has played it’s cards beautifully the last decade but their approach leaves me with question marks???
Spoken like a true Fanboi.
Your right. Apple does do it better. It unfortunately is screwing over the user.
Apple is turning their back on current production iPhone 3g’s for multitasking in 4.0. They love the non removable batteries so you have to throw your device away and buy a new one which has found its way into $3000+ laptops. They also love producing incompatible display technologies that are incompatible with even their own product lineup forcing you to have to upgrade your hardware if you want to use the latest display.
That little extra that Apple provides in user experience used to be worth it for me. Not anymore.
The batteries are not user-replaceable, but they are replaceable; you don’t “throw your device away.” You can buy a DVI to DisplayPort adapter and connect an older Mac to a newer Apple monitor; it’s not exactly rocket science.
Nitpicking? Maybe, but I’m getting a little tired of people trotting out really dubious twaddle as proof of Apple’s nefarious hatred of their own customers. (My favorite perennials of late are the repeated insinuations that iTunes and iPods only work with media purchased through Apple.) There’s enough genuinely annoying things they do without essentially making shit up.
“Apple…love the non removable batteries so you have to throw your device away and buy a new one”
I don’t think that’s the reason. I think the reason for the battery situation is that user-replaceable batteries would require a somewhat clunkier product design and on this point the great and powerful Jobs values form over function. That’s a bit creepier, IMHO.
If a lithium-ion battery if going to be handled by a customer it has to have significant casing for safety. Sealing in the battery in the computer’s case means less bulk and more battery. When they switched to a more sealed in battery on the MBP they got a big increase on battery capacity with the same size machine.
i.e. regression disguised as progress.
Really? Here I thought devices that can be completely modified from the ground up were better….
Sure my Omnia may not be under its warranty now with all the software mods. Still it can do all that I want it to do and the most I had to pay for the phone itself was $10.
Oh wait I mentioned low cost, there for every troll from Apple is gonna use the “Get what you pay for” catch phrase…. In that case as each of these modification sites offer donations I have spent $200 or so to help prolong their developments.
I often wonder why you never see a advertisement of Win V Mac V Linux…. Then I remember that Linux is open source and only wants donations… But can do anything Mac and Win can…
Honestly people need to actually look at what is capable from each device and see whats best for the cost of the hardware and software available for the product. Just because you spend a asinine amount of money doesn’t make it any better. But if that’s the case I have this widget on my floor that I am selling for One Trillion Dollars…. Any buyers?
Jobs is obviously a genius and has achieved amazing things, but I think he has a personal problem and would (if it came to it) run Apple into the ground rather than loosen up his control over products.
Steve Jobs is a man who has great charisma and knows how to use it to manipulate people. Just like Adolf Hitler.
And… Godwin’s Law has been visited upon us.
Pump your breaks, Chicken Little.
wow only 20 posts and someone brought up WWII Germany
ALANA FTW!!! Sorry, I couldn’t resist. :)
I hope you’re joking Marty, actually, no I don’t because it’s not the least bit amusing…you’re an effing clown for even making that comment. Did you not get enough attention from your parents when you were younger?
agreed…although it’s possible marty is younger than you might think..that kind of response is something i don’t even hear in college classes and i’m with some pretty slow thinkers in some of them.
it’s everybody’s right to have opinions and i guess to get to real meat in any site you have to wade through “experts” who seem to be able to out-guess a man who has been called top CEO in the world by Forbes, top CEO by Fortune, by Harvard Biz and on and on, whose track record has far more successes than failures, as any world class entrepreneurs have had.
but couldn’t there be some bifurcation of responses. one for opinions of how to run a business/jobs opinions/arguing about predictions and another for technology? i am really honestly hear to learn but not from rants and not knowing credentials of the rants just makes it a waste of time, and even up above there are cat fights about really unimportant things.
:3
The Soup Nazi was a Nazi, but he still had a line out his door every day.
Read “iWoz”, Steve Wozniak’s autobiography.
Nobody knows Jobs better than Woz. Pay attention to the part where Jobs lied to Woz’s face about the payment amount on a (pre-Apple) joint game development project, completely financially ripping off Woz.
Pay attention to the iPad’s book reader and why it looks so similar to a popular iPhone app, and where Apple got the talent and IP for it.
Yes, that is when Jobs was a poser working for Atari. He conned Wozinak . He lied to Woz saying he only got $600 (he actually got $5000) that they agreed to be split between them. Woz only got $300
Great article. A few years ago the Apple brand was about “think different” and “Microsoft is evil”. Now Apple is doing everything MS did.
The web is clearly moving towards open standards. Jobs doesn’t want to listen again.
I am not certain what you mean here. HTML5 is the standard for which Apple is fighting. Flash is not a WC3 standard.
Safari is one of the more WC3 standards compliant browsers as well. So I’m confused about these standards you think Apple is flaunting.
Can you explain?
By open standards, I don’t mean Flash. Specifically, I mean the control of everything that runs on their hardware: apps store, mobile ads, iTunes, etc.
This “control” issue ultimately led to MS winning the PC battle. Perhaps Android will be the winner this time.
Thanks for the clarification, Ken.
But I am still struggling with your usage of the phrase ‘open standards.’ When I think of that term I am thinking of web standards as written by W3C. The web should be open, and that includes HTML5 (or SVG or SMIL) and not Flash.
I appreciate open source software (love OpenOffice) but I do not expect commercial enterprises to give away software. So I guess my expectations are different.
And yes iPhone is a closed platform, as are Windows and Flash.
The parallel between iPhone and Windows or Flash is a false one.
As a developer I can write software for Windows or Flash and distribute it ANYWHERE without needing the approval of Microsoft or Adobe.
Your idea of “Closed Platform” is incorrect.
A closed platform does not allow others to develop on top of the platform without permission. Neither Windows nor Flash are closed platforms. Only apple’s is a closed platform, since they restrict APIs, reject applications and as such do not allow just about any application (Hence the term closed platform).
What apple is doing is closing down the web.
In an open web, the same stuff would be accessible across devices.
HTML(even HTML5) is really hard to program if you want to create Rich Internet experiences. Apple is asking everyone to actually program these rich internet experiences into Apple specific applications. That is why Apple’s policy is dangerous for the web.
With Flash on the other hand, you could program anything and release anything on flash and it can be accessed across various devices. Apple’s policies are restricting the web.
Sure its good for their business and fair play to them. But its unethical and bad for the web.
Regardless of the merits of Flash (and I loath Flash landing pages) Steve Jobs declaring the iPhone/iPad won’t support Flash in favor of HTML5 is a little like White Star Lines, circa 1911, declaring its wireless operators won’t support Morse code in favor of voice-over-satellite.
Its their device, they can do what they want on it. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to buy for it.
They are pushing open standards on the web and at the same time closing down their own platforms. Those two forces are independent from one another.
I don’t buy their products. I always bought PC and use Android. That’s not the point. They didn’t learn from history, perhaps they will repeat it. That’s the article and topic.
If we are going to go off-topic, perhaps you should stop using TechCrunch as a means of promoting your blog as evident by your “placeholder” comment.
Other music software can run on the iPhone. Pandora. It’s not just iTunes. Kindle app is allowed there even though it competes with iBooks.
There is no requirement that anyone use iAds, other ad services are allowed.
Yes, Apple did not allow Google Voice, but that was more about friction between Apple and Google, not about openness. There are other voice apps supported, Skype, Line2 etc. And with 4.0 the platform does a lot to support them even more.
Yes, they are not allowing Flash. Reasonable people can disagree about whether they are right to do this or not. If they have concerns about security and performance, that is a basis not to allow third party plug-ins in the browser. This does not make it evil.
I am not sure why there is so much hostility towards Apple related to all this stuff. It is way overblown. If you really like Android, use it. So far I much prefer the iPhone and iPad and I don’t miss Flash. Especially now that sites are using more compatible video. If the NYT can switch away from Flash overnight – are you sure this is such a big deal?
Well HTML5 is actually what everyone else was fighting for. Apple wants APPS not HTML5…or at least the DID. Why do you think everyone at the OS 4.0 conference laughed when he said HTML5? Cause we all knew he was fighting AGAINST it until because he didn’t want Flash he was forced to go for it.
HTML5 is also a good 2 years from any kinda of full usage…I doubt OS 4.0 is using it for anything other than to make a Proprietary version of FLASH just for Apple. He wants FLASH abilities but doesn’t want to lose control over his APPS.
Just saying
“Cause we all knew he was fighting AGAINST it until because he didn’t want Flash he was forced to go for it.”
I like lamp.
LOL
Dude… right? I’m not sure what the point was in all of that. It was a word salad.
Actually when the iPhone was first released Apple wanted all apps in the browser and really led developers to create apps in there using web standards. The developer community wanted a way to make apps for the iPhone, so Apple created the AppStore and that has been a big success.
HTML5 is just another option for developers to make apps that work across platforms in the browser, and Apple supports it.
They just don’t want a plug-in sitting in the browser that causes security gaps and crashes. Kinda makes sense if you can do interactivity and video natively in the browser.
This doesn’t really have much to to with browser compatibility. Apple has created an entirely closed system: You have to buy a Mac to create apps, you have to code in their proprietary language, you have to pay for their sdk, you submit your app to them and hope it gets accepted under some imaginary guidelines, you can’t install apps that “duplicate” features or “confuse” users. There’s really too many things to list here. Steve Jobs thinks people are stupid and can’t make decisions on their own.
If you haven’t already, you should check out Cory Doctorow’s article on the ipad: http://goo.gl/yYLx
You have to buy a Mac to create apps
-you have to buy somebodies computer to make apps for any platform.
you have to code in their proprietary language
-most languages and pretty much all API’s are proprietary – C++ or Objective C, .NET vs Cocoa
you have to pay for their sdk
-the SDK is free
You submit your app to them and hope it gets accepted under some imaginary guidelines
-Published guidelines
you can’t install apps that “duplicate” features or “confuse” users.
-Not being able to duplicate core functionality, or confuse users seems like good idea
“you have to buy somebodies computer to make apps for any platform.”
Can you build your own Mac? No.
Can you build your own PC? Yes.
I hope you see the difference here.
-most languages and pretty much all API’s are proprietary – C++ or Objective C, .NET vs Cocoa
You’re completely missing the point – you don’t need to buy a Mac to develop on C++. To a smaller extent, you don’t need windows to develop on .NET (Mono)
-the SDK is free
Yeah but first, buy a Mac!
You submit your app to them and hope it gets accepted under some imaginary guidelines
-Published guidelines
Inconsistent guidelines.
-Not being able to duplicate core functionality, or confuse users seems like good idea
I don’t know, some of us like having “a choice” and some “variety” sometimes. Oh, and “competition”. Maybe these aren’t so important anymore?
I think Steve Jobs proves the point of Apple. They’re willing to take a chance with a product they believe in by introducing the iPad. A product that could very well revolutionize many industries as we know it. Especially education. It might be somewhat limited now with out the multi-application ability, but it’s a starting point to grow from.
Apple has also built a brand name that is synonymous with quality amongst it’s consumers and I can very well understand them wanting to keep control of their cleaner image. If they relax on a few standards eventually that line will get pushed and crossed with a new line formed only to be crossed again. Regardless if you agree with it or not, I think you have to respect the integrity.
John
Integrity? Come on! They need to be consequent about their guidelines. That’s clearly not the case now.
integrity? like dropping 1000’s of cheap smut apps and letting playboy and si swimsuit stay in the app store… more like money. please try to be objective
The iPhone OS and RIM shares will drop… Android is gaining ground, and Windows Phone 7 is impressive.(Lack of Copy & Paste sucks though!).
Soon Android will have the majority of the share, since the OS is free imo. Android makes smartphones affordable…. But it could head the way of Symbian in some issues aren’t address.
Apple have the majority of the users and can do what they want now. But Google is coming Android is getting mindshare amongst consumers.
If the blogs and news outlet didn’t have such a negative tone for microsoft products, I would say WP7 can get more marketshare then the iPhone.
Chrome OS is interesting as well, the tablet marketshare is coming, which will make it Google v Apple yet again. Microsoft secured the Desktop/Laptop market, but the mobile market is still up for grabs.
I think you’re right, Jeff. It is inevitable that Apple loses market share to Android sooner or later. There are more companies building Android devices. I suspect Jobs know this. He is, like he is doing in PCs, looking for ways to maximize long-term profitability, not for ways to dominate.
I do think that Apple and Google have the Pad/Slate equation correct though. I do not think a full featured desktop OS will make it to the masses on a slate. I would LOVE to see Windows Mobile 7 on a slate.
I could be wrong though.
Apple doesn’t have the majority of the users, actually. It just has a majority of the mindshare, and the profits.
Man is the only known animal that stumbles upon the same obstacle twice, just ask any biologist or zoologist
I used to think that Jobs was looking for domination, but no anymore. I don’t think he wants to win. I think he has a vision for a company to operate in a certain manner, hey thats cool if its profitable simulateneously, but @$@^ em all if its not.
Too bad because the iphoneOS was doing well for itself for a while, but it looks like he’s just taking it down that same old road.
“Too bad because the iphoneOS was doing well for itself for a while.”
Uh, yeah, it’s really not selling well anymore, is it?
Not in my office. Many of the scratched up iPhones are magically turning into Google Nexus One’s and Droid’s.
When you see a Nexus one next to an iPhone when someone is showing a web app the iPhone looks like a slow blurry piece of crap.
The running joke in our office is “hey 2007 called they want their phone back”.
Well, I guess that means I can boil all of my customer research down to your humor-less office…good to know.
Yes, its not sellingso good anymore. Android is selling much better now. Think of all the different phones (Droids, magic, hero, galaxy, acer….)
Much more units than apple.
Oh, I’m thinking of all the different phones…oh, you lost me.
Lol, defensive fanboy much?
E. My experience is the same. IPHONE users are switching to more advanced phones. Most of them are waiting for the EVO.
He’s right, E.
iPhone is “treading water” at 25.4 percent of the smartphone market, according to the latest ComScore numbers.
Meanwhile, Android “rocketed from 3.8 percent to 9.0 percent”…
There’s one major difference between Apple’s situation now and Window’s situation then: The Internets.
Just like desktops, mobile apps can only go in the direction of being on the web instead of native applications for all the same reasons. Mobile web standards will have to start supporting creating and supporting common features on mobile phones to take advantage of the platform.
For this reason, Apple (or any hardware maker for that matter) has limited lockdown capability. Case in point: Jobs doesn’t want porn in the app store but you can get plenty of it from the mobile web.
But certainly Apple is not above trying to take control of your browsing experience as it suits them too. Preventing Flash on the iPad is an obvious example but how they try to influence HTML5 and webkit are others.
I actually believe Jobs is being completely disingenuous when he touts HTML5 as the way to build rich internet apps. It may be in the future, but right now it’s Flash and so, by preventing the defacto RIA standard on iPhone, it becomes an easy decision that in order to get onto the iPhone/iPad you need to create a native iApp.
Jesus, there are so many contradictions in you argument it’s ridiculous…plus you do a bang-up job of stabbing your own (lack of an) argument to death.
Saying Apple will take control of my browsing experience is rather far-fetched and makes you sound like a Fox News correspondent.
A lot of people are saying that HTML5 is the future, but not now…um, so why not drive towards the future? Leave the dead grandmother on the side of the road. I feel as if I’m stuck in some effing bizzaro world…in some alternate dimension, back when Apple released the original iPod, I get the feeling all you Flash chest thumpers would be all up in arms that it didn’t play cassette tapes.
I want my Hall & Oates! This is evil!
This whole debate has never been about Flash, or us wanting Flash on our mobile devices. It’s about whether or not Apple is acting evil. I’m in the “evil” camp.
Good versus Evil is so played out. Whatever He-Man…go fight Skeletor. The fact that so many people are pissed off (even though you all seem to be a bunch of lemmings who are only pissed off because Techcrunch told you to be) only goes to show that Android isn’t all it’s cracked up to be (at least for now)…if you don’t like the iPhone Dev environment and it’s rules, then go make an Android app and stop crying…but, no, some (maybe most) of you want to make some money and you have to go where the customers are.
Now I’m bored. Have fun in your evil camp, I hear the swimming there is pretty good.
When I think of Apple “being evil” I think much less about Microsoft’s behavior in the 90s and more about Nintendo’s behavior in the 80s.
Some of the motivation is purely self-preservation and greed and an equal amount of motivation is about preserving the integrity of the user experience and ‘doing the right thing’ for the consumer – but through a very narrow-minded lens where the universe orbits around your platform.
Really – It feels like more of this is about Apple-phobia and the implications of a future where this momentum continues unabated. Apple is far from having a monopoly on smartphones and even optimistically, it’s hard to see a scenario where they capture more than half of the market for the long-term…
But let’s just pretend for a moment that we’re not talking about Apple, but Company X. Do we, the collective TechCrunch nerdasphere really have a problem with a company that limits web development to non-proprietary W3C standards and application development to C/C++/ObjC ? Is this really a draconian stance?
Really?
um, the better parallel would be to ask how pissed you’d been if when Apple released the original iPod, it didn’t support mp3.
regardless, the point is that apple does what is best for apple. If they decide that curtailing or limiting your web browsing experience is in their best interest (and they feel they can get away without impacting sales), they will.
remember, this is the company that tried to force everyone to use their proprietary headphone jack for heaven’s sake…
Hey brother! :D
Also I have to agree. One of the great benefits of the Web is that it’s platform-agnostic and content-agnostic. If your platform has to create workarounds in order to support Web content (like it or not, the Youtube app is nothing more than a workaround to make Youtube look good on the iPhone, and the Facebook app is exactly the same), that says volumes about your platform.
It is not platform agnostic. You have to download plugins for some content, instead of downloading plugins why not standardize the browser?
Yes this is going to happen in Chrome (maybe) and then it just becomes a standards fight. There’s no good/evil, just business. I wonder who put Adobe on this high pedestal, they make money from every flash developer. Everyone is out to make money, I just trust that Apple can make more of it.
There’s an alternative platform to Apple with millions of apps. It’s open for both developers and users. It is universally accessible, and no single compny can control it.
It’s called the Internet. Why Apple is allowed such power when everything on the iPlatform is available on the web is beyond me.
Apple’s only value is in providing an easy search interface for apps, and forcing developers to write apps in a user-friendly way. If all website developers made their websites as easy to use and functional as their apps, we wouldn;t need Apple.
All the innovation in UI design seems to be going on in apps, with websites still stuck in 1995. Geeks of the world, rebuild your websites. Turn the website into the app, and make it mobile friendly. Make Apple irrelevant.
well said. Except that Apple wanted this to happen with the first iPhone and the devs protested and protested until they got an SDK. Go figure, developer.
Etrigan: I think you’re correct. Technically, mobile apps are the future, not necessarily web-based, but something other than Apple’s native applications.
Because it’s Friday I’m going to give everyone here an internet lesson:
The web and the internet are not the same thing. The majority of the people in this forum have never been on the actual internet. The only interaction anyone has with the internet is when we send or receive email. The rest of what we do…searching with Google for names of dogs, etc…, is on the web, and has nothing to do with the internet.
Now you can sleep better knowing something most people don’t.
The web has nothing to do with the Internet??
Isn’t this a bit like saying driving my car to London has nothing to do with the road?
Well being a Software developer of web and mobile applications, I can see Google winning all this battle once for all. Apple cannot face the entire world itself and cannot sustain for long in this war with the rest of the IT World.
This is a sick move taken by Steve Jobs and soon he shall repent it
@Etrigan: Well now its the era of Rich Internet Applications and thanks to RIA frameworks like OpenLaszlo , Flex by Adobe, we are moving towards some betterment :)
Heh. We’ve been hearing that for the last five years.
Great point. All true. That’s why Microsoft moved ahead, while Apple is growing now that both Bill and Steve are almost 90 years old, LOL. Close = perfect, more control, while open = more revenue, less control. Windows sucks, but everyone uses it, while Apple has a better OS but lacks the market share Windows acquired. Makes sense?
Great article.. That’s why I refuse to buy iPad, although I own all previous generations of iPod and iPhones. Enough support to the bullies :)
I’ve been drinking Coke, then New Coke, then Coke Classic my whole life and now I’m fat, but I refuse to drink Diet Coke.
I find this approach of dealing with developers disheartening. I’ve been an avid apple user for years. I own 4 macs. This announcement has made me have to recommend against Apple products for my customers. You cannot take such a stand against developers and expect to have positive results. What made Apple successful was the ability to produce large quantities of apps. This was possible because of the developer. Personally, I opt to produce high quality Android apps over iPhone apps at this point. It’s also worth pointing out that HTML-5 is still a markup language, and can’t compete with JavaScript or Flash.
I’m with you Ben. I’ve been a mac user for many years and spent many thousands of dollars on apple products. I even worked for Apple in Cupertino. But I don’t have any admiration left for this company. Maybe when Jobs and Schiller have left the company it can change for the better but I really doubt it. It’s a shame because there are so many talented employees there.
Apple is about to enter late-stage entropy.
It’s Developer community is already collapsing. Not by big chunks, but, by key supporting chunks. A big one today, another tomorrow…
Google stands by and don’t have to do much more than wait and watch…
define yourself by your opponents, you begin to lose … bye bye
Tech writers can’t seem to be able to get out of the eighties. Instead of focusing on recent history, for instance, when Apple took over the MP3 player market by being exactly as closed as they are now, (despite an attempt by Microsoft to do exactly what they did with PCs, i.e. licensing Playsforsure), they go back twenty six years ago!
Let the eighties die for Christ’s sake. Steve Jobs wasn’t even at Apple for half the decade! The Mac and Apple II never had anything close to the market share that the iPhone and iPod have right now. Apple didn’t even have their own retail stores in the eighties!
And lest we forget, Microsoft tried the whole licensing thing with Windows Mobile and look how that turned out. Google isn’t even making money licensing Android (it’s free remember?). They after advertising profits, so if someone wants to fight them, they have to fight them there (hence, iAd).
Also, tech writers seem to be missing a bigger point. Apple is not just fighting for the smartphone market. As the success of Macbooks, iPods and the recent iPad demonstrates, Apple is capturing the mobile market on all fronts.
Comparing this to the MP3 players are comparing apples to oranges. MP3 players were not app-centric devices; app developers were not in the picture.
Mac OS X is a profitable part of Apple at less than 10% of the market. So the looming ‘threat’ of Droid is not something to fret.
Like many Windows developers/consultants, if you don’t have a taste for Apple’s mindset and guidelines, then just keep walking.
I for one, will happily continue to enjoy the products of one iconoclastic dude.
With so much money on their balance sheet, the issue was raised on Twitter this afternoon that perhaps Apple may be trying to freeze Adobe out so that it can devalue it enough to buy it with some of its reserves.
THEN Apple can open up the platform to a company that it owns and put all of the goodies onto its devices when there’s enough processing power to run them when iPads are as ubiquitous to designers and developers as MacBooks and iPhones are now.
Just a thought (and someone else’s at that).
If HTC can win it’s case against Apple, Android (and Google by extension) will win.
However I see Google winning this fight by leveraging it’s patent for GPS ads against Apple.
This’ll get exciting. I’m pretty sure there are Google patents Apple infriging on. Probably HTC htc ones as well.
Let’s see how Googlesuppots htc.
Here is the thing. Sure A LOT of people are using smartphones….but if we look at TOTAL population of cell phones being used it is still a TINY %.
The winner here is going to be the platform that can start taking hunks of users from “feature” phones and putting them on their platform.
Everyone against the iPhone doesn’t have to worry about getting iPhone users or even care about how many they are. Their concern should be converting as many feature phone users around the world as possible.
Right now who seems to have the best path to do that? I think probably Android.
It remains to be seen how all of this pans out. There is a HUGE bucket of users in this space and it is gonna be a dirty fight to win as many of them as possible.
There are winners and there are winners, and sheer numbers are not the only definition of success.
Look at the Mac. Apple is more than content to let Dell and HP and whomever fight for nickels and dimes at the low end of the Windows market, while Apple dominates the sale of high-end personal computers… and rake in the attendant profit margins.
Same for iPhone and iPad. Let Android take over the commodity phone market if it can. Apple will still postition its devices as premium products.
android can’t win…it’s too fragmented. Windows didn’t have that issue.
I won’t be able to take full advantage of OS 4 because my hardware was deemed incapable
fragmentation much?
That means your phone (3G) is almost two years old. What, you gonna keep using that thing for the next 5 years? Have fun.
And how exactly is this “fragmentation” hurting android? Too many android phones? Too much choice? Not everyone wants to be told which phone they have to use and how it has to look.
He’s more referring to the fact that there are four different versions of Android floating out there right now, due to different providers not being able to catch up to Google and different phones having different hardware. Apple’s closed platform definitely gives them an advantage there, but the fact that Android runs on many different phones is IMO a bigger advantage.
Actually, the hardware running Windows was extremely fragmented and pit against one another. That’s how Windows won: Microsoft realized all it had to do was get its product out there and people would be more apt to buy what everyone else had, which also happened to be more adaptable to and used by enterprises, homes, and schools.
I won’t say that Apple will lose, because they’re the heavyweight now, but I won’t hesitate to buy an Android phone if it’s as sleek as the iPhone. Hell, the only reason why people wanted the iPhone was because of its aesthetics and that it fit well with their pre-existing iPod obsession.
The proportions issue again. ( see my earlier comment) Allowing everyone to make their frontend is too much. HTCs sense ui is something most ppl like. Samsungs delay to update OS is however inacceptible IMO. So is their stuffs buginess.
However in most cases Android does not allow useres to wait with os upgrade too long. That’s a good strategu IMO. Ensures ux is improving, does not force developers to support many OS versions. With iPhone and iPod OSs thar’s a pain.
The average cell phone life is a few months. By the end of the year, Android fragmentation will be a non-issue.
And speaking of fragmentation, when Apple releases iPad 2.0 in 2-3 months that can multitask. run Flash, and has a USB port, how many iPad 1.0 owners will have to replace their suddenly outdated iPad?
I’ll take a little fragmentation over intentional obsolescence and product churn.
Plus we are comparing apples with oranges… because in PC business model users bought their own OS in mobile model users are have to use the os that came on their device. Plus, users cannot assemble the phone from parts themselves… so it is a new kind of integrated business model v/s. PC open box model…
Corporations stuck with Windows XP because of intranet software while the rest of the world is now 2 versions of the OS ahead. No Windows fragmentation?!? Seriously?
Fragmentation is not a problem, it’s a feature, in that a person can get a device that works for them. Not have to subscribe to a specific way of doing things because their device works one way because a group of programmers in California thought they should do it that way.
Funny, because Apple is doing more for force the vision of 1984 on people than IBM, when Apple originally claimed to be fighting that corporate sameness.
How many different e-mail notifications are there for the millions of iPhone users? Oh yeah, they all get that exact same e-mail alert. It’s hilarious when one person gets an e-mail in a crowded place, because then a dozen iPhone users get excited. And then 11 of them realize that no one loves them.
I’d like to think that I’m smart enough, or have seen enough generations of hardware/software boom and bust to make an educated guess about where this is all headed… But I really, really don’t.
There’s just too many variables to throw into the ring. Right now – Apple has leverage, not just through marketshare, but through the capture of an affluent-skewed audience, which has been easier to monazite than the user-at-large.
Still – I don’t know what to make of all this. Even as a die-hard Adobe user and Flash developer, I’m not sure if I’m on the right or wrong side of history. There’s just so many ways this could spiral out of control that 3 years from now Apple could be cast into the dustbin of mobile history or could be the Standard Oil of media distribution.
On the specific issue of locking-out Flash development for the iPhone… On one side it seems like a bridge too far, but on the other side we’re really talking about locking out sloppily-developed shovelware/crapware/lazyware applications that – for the most part – nothing that really ‘adds value’ to the App ecosystem.
This is probably the most balanced comment I have seen, across all blogs that I’ve read.
Ditto.
Can please (honest question) explain why Microsoft was forced (due to monopoly) to free Windows from Internet Explorer and Apple is not being forced to let users choose the store they want to use for their applications (meaning a non Apple iTunes Store clone)? Is this legally not the same?
I think you would have trouble creating an anti-trust case at this point. The laws that were invoked in that case weren’t so much about the use of the product, but the size of the corporation.
Or market share, actually.
Simple: Apple does not control more than 50% of any market. Microsoft controlled almost all of the market for the desktop OS and used that dominance to give a browser away for free, thereby eliminating an entire class of competitors.
As a developer I’m not a fan at all of Apple’s behavior. The net result though for the consumer is undeniably great products which in turn forces more open companies to do a better job.
I was just thinking about Apple devices vs Windows. But, this seems like the iPhone is purely about hardware looks and the power of monopolizing the monetization of the userbase.
Apple simply released a visually appealing device every geek wanted and was accessible to regular people with as few options as possible (read: sans 3G, MMS, video, proper Bluetooth support for a media device, etc.) so they could continue to charge for barely different hardware (faster, 3G, & a compass) every 2 years. Apple depends on people wanting the hardware enough to overlook how crappy their software is. Yes, the iPhone is stable and spaced perfectly, with great games and lots of apps. But, those games and apps would work & sell just as well (if not better) on any other platform with such a large userbase and the aesthetics are the only upside otherwise. This is depressing. I want an Android phone with the iPhone’s screen.
I urge you to join a development team that makes the HW and SW for a system to try and understand what it takes to create these things that we throw around and take for granted.
Barely different hardware… do you have any idea what’s under the hood?
I don’t see people knocking BMW so much. Why the hatred? It’s like saying OH MY GOD, I can’t use my 50,0000 W PMPO Pioneer multi-panel display 55″ sub-woofer music and nav system with a brand new BMW 335 without voiding the warranty. Because BMW decided that their music systems are well designed and they sound great. Don’t like it? Buy a Honda civic and spruce it up. Nothing wrong with that.
There was no hatred in Cris’s comment. As for the analogy, Did you ever see a BMW tha could’nt go above 100 mph because BMW didn’t want ppl to break the law? And that’s a smart law BMW did not impose…
Good points Alana.
BMWs often ship with ‘restrictive’ ECUs that intentionally limit the performance of the car for the sake of longevity.
One company can not hope to control so many aspects of technology against the rest of the market. Jobs obviously has some sort of megalomania complex that prevents him from seeing the fact that you cannot actually control everything, it simply does not work. It may work initially but as things progress apple will fall further and further behind until it is a bit player the same way it is a bit player in the home computing market.
It really is a shame that the creator of said markets end up being relegated to a small niche and the only source for such occurrences is the fact that jobs is a megalomaniac.
Just to clariy, when you say niche, do you mean market share in no. of units or revenue/profits?
I mean sure, the Driod matched the iPhone in 74 days of sales but it costs half as much on average and was on a bigger network that was itching to get their version of the iPhone. Plus, it is now buy one get one free.
Bingo. There’s a reason Android’s uptick had happened primarily in the U.S. — Verizon customers.
I wonder what will happen to Android’s market share once Big Red gets the iPhone?
Great article and it’s something I have been thinking about lately.
With the iPhone Apple had a few years to gain market with a great tool. Now, with the iPad, they have about 3 months until a tablet that comes out that is faster, more features, etc… – I see Apple’s proprietary philosophy in an age where companies who are innovating right on their tail becoming, closing the gap, bad news for Apple.