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Apple May Face Antitrust Inquiry
suraj.sun writes with this excerpt from the NY Post:
"According to a person familiar with the matter, the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission are locked in negotiations over which of the watchdogs will begin an antitrust inquiry into Apple's new policy of requiring software developers who devise applications for devices such as the iPhone and iPad to use only Apple's programming tools. Regulators, this person said, are days away from making a decision about which agency will launch the inquiry. It will focus on whether the policy, which took effect last month, kills competition by forcing programmers to choose between developing apps that can run only on Apple gizmos or come up with apps that are platform-neutral, and can be used on a variety of operating systems, such as those from rivals Google, Microsoft, and Research In Motion. An inquiry doesn't necessarily mean action will be taken against Apple, which argues the rule is in place to ensure the quality of the apps it sells to customers. Typically, regulators initiate inquiries to determine whether a full-fledged investigation ought to be launched. If the inquiry escalates to an investigation, the agency handling the matter would issue Apple a subpoena seeking information about the policy."
I hope they roast Apple's fruity little ass with the biggest legal flamethrower they have stuck aside.
Maybe something will come of this, maybe it won't, but here's to hoping.
At least we can finally get an answer one way or another for the fanbois who keep saying "It's their platform, they can do what they want." - because in reality, that's not the case. There are lines that you cannot legally cross, and Apple very well may have done so.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
Which other phone brand in the market supports iphone apps? Why the fuck should apple support other platforms then? If apple is supposed to support all languages, this rule must be imposed on all manufacturers.
Your not a developer I suppose, because you apparently do not understand 30% of the words you used in your own post.
No, Apple requires the program to be originally written in the approved languages. This is done deliberately to prevent code being written for multiple languages and provide a disincentive for releasing an application for the Iphone and one of its competitors. Especially since most of their big competitors use Java.
If Apple has acted in good faith, then they have nothing to fear about an Anti-Trust investigation. I've also said the same thing about Google and this pretty much applies to any company.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.