You are wrong to suggest that non-iProduct users are not affected by Apple's anti-competitive behavoir.
- Apple just forced everyone in the US to pay 50% more for books. See/. article from last week. Apple got used to being able to charge much more then their competitors while selling music and I think they got addicted.
- The web is a shared environment. As the only company with total control over a significant web connected platform, they can block any open standards they want. For example, even if Ogg was better then H264 (which it is obviously not) Apple could prevent it from becoming a web standard. MS never had that power because users can install what they want on Windows/IE.
Also, 90% of the people who buy an iProduct have no idea that it is a 'competition free' zone when the buy it. One of the reasons for consumer protection is that those 90% of consumers are simply to busy to educate themselves on everything they buy.
And no, anti-trust legislation is not just for monopolies. Apple has created a platform that is becoming central to the lives of many Americans but which is locked down and compeition free in a way that is quite new. This platform is really the anti-thesis of what we want in our economy (competition) and in our lives (freedom). I think it is worth a closer look.
"It will focus on whether the policy, which took effect last month, kills competition."
Huh? Everything about the iProducts kills compeition. For Apple, killing competition (along with good ads) is pretty much their core competenacy.
I'm not sure whether this is really something that the FTC should be investigating, but if they are going to do so, they need to widen the net and look at all the unprecedent ways that Apple uses its lock-down of the iProducts to block competition. Why limit it to just this latest trick?
Again, I'm not certain that they should be doing this, but it sure would be nice if they could force Apple to stop using their control of the AppStore against their own users. We could have Google Voice, Mozilla Firefox, Ogg codecs, cheaper music, books, and videos, and even some competitors to Playboy if they want to keep Playboy around.
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You are wrong to suggest that non-iProduct users are not affected by Apple's anti-competitive behavoir. - Apple just forced everyone in the US to pay 50% more for books. See /. article from last week. Apple got used to being able to charge much more then their competitors while selling music and I think they got addicted.
- The web is a shared environment. As the only company with total control over a significant web connected platform, they can block any open standards they want. For example, even if Ogg was better then H264 (which it is obviously not) Apple could prevent it from becoming a web standard. MS never had that power because users can install what they want on Windows/IE.
Also, 90% of the people who buy an iProduct have no idea that it is a 'competition free' zone when the buy it. One of the reasons for consumer protection is that those 90% of consumers are simply to busy to educate themselves on everything they buy.
And no, anti-trust legislation is not just for monopolies. Apple has created a platform that is becoming central to the lives of many Americans but which is locked down and compeition free in a way that is quite new. This platform is really the anti-thesis of what we want in our economy (competition) and in our lives (freedom). I think it is worth a closer look.
"It will focus on whether the policy, which took effect last month, kills competition." Huh? Everything about the iProducts kills compeition. For Apple, killing competition (along with good ads) is pretty much their core competenacy. I'm not sure whether this is really something that the FTC should be investigating, but if they are going to do so, they need to widen the net and look at all the unprecedent ways that Apple uses its lock-down of the iProducts to block competition. Why limit it to just this latest trick? Again, I'm not certain that they should be doing this, but it sure would be nice if they could force Apple to stop using their control of the AppStore against their own users. We could have Google Voice, Mozilla Firefox, Ogg codecs, cheaper music, books, and videos, and even some competitors to Playboy if they want to keep Playboy around.
Steve Jobs is preparing a patent attack. Apparently it is impossible to create a GUI without violating their patents.