http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20976213/
"However, Apple's wireless entry is seen by some as emblematic of the underlying problem. The iPhone is iPhony, writes Tim Wu, a law professor at Columbia University, in Slate magazine. Apple's business model is perverse. "If Apple wanted to be 'revolutionary'," writes Mr Wu, "it would sell an unlocked version of the iPhone that, like a computer, you could bring to the carrier of your choice." Instead, Apple chose AT&T as its exclusive network, violating "network neutrality".
Apple is too busy with its product launch to notice. One million customers bought iPhones in the first 79 days; analysts project 4.5m units sold in the first year. Hosting this Apple party is a curious way for carriers to lock out innovation. It is even more remarkable that critics could configure Apple's entrepreneurship as an attack on creativity. They claim that only a device that is optimised for any application and capable of accessing any network is efficient.
They are wrong. What works best for consumers is a competitive process in which independent developers, content owners, hardware vendors and networks vie to discover preferred packages and pricing. When decision-makers compete for customers and answer to shareholders, a sophisticated balance obtains. The alternative proposition, business models voted on by regulators, is a recipe for stasis."
"However, Apple's wireless entry is seen by some as emblematic of the underlying problem. The iPhone is iPhony, writes Tim Wu, a law professor at Columbia University, in Slate magazine. Apple's business model is perverse. "If Apple wanted to be 'revolutionary'," writes Mr Wu, "it would sell an unlocked version of the iPhone that, like a computer, you could bring to the carrier of your choice." Instead, Apple chose AT&T as its exclusive network, violating "network neutrality".
Apple is too busy with its product launch to notice. One million customers bought iPhones in the first 79 days; analysts project 4.5m units sold in the first year. Hosting this Apple party is a curious way for carriers to lock out innovation. It is even more remarkable that critics could configure Apple's entrepreneurship as an attack on creativity. They claim that only a device that is optimised for any application and capable of accessing any network is efficient.
They are wrong. What works best for consumers is a competitive process in which independent developers, content owners, hardware vendors and networks vie to discover preferred packages and pricing. When decision-makers compete for customers and answer to shareholders, a sophisticated balance obtains. The alternative proposition, business models voted on by regulators, is a recipe for stasis."