I think if taken to the Supreme Court, Apple (and any other company including Nintendo inside the US) will lose their shirt in regards to this matter of restricting what can run on a publicly available platform.
Based on what law? Based on what legal precedent? If its that simple why hasn't anyone sued Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, etc so far? Because short of violating anti-trust law they can do whatever they want in terms of restricting what can and can't be done on their products.
In other words, it comes down to if it's my computer, I can run whatever I want on it. PERIOD.
WRONG. Its not a computer. Its a new device entirely. You are right that you can TRY and run whatever you want on it, but Apple is under no obligation to help you do so, help the other person get it running, or help you after you FUBAR your phone. Apple is under no obligation whatsoever to allow development on the iPhone. None. Zero. Zilch. They have decided to allow limited development subject to certrain restrictions. If you want to develop for the iphone, you follow their rules, otherwise you develop hackily or you develop for another platform. THAT is what the courts would tell you.
and they will lose because SOCIETY is ultimately what matters and countries like the US are SUPPOSED to protect the citizens of their country, NOT legal entities like corporations. And that will continue to come to the forefront as people get sick and tired of corporations controlling their lives,
Right because your life is being ruined by the lack of Flash on the iPhone. There is a very simple choice you have. If you don't like Apple's approach you can buy from someone else. Android, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Motorola, Blackberry, etc. There are a not insignifcant number of mobile phone makers out there. You have the wonderful thing called FREEDOM TO CHOOSE. Excercise your power as a consumer. Lawsuits trying to force Apple to do something they dont' want (and would make the phone much less reliable) are 10x worse than the supposed "harm" you are suffering because you can't play the latest flash game on your iphone.
Imagine if all the printing presses refused to print anything except what some big corporation wanted.
This would be illegal under anti-trust law, or you would have other people create printing presses. The situation is not analogous.
Imagine if the Internet only allowed select people to have access or WRITE data (e.g. post mesages, host sites, etc.) Imagine trying to justify that because some companies own the ISPs and all agree you shouldn't have access unless you're on their approved list. Imagine if that approved list didn't includes certain ethnic groups, certain political affiliations or certain financial classes. But it's OK because they own the servers you use. They don't HAVE to allow you to use it! That's called discrimination and it's ILLEGAL.
Actually it wouldn't be ok because it violates the constitution. No where does the constitution mention your inalienable right to run Flash on your iPhone. Really, trust me, its not there.
I don't see not allowing software on a publicly available platform as being one bit different. If I buy a product, it's my right to use it as I see fit. And that's a fair use issue that is going to continue to get worse as time goes on and companies try to force you to do only what they want as part of the contract or license agreement. Things like copyrights are privileges. They exist so someone can make money off their ideas. They were never designed so companies can control every aspect of your life.
And you are free to use it as you see fit. Apple is under no obligation, as i stated above, to enable you to do something with it it wasn't intended to do. You can TRY and get it to do that, but you do so at your OWN risk. And again this is NOT controlling every aspect of your life. Your hyperbole is going off the charts here.
It should not matter whether the software is Windows or MacOSX or PalmOS. If it's sold to the public for public usage, it should be open to the public for public usage. It's one thing to charge to use something like AT&T's network. It's quite another to say certain people aren't ALLOWED to use their network because they're not on our 'approved list'. And THAT is what Apple is doing. They can say we don't want certain apps on OUR STORE, but they cannot then in turn say you can ONLY USE OUR STORE.
Um, yes they can, because they aren't obligated to allow anyone to develop for it in the first place! You do NOT have a God given or legal right to have an iPhone that allows extra applications to run on it. NONE. Apple could just as easily say "we aren't going to allow 3rd party development on the iPhone PERIOD". And they would have every right to do so. And you could buy a phone and try and hack it. And thats ok, but Apple no longer has to support you, and they don't have to HELP you hack it.
That's then discrimination and it should be fought, IMO. And no, I don't think someone like Nintendo should be able to do that either. Ultimately, Apple will have problems as they get more popular because they are trying to control both the software AND the hardware. Microsoft keeps getting into trouble for just ONE of those. It's only a matter of time, really....
Please spend some time with some law books and study case law to understand the difference between this situation and the Microsoft anti-trust issues. Of significant import is the fact that the iPhone, while popular, controls a small fraction of the worldwide cellphone market.
Bottom line, ITS FREAKING FLASH! You are dragging up civil rights and corporate oppression? You sound ridiculous! Show some perspective for crying out loud.