I'm really losing patience for companies locking down hardware. I, as the consumer, should be able to do what I want with my hardware, without their permission, interference or preventive measures.
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Apple, Google Face UK Antitrust Probe Into Mobile Ecosystem Power
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I'm really losing patience for companies locking down hardware. I, as the consumer, should be able to do what I want with my hardware, without their permission, interference or preventive measures.
I’m assuming this is a joke, but competition can’t exist if no one is competitive.
Apple and then Google got so far ahead while Ballmer was screwing around with Windows 8. Then they bungled Windows Mobile for years. Then they bought Nokia at the worst possible time. Then they immediately wasted it.
There’s nobody else with the money to try. Amazon and Facebook both made phones, and they were both instant gigantic flops.
You are able to do what you want with your hardware, without their permission. They're just not obligated to help you do it, especially if they still own the software that the hardware runs on. If that is an issue for you, there are countless hardware manufacturers who run open operating systems for you to choose from.
You missed this part "without their permission, interference or preventive measures." They don't have to help, but they shouldn't be locking down the hardware to prevent it either, and then adjusting said lockdowns to prevent new options as they come out.
You are free to do anything you want with your hardware; you just forfeit your warranty.
That doesn't work on vehicles, because there is a specific provision in the automotive law world that allows third parties, approved or otherwise, to work on and repair vehicles, and as long as the repair didn't cause problems, it doesn't void the warranty.
Naa, cellphones are not special snowflakes that should exempt from such regulation.
I said nothing about sideloading. I should be able to plug my iPhone (or any other such device) into a computer, and without contacting Apple, or getting approval, blow away the OS to bare hardware without Apple's artifical countermeasures trying to prevent me.
This is not specific to Apple, or the cellphone world at all.
If the United Kingdom government intends to impose multi-billion-dollar (or -pound; doesn’t matter) fines on two American corporations, demand restrictions on who can be directors, officers, or executives of those corporations, and/or demand changes to the ways those corporations design their products, they will find that American-government cooperation is crucial for any hope of enforcing those restrictions, actually.
The consequences that are within the unilateral power of His Majesty’s government—to wit, restricted access to a populace that provides maybe 5% of global spending on tech products and services—are pretty meager, and they come with obvious political risks. UK voters might be rather unhappy if, thanks to a fight their government has picked, it suddenly becomes much harder for them to buy an iPhone, use Google search, or watch “Severance.” And they would be capable of taking their frustrations out on the elected officials who make those restrictions possible.
The same considerations apply to politicians in the EU, though the potential monetary losses to the tech companies are a little larger. It’s interesting to wonder who would crack first if a few major companies decided to “go on strike” and refuse to do (official) business in small markets whose leaders think they have the power to coerce the companies to make major, ruinous changes in the ways they design their products.
It’s not at all clear that these governments are nearly as powerful as they think they are.
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Ok, then what? There is no OS you will be able to install on your iPhone to make the hardware work, there are no video drivers to download, no network divers to download, etc.
My understanding is that all efforts to get around Apple’s restrictions simply exploit a security hole in Apple’s software.
You are free to do what you like without interference or prevention when you discover a means to circumvent the restrictions without exploiting a security hole.
This is why you need regulation to force it to happen.
It’s interesting that you happen to believe (based on a theory of moral obligation that remains obscure) that you are entitled to have Apple design and manufacture such a product and make it available to you, but in point of fact the company clearly is not interested in doing so.
You are of course welcome to purchase a smartphone from another company that provides you with the “blow away the OS to bare hardware” feature that you desire. More than that, you are welcome to boycott Apple and its products and services entirely. But your ability to make arbitrary demands that the company design its products to suit your tastes is limited to your power to force them to do so. And as far as any of us here can tell, you have no such power at all.
That is obviously not the way the world works with any type of device that relies on firmware or software to drive it.
I should be able to install windows 11 on my microwave 😂😂😂
What company is going to do this work to create the alternatives
Where is the funding for that effort going to come from
If companies don’t think it is viable then are the regulators going to underwrite any losses that the company makes in their effort
How are you going to get developers to support your new platform
How are you then going to get consumers to choose to use it
Apple and Google have destroyed the market with their duopoly. Why is that so difficult to understand?
A car comparison:
Manufacturer A sells vehicles. But to fill them up, you have to buy fuel from Filling station B. Maintenance can also only be carried out by manufacturer A.
How many car manufacturers still have a chance if 90% of filling stations now only offer fuel for manufacturer A?
Yes, the comparison is not perfect. But the principle should be understandable even in an Apple fanboy forum.
If monopolies (or in this case duopolies) are to be broken, the competition-destroying rules of the monopoly must first be broken.
The issue isn't that Apple and Google destroyed the market (which is a ridiculous statement) - the issue is that you can't make consumers and developers choose to support third OSes. There were many attempts at them (Windows, Palm, Blackberry, etc.). Many of them were paying cell phone carriers to push their products, giving incentives for things like number of devices sold. But none of that matters if users aren't picking those products and developers aren't developing for them. Most consumers actually don't want a wide range of options to choose from, this has been shown time and time and time again.
For some reason, for many, an overly emotional defense permeates any rational analysis when it comes to Apple.
I get it on some level, as most of us have been fans for decades ... and it becomes difficult to believe your favorite computer/tech company can do bad things ... and we really don't WANT to believe it, even if it's true.
One of the hardest things in life is updating our priors to reflect current situations based upon reality and not what we wish were true ... or what used to be true, etc
Apple has a much smaller market share in the world than Android. There have been several smartphones that didn't run on iOS or Android. People voted with their wallets, and those platforms died.
There are 1% maximum fine limits but for other kinds of infractions, e.g. providing the authority false information. It might be the article mistakenly referenced those.
The basic Android code is open source and that is where different companies can make use off. They make a skin of the UI on top of Android. Samsung uses its own and is called One OS I believe. You can’t do that with iOS because it’s closed.
For some reason mention apple and an overly critical view ensues whereby every thing apple does is bad.
I get at some level people don’t want to acknowledge the popularity of apple has formed a core of cognitive dissonance regarding these companies.
It’s difficult to realize that YOU are in power not apple. Just stop buying their products