i can't believe the number of ignorant people on this forum, as well as others. every time a headline like this comes out, lately it has turned into a discussion of free markets, monopolies, anti-trust, unfair business practices, blah blah blah blah blah.
oh and don't forget the every popular, disjointed analogies to try and prove ones opinion being more right than someone else's (i'm guilty of that one too).
i'll attempt on this occasion to refrain from an analogy and instead ask two "what if" questions.
WHAT IF Apple had never designed and built an iPhone? or here's another: WHAT IF Apple had never developed the iPhone OS to support the purchasing and installation of applications?
would ANY government or entity have had the "right" or power to step in and tell Apple they had to make a phone, or had to allow apps on the phone?
would Apple have been accused of all these same improprieties because they weren't providing a platform or marketplace for competitors to distribute their own intellectual property? i think not.
i will concede that a Google Voice app should be allowed to be installed on an iPhone an run as long as it's using WiFi and not AT&Ts data networks. so i am curious as to how this investigation will turn out with regards to that.
not that Apple would ever do this, but one last WHAT IF. WHAT IF Apple were to get tired of all the bs, and complaints, and investigations, and decide to get out of the market and stop producing iPhones, and shut down the App store, and quite providing software updates for existing devices? where would all be then?
we'd be in the same place we've been the whole time (before and after they made the iPhone). we'd be in a market were any entity is FREE to make their own device that does wonderful things to make the lives of consumers better in their never ending quest to buy more stuff.
personally i dont think Apple cares if there is a Google Voice app. i think itll be shown that it was a result of ATT input, pressure, etc. apple will eventually have to allow the app.
in a case like that, i go back to what i said before about WiFi only access for such apps, but the iPhone is NOT ATT's intellectual property and therefore should not be able to dictate who gets to use it and not use it. their data network however is their property, and they should be allowed to dictate what can and cannot be done on it.
take that one step further, the iPhone is Apple's intellectual property and they should be allowed to decide when and where it gets distributed. ie exclusivity contracts. maybe they are the greatest things in the world for everyone, and maybe Apple doesn't like the idea of them a whole lot either. but if they didn't think they were necessary for the purpose of meeting certain corporate goals, then they wouldnt be entering into them.
it's a shame i said i wouldnt use analogies in my post today, because i had a great one about toilets and me being able to force you to have a Kohler toilet installed next to every American Standard toilet in each of the bathrooms in your home when i visit, because i have the right to choose where i want to do my business
