Steve Jobs' Snarky Testimony Takes Center Stage in iPod Class-Action Lawsuit Opening

[MacRumors]

Apple this week is battling a decade-old class-action lawsuit by iPod owners angry that their media players were locked to Apple's iTunes ecosystem. Key pieces of evidence in the trial include email conversations among Apple executives and a videotaped deposition of Steve Jobs, both of which were made public for the first time this week as part of the court proceedings.

According to CNN Money and Reuters, the question-and-answer session with Steve Jobs focused on Apple's response to RealNetworks and its Harmony music service. In 2004, RealNetworks created this competing music service that allowed users to download songs and play them on any media device, including the iPod.

RealNetworks' iPod support incensed Apple, which published a press release accusing RealNetworks of hacking the iPod. Apple adopted this strategy following a series of emails between Apple marketing head Phil Schiller and CEO Steve Jobs.

"How's this?" Jobs wrote. "We are stunned that Real is adopting the tactics and ethics of a hacker and breaking into the iPod."

"I like likening them to hackers," Apple marketing chief Philip Schiller responded.

When asked if this response to RealNetworks was "strong and vehement," Jobs replied, "They don't sound too angry to me when I read them," adding that, "A strong response from Apple would be a lawsuit."

During the deposition, Jobs reportedly was snarky, asking "Do they still exist?" when referring to RealNetworks. Jobs also was evasive in his testimony, responding 74 times with "I don't remember," "I don't know" or "I don't recall."

When he did answer questions, Jobs painted Apple as a company being held hostage by the major music labels, which required digital rights management (DRM) on iTunes music as part of their contract terms. Apple claimed it had to repeatedly update iTunes to patch holes in its DRM or risk forfeiting these contracts.

The class action case started earlier this week and is being heard in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California. Apple marketing head Phil Schiller and senior vice president of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue are expected to testify as part of the ongoing court proceedings.

Article Link: Steve Jobs' Snarky Testimony Takes Center Stage in iPod Class-Action Lawsuit Opening

 

[heeloliver]

steve jobs has always been snarky

 

[macintologist]

Let's remind ourselves what this lawsuit is supposedly about:

"The class-action suit was filed in January 2005 by a customer complaining about the exclusive nature of Apple's digital music offerings encoded with FairPlay, preventing users from playing music purchased from the iTunes Store on other companies' music players and other music stores' digital offerings from being played on iPods."

They should be suing the music companies for forcing Apple to use DRM in the first place.

 

[ValSalva]

I miss the combative Steve Jobs. He never shied from controversy.

 

[lolkthxbai]

Wow, Steve Jobs is my hero. That guy...

 

[technopimp]

I think it was less snarky and more arrogant and self-righteous.

Sorry, he may have been a consumer visionary and possibly a genius, but a nice guy he was not. He was just as ruthless as any other corporate figure who would be vilified for similar tactics.

 

[apparatchik]

Let's remind ourselves what this lawsuit is supposedly about:

They should be suing the music companies for forcing Apple to use DRM in the first place.

Exactly, when Apple entered the media player market they were fairly smaller than what they later became, and this contracts were presumably negotiated with them as the weaker side. In the long run, they were able to drop DRM altogether, as one can read in Jobs' Thoughts about music. By then, they had the upperhand.

From the buisiness point of view, they wouldnt have made iTunes the largest digital music store if at the time they would allow others to load music on to the iPod. From the consumer POV, they were indeed limiting options. Don't know if this lawsuit covers this.

 

[RolyPolyBird]

I think it was less snarky and more arrogant and self-righteous.

Sorry, he may have been a consumer visionary and possibly a genius, but a nice guy he was not. He was just as ruthless as any other corporate figure who would be vilified for similar tactics.

And your behaviour in a room full of hostile self-serving scumbag lawyers would have been?...

He didn't suffer fools and he spoke up when the rest of us keep our mouths shut because he had the power to.

 

[Rot'nApple]

Real Networks was just trying to "Blue Box" Apple's iPod...
/
/
/

 

[cycledance]

I think it was less snarky and more arrogant and self-righteous.

Sorry, he may have been a consumer visionary and possibly a genius, but a nice guy he was not. He was just as ruthless as any other corporate figure who would be vilified for similar tactics.

i sort of feel the same way about him but imagine how angry u'd be if ur companies efforts would be copied over and over shamelessly in this competitive industry.

 

[SirYossi]

[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


Apple this week is battling a decade-old class-action lawsuit by iPod owners angry that their media players were locked to Apple's iTunes ecosystem. Key pieces of evidence in the trial include email conversations among Apple executives and a videotaped deposition of Steve Jobs, both of which were made public for the first time this week as part of the court proceedings.

Image​

According to CNN Money and Reuters, the question-and-answer session with Steve Jobs focused on Apple's response to RealNetworks and its Harmony music service. In 2004, RealNetworks created this competing music service that allowed users to download songs and play them on any media device, including the iPod.

RealNetworks' iPod support incensed Apple, which published a press release accusing RealNetworks of hacking the iPod. Apple adopted this strategy following a series of emails between Apple marketing head Phil Schiller and CEO Steve Jobs. When asked if this response to RealNetworks was "strong and vehement," Jobs replied, "They don't sound too angry to me when I read them," adding that, "A strong response from Apple would be a lawsuit."

During the deposition, Jobs reportedly was snarky, asking "Do they still exist?" when referring to RealNetworks. Jobs also was evasive in his testimony, responding 74 times with "I don't remember," "I don't know" or "I don't recall."

When he did answer questions, Jobs painted Apple as a company being held hostage by the major music labels, which required digital rights management (DRM) on iTunes music as part of their contract terms. Apple claimed it had to repeatedly update iTunes to patch holes in its DRM or risk forfeiting these contracts.

The class action case started earlier this week and is being heard in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California. Apple marketing head Phil Schiller and senior vice president of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue are expected to testify as part of the ongoing court proceedings.

Article Link: Steve Jobs' Snarky Testimony Takes Center Stage in iPod Class-Action Lawsuit Opening

People must be really stupid - if RealNetworks had half a brain the DRM has one major loop hole that i do not think even apple could even patch. It is harder to do today as most computer do not ship with a optical drive all u need is a rewritable CD and burn the tracks to the CD and the reimport them that is the only way minus software to remove the DRM - not sure why this happens that way but it does work. Music can be recovered from the ipod in various methods including software or removing the hard drive from the device.

 

[roadbloc]

As much as I'd love to ditch iTunes and just have drag and drop support for my iPod, this lawsuit seems kinda... pointless.

 

[John.B]

Apple had very specific, very restrictive terms with the labels that required the so-called "FairPlay" DRM, and required Apple to remediate known workarounds within a specific time period (90 days?). Wasn't Apple forced to respond to companies attempting to plug into iTunes the same way they were forced to respond to hacks to FairPlay? Apple's licensing terms with the labels, back in the day, almost certainly didn't extend to RealNetworks...

Oh, and lest we forget who almost single-handedly removed DRM from music downloads: Thoughts on Music - Steve Jobs - February 6, 2007

 

[bbeagle]

Android locked in

I'm going to file a lawsuit against Android devices because I'm 'locked in' to the Android ecosystem and cannot use iOS applications.

sigh.

 

[dontwalkhand]

If Steve was still alive:

Walmart and Best Buy would take Apple Pay
Who knows if iOS 7 would have even come to fruition
iPhone 6 would probably be the size of the 5.
Same said for OS X Yosemite as iOS 7

 

[truettray]

Does anyone have the full transcript or link to a video? They say it's gone public, but I can't find it anywhere.

 

[technopimp]

And your behaviour in a room full of hostile self-serving scumbag lawyers would have been?...

He didn't suffer fools and he spoke up when the rest of us keep our mouths shut because he had the power to.

Yes, he had the power to. I personally feel he used that power to bully as well. But bullying/persuasion I guess are two sides of the same coin when you run a multi-billion dollar corporation.

 

[Rogifan]

If Steve was still alive:

Walmart and Best Buy would take Apple Pay
Who knows if iOS 7 would have even come to fruition
iPhone 6 would probably be the size of the 5.
Same said for OS X Yosemite as iOS 7

Wow talk about RDF.

 

[Praesto]

This crap pisses me off.

I want to sue sony, panasonic, microsoft, samsung, etc for not allowing my cd players / walkman to play my digital media files...

an MP3 file is like a CD... I could not play cassette tapes on a CD player but thats because of innovation. I purchase an Ipod KNOWING that it only works with Itunes.

If I did not know it only works with Itunes I am an uneducated consumer and it is my fault, therefore I have no right to claim deception.

Stupid lawsuits that are started by lawyers to make millions. They get a few people excited to make like $5 each.. While the lawyers stand to make millions. This is an exact reason why our judicial system is broken. We should begin fining lawyers for 10% of the "damages" they are looking for when they lose lawsuits. We would see far less frivolous lawsuits.

 

[ryansimmons323]

There's few people who continue to have so much personality after they're dead.

 

[genovelle]

People must be really stupid - if RealNetworks had half a brain the DRM has one major loop hole that i do not think even apple could even patch. It is harder to do today as most computer do not ship with a optical drive all u need is a rewritable CD and burn the tracks to the CD and the reimport them that is the only way minus software to remove the DRM - not sure why this happens that way but it does work. Music can be recovered from the ipod in various methods including software or removing the hard drive from the device.

It was actually a feature that Apple even mentioned when accused of songs being locked to itunes. The record companies allowed this because they got royalties from CD-R manufacturers too.

 

[ElTorro]

If there is one thing I don't like about Apple is Job's smug arrogance and how it percolated down into the rest of the company. Calling the competition hackers isn't a class act. Of course be wasn't one in the first place.

 

[RickInHouston]

Wow, Steve Jobs is my hero. That guy...

And I'm on the other side of it. Pretty big ass, he was.

 

[Zxxv]

Just back in my time machine from late 2015 where I copied this headline from macrumors

Apple looses iPod class action lawsuit - Judge awards iTunes vouchers

The article went onto say Apple seem happy with the outcome though its not the one they wanted (they wanted to win win not just win). The class action people are happy because they bought iPods anyway so iTunes vouchers gives them something to use. The lawyers were taken out back and shot due to a change in law that sees lawyers who bring silly cases and loose also pay with their lives. As you can imagine there are very few law suits in late 2015. Apple still rocks and I have brought back the latest apple watch which I used to post this.

 

[HenryDJP]

I think it was less snarky and more arrogant and self-righteous.

Sorry, he may have been a consumer visionary and possibly a genius, but a nice guy he was not. He was just as ruthless as any other corporate figure who would be vilified for similar tactics.

He didn't have to be a nice guy. He was heading off a major corporation in a business where the tech world is dog eat dog. His ruthless, arrogance and self-righteousness brought a company that was about to close up shop to the most valuable company worldwide.

I have no idea why people here expected a Steve Jobs (A CEO) to be nice guy. They act as if he was suppose to be the MR member's friend.