“After initially dismissing the notion that Apple could ever break its way past entrenched rivals and make any significant impact on the smartphone industry, tech pundits are now aghast that Apple is running its business the way its executives see fit. Critics charge that the iPhone and its mobile software store amount to a monopoly and a restriction of free trade. They’re wrong,” Daniel Eran Dilger writes for RoughlyDrafted.
Dilger asks, “How is it that those who were skeptical that the iPhone would take off, or even hopeful that it wouldn’t, are now taking the position that Apple shouldn’t be allowed to chart its own destiny, but should instead be run by the community of pundit opinion that tried to destroy it?”
“The reality is that Apple has earned its success, not by being granted a monopoly by fate that it turned around as a weapon to stop competition, but by actually competing to deliver a better product,” Dilger writes.
“Daniel Lyons, the Fake Steve Jobs who went to Newsweek to write up absurdities about how Apple is like Microsoft because Vudo is going out of business because Apple sells movies in iTunes, is a great example of why the tech media needs to educate itself on the difference between successful competition in a functional market, and Microsoft’s abuse of its monopoly position to prevent competition,” Dilger writes.
“Apple doesn’t have a moral obligation to grant other companies success,” Dilger writes. “[Apple] has already provided them an example of how to attack monopolists and win. If they can’t compete, that’s their problem.”
Full article – recommended – here.
Hey, he smacks down the Idiot Rob Enderle… this guy can’t be all that bad
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
I always get puzzled when i read someone writing about “left” “red” or “communist” politics in a american forum… Usually it can be translated by “not extrem right enough” “not religious” or “not fanatically nationalist” or something…
As we all know, all this right-left talks are sooooooo relativ!
SHUT THE FSCK UP TECH PUNDIT BITCHES! Negative people upset me.
Crunch ‘n’ Munch. Cos life is sweet and a little bit crunchy. ®
@Peruchito,
“the one thing people also forget. IT IS NOT ILLEGAL TO BE A MONOPOLY. there are plenty out there. IT IS ILLEGAL TO ABUSE IT.”
Right on. Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Rock on Apple. Best phone, bar none.
Um…
I agree with Jimithy et. all. DL Meyer is just a bitter Anti Mac user that whines that Apple won’t let DULL and others license os X . I bought my first mac in 1998 (beige G3 tower) when Apple was a frog’s hair from going under. And now that they came up with a cool system (hardware and software) to compete with M$, you whine monopoly? When you buy a computer, You can choose between Windows, OS X, or Linux for that matter. Noboby is making you choose. Its called competition. And the argument that Apple uses “Substandard Hardware” is moot. It really annoys me when some “living in mom’s basement” geek comes on here and claims he/she can build a 1,000 core machine with a 7 GiG video card for less than a Mac Pro,(good for you) but tell that to my buddy who knows how to turn a computer on and surfs the web but that’s about it. When I let him borrow my Macbook, he said “Whoa, this is much better!!” If you want iLife, buy a Mac and stop whining. Or else, go back to Movie Maker and finish your project before your computer crashes.
There , I feel better…..(long day at work today)
“Sorry, but I have actually met Mr. Dilger and found him to be an informed, intelligent, and aware person who has no agenda except for truthful articles. “
That’s great. I’m sure we all look forward to him stopping writing the fanboy crap he does now and getting on to writing those truthful articles.
“He shows tremendous knowledge on Tech things, but the first article he wrote about Politics had a lot of “facts” that seemed to come right off of the Huffington Post or DailyKos or Digg.”
He’s just as ignorant of tech things, you just can’t see it because you’re presumably more ignorant.
Toodles and/or Guffaw:
Cite, please. Educate us all about the errors in Mr. Dilger’s articles.
I’m tired of people all over the internet, liberal or conservative or libertarian, Mac or Windows or Linux, whatever arena they are “debating” in (debate, by the way, is a massive waste of time and mental energy) claiming that so-and-so is an idiot or a fanboy or a liar without being specific. If you can’t back up your opinion, keep it to yourself.
“If you can’t back up your opinion, keep it to yourself.”
If you’re so stupid you can’t see from his writing, there’s really no helping you.
“Sir, I knew Mr. Dilger, and you are no Mr. Dilger”
~Lloyd Bensten
Having a monopoly is not illegal. Using a monopoly position to stile competition is, and that’s what Microsoft has been accused and convicted of.
@ DL Meyer:
Apple is a monopoly, but there is no “charge” as you put it. There is nothing illegal about being a monopoly – it is illegal to ABUSE your position as a monopoly to manipulate the overall market.
For example, Standard Oil Company had cornered the market on selling gasoline. They used their position to drive all competitors out of the market by selling their gas much cheaper than it cost them to buy it when they moved into an area. Once the competition closed up shop, they then raised their prices higher than the area had seen. That’s abusing your monopoly powers, and that’s why Standard Oil was broken up.
Apple has a monopoly only on the computers it produces. It certainly does not have a monopoly on the computer industry, and Apple can’t use its position to affect the overall market. Even with $20B in the bank, Apple doesn’t have the resources to undersell Dell, HP, etc. to such a degree that they are driven out of business.
Same for the iPhone. While it is an unqualified success, the iPhone hardly dominates the mobile phone market, and not even the smart phone market (maybe in time). What Apple has done here is to use the law in its favor – heavily patent key technologies so that competitors can’t copy what Apple did in creating the iPhone. That’s not abusing a monopoly position, that’s protecting your investment in developing new technologies. Without such protections, inventors would never be able to profit from their creations.
“Daniel lost my readership when he decided to start writing shady left political articles. “
Why does it always have to be “left’? Can’t he just be wrong or can’t it just be stupid. Doesn’t mean it’s left. If it was really really left then maybe he’d be arguing Apple shouldn’t exist.
The guy is just trying to get hits. Take off your tinfoil hat already.
“You want to run their OS? You buy their hardware.”
So by that rationale, if I buy a Toyota and I can’t buy one with a Ford engine in it, then Toyota is a monopoly?
“If you’re so stupid you can’t see from his writing, there’s really no helping you.”
No one here needs or wants enlightenment from a dipshit like you. Bugger off.
“Sorry, but I have actually met Mr. Dilger and found him to be an informed, intelligent, and aware person who has no agenda except for truthful articles. “
Comment from: MacBart
“I also enjoyed his articles, but quit reading his blog because of his political posts.”
obviously the truth has a liberal bias…..
aka Christian
“I’m tired of people all over the internet, liberal or conservative or libertarian, Mac or Windows or Linux, whatever arena they are “debating” in (debate, by the way, is a massive waste of time and mental energy”
arguing is a waste of time and energy. debate implies that you actually listen to the other side. if you are truly listening, there is a chance that you might also learn. it also better equips you to convince the other side of the validity of your point. there is, or at least should be, a difference.
having said that, you are right, they are advancing an opinion with zero evidence or support. this makes them worse than useless. they are actually taking up space where useful information could be.
on topic, it is amazing that we have gone so quickly from “Apple doesn’t have a chance in the phone industry, this isn’t like the newly emerging mp3 player market, they are going to get crushed” to “they have an unfair monopoly!”
i wonder if the irony has occurred to those people who are saying these things….
“I always get puzzled when i read someone writing about “left” “red” or “communist” politics in a american forum… Usually it can be translated by “not extrem right enough” “not religious” or “not fanatically nationalist” or something…
As we all know, all this right-left talks are sooooooo relativ!”
that is because here in america we only have the slightly to the right of center and the extremely to the right of center parties. you get used to it. either that or you escaped over the fence into canada during the reagan years.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
@ericdano et al:
And the person who wrote: “I’m there, too. I still read Daniel’s Apple articles which I find insightful, and not the least bit disingenuous. But his political views–to which he is completely entitled–especially as they are expressed without the same level of critical insight, have soured me a bit on his site. And I am a donor to his site!”
Lose the political rhetoric and get back to the technical reporting with the great level of insight you always have, Daniel (The Prince)!!!
Yes, it’s your blog, but we became accustomed to informed, factual, excellent takes on your favorite subjects in the tech world, especially when it comes to Apple. But, LEAVE your opinions on the politics of USA out of it. Sure, the politics of the tech companies you report about are fair game for SOME of your comments, but don’t include the politics of the land. It does have SOME influence on what you write, but sours us readers to what we are really looking for in your articles – the meat of your views on the tech companies and their interrelationships, and just plain, ordinary tech information and what you think it will do in the industry and the companies involved as a whole.
And I hope DED is reading this, since it took me a long time to type it!
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
“Sir, I knew Mr. Dilger, and you are no Mr. Dilger”
Which in polite society could only be taken to be a compliment.
Shen:
You mentioned one of the inherent flaws in debate, at least in western culture. People do not listen and try to learn from the debate. In the U.S., in particular, people hear and read facts all the time and disregard them in favor of their current opinion or their “faith” in something, and are in fact seen as being strong individuals if they stand tough in the face of opposition, meaning they don’t change their mind despite new facts which are available. How often have you ever known anyone to come away from a debate and go, “Yeah, I totally changed my mind on that issue.” Rarely if ever, I’ll wager.
Another problem with debate is that too often, the side framing the debate can frame it in such a way that they virtually can’t lose. The Catholic Church used this tactic for centuries: “The Pope speaks the inerrant word of God, therefore his edicts on this issue are infallible.” Tough to debate that, eh?
Then there’s the problem that debate tries to narrow issues to black and white, right or wrong sides, when in the real world, there are rarely ever solutions to problems which have an all-or-nothing answer. Total gun ban in the U.S.? Absurd. Some gun control? This has been practiced in the U.S. for decades and most people would agree its sensible. “But wait,” says the anti-gun control group, trying to frame the debate, “The Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms. Anyone should be able to carry any gun at any time because of that.” Tough to debate that when it’s framed that way.
@Guffaw
Wow. Ouch. I’m pained and swooning from your rapier wit. Shen is right: “they are advancing an opinion with zero evidence or support. this makes them worse than useless.” Cite some evidence or go away.
“Apple doesn’t have a moral obligation to grant other companies success,” Dilger writes. “[Apple] has already provided them an example of how to attack monopolists and win. If they can’t compete, that’s their problem.” —Daniel Eran Dilger
RIGHT ON, BROTHER!!!
“Cite some evidence”
Everything Eran has ever written when viewed objectively is fanboy tripe.There is no specific example because it’s EVERYTHING he writes. Cite your counterexample.
Ignore the troll.
Actually DED’s political statements are just as astute as his technical statements.
Oh, and all you republicans, thanks for the economy and the needless death and maiming of so many of our children.
“Actually DED’s political statements are just as astute as his technical statements.”
I don’t think any-one’s arguing with that analysis. He’s not just an idiot in his technical writing.
still what that trolls fail to do, is prove the apple is wrong. you can prove that Dan is wrong, but none of you have said anything worth its weight in the case of the apple issue