MacDailyNews Note: Please see: Apple faces U.S. antitrust investigation over iPhone OS programming tool requirements? – May 03, 2010
Elmer-DeWitt reports, “As the Post sees it, the new policy ‘kills competition by forcing programmers to choose between developing apps that can run only on Apple gizmos or come up with apps that are platform neutral, and can be used on a variety of operating systems, such as those from rivals Google, Microsoft and Research In Motion.'”
MacDailyNews Take: The operative words above? “As the Post sees it.” The NY Post. On their next page they probably see flying saucers helmed by Pamela Anderson fembots mooring atop the Empire State Building.
Elmer-DeWitt writes, “To win a Sherman Antitrust case against Apple, the government would have to prove both that Apple’s market share constitutes a monopoly — itself not illegal — and that it has abused that monopoly power in ways that damage its competition. While it is true that Apple controls what apps can run on its mobile devices and even what tools developers can use to write those apps, it’s going to be harder to show that it has a monopoly of the smartphone market or that its competitors have been harmed…”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Much ado about nothing.
“U.S. vs. Apple: Who would win?”
Apple
@MDN:
<i>The NY Post. On their next page they probably see flying saucers helmed by Pamela Anderson fembots mooring atop the Empire State Building.<i>
What has happened to the Post? The fembot story should have been on the front page!
This is silly.
Nothing is stopping developers from using Flash. They just can’t use Flash to develop apps for Apple devices.
They are free to do so on other devices…
…if there were other devices even CAPABLE of running Flash.
How is this any different than from companies making applications only for Windows and not the Mac platform?
If you have declared Marxists in the government, tyranny is just around the corner.
There are NO platform neutral apps, whether you’re talking about desktop systems, mobile systems, or otherwise. All have their own distinct, separate GUIs, core technologies, etc.
I can’t take a head gasket for a Chevy and bolt it onto my BMW. That doesn’t stop anyone from making replacement parts for either, they just have to use different dies and tools to make the part.
Apple isn’t barring anyone from developing for the iPhone OS, it’s just requiring the use of certain tools so that the product fits the OS.
If they can’t nail Microsoft for pushing their proprietary DirectX instead of OpenGL, they sure can’t touch Apple.
If Apple’s competitors are being harmed, it’s solely because they’re making shitty, disingenuous products.
Apple doesn’t allow apps that run on its devices to sell products through it without taking a piece of the profits. example Kindle app can’t sell book for you ipad directly in the app without giving a piece of the profits to apple.
That is not marketing that is abuse of a monopoly.
For Microsoft you can sell software for windows without giving Microsoft any money. I can only sell iOS apps through apples Istore and they get some of the profit
Let’s get back to the Fembots.
I agree that this is stupid. If I want to develop a game for XBox, Playstation, or the Wii, I have to use their tools. Worse, I have to spend thousands of dollars to acquire those tools. At $99, Apples’ cost of entry is ridiculously low.
If I want to develop apps for iPhone, I can write HTML 5 code that looks like an app…
if apple has to open up the iPad to Flash development than BMW has to open their onboard computers to Javascript development. I want to cross compile apps for the BMW onboard computer – who cares if I crash the car.
Apple currently has a run rate of around 35 million iPhones each year which constitutes around 10% of the global market for phones and it’s difficult to imagine that growing much beyond 60 million units per year which is still less than a monopoly/market dominance position.
I don’t know if they put anything in the water in NewsCorp’s building on Avenue of the Americas, but – between Fox News and the New York Post- I’m beginning to suspect there’s more than a few people on a bad trip.
This is about the nation’s largest ‘now competing’ monopoly fearful of the most successful companies. It is about forcing highly successful companies to mediocracy and not hurting anyone’s feelings. I.e., bail out losers & tear down winners.
The broader market is not smart phones, it’s all cell phones, this is what the court has to (according to the Sherman Act) use to measure market share. Apple’s cell phone market share is small.
What about their Tablet market share.
@ Gabriel
The DirectX comparison is the first sensible analogy I’ve seen today. I’m so tired of people comparing computers to cars.
NEWS FLASH – the iPad is not just another car. It’s a hovercraft. The problem is that Adobe still wants to put tires on it.
Friends
*breathe*
The U.S. government is not launching an antitrust investigation against Apple.
This story in the NY Post is conjecture, built upon rumour-mongering FUD, produced in the first place by Josh Kosman, also of the Post.
See? The Post is quoting the Post, to manipulate perceptions of Apple.
I’d leave the pitchforks and torches in the shed, for at least a little while.
How about investigating those internet usage logs at FTC instead.
This is a waste of taxpayers money and like in case of green peace, getting someone’s name in the press.
But who would win if it was da Bears vs. Apple?
Perhaps the Feds are really going after the NY Post: monopolizing senseless journalism.
Based on comments that I have seen in other forums, the vocal Windows users believe that it is OK to code for Windows PCs and port to Mac. But they are adamantly against the reverse.
Gaming enthusiasts see the Mac as the “least common denominator” for gaming. They believe that the typically more limited graphics performance available on Macs will limit game designers, who will then delete the bells and whistles on the fast twitch games that their overclocked gaming PCs can render at 200 fps. For most people, I don’t think that it will make a difference. But I have argued before that Apple should push the envelope a bit more in terms of graphics cards. I’ll say it again, SJ – consider buying NVidia.
This proposed government inquiry is one of the most laughable and insane since McCarthy’s witch hint for Commies in the 1950’s. Completely baseless whichwill no doubt be the conclusion of any waste of taxpayer dollars. Just an excuse for a team of government lawyers to get paid for doing nothing.
@Ubermac
“If you have declared Marxists in the government, tyranny is just around the corner.”
Geez, get a life will ya, look up Marixist, Communist etc. and educate yourself before posting. You’re embarrasing the rest of us, unless you’re paranoid, in which case, get help.
Hey, it’s the NY Post we’re talking about here — just another Murdoch propaganda rag. Anything factual therein is purely accidental (but editorially it’s reliably looney).
I could not find a single REAL article that sated that the Feds are investigating Apple for anything. However, if the Feds were, the game is over and Apple would lose. The Justice Department lacks resources in its anti-trust division to do anything but slam dunks. Justice only goes after companies where it can win, so if they state they are going after Apple, it’s negotiation time for Apple.
What’s ironic is that we’re talking about monopolistic practices of Apple instead of Microsoft. The world has changed.
If the government files an antitrust lawsuit against Apple, it has already won. Apple will be bogged down with endless depositions, subpoenas, legal fees, etc. The idea is to avoid that lawsuit in the first place, whether or not it has any merit.