I am sick, and I am tired. Too much ranting, whining, bitching, moaning about the iPhone, and Apple’s bricking of the modified phones with an update. Leo Laporte’s latest rant is the last straw. I’m unsubscribing from all TWiT podcasts immediately.
Leo, which one of these statements is false?
The EULA that you agreed to when you first used the iPhone software includes a statement (PDF link) saying that:
you may not … modify … the iPhone Software … Any attempt to do so is a violation of the rights of Apple and its licensors of the iPhone Software and iPhone Software Updates.
Apple warned users that installing iPhone update 1.1.1 will do damage to iPhones that have modified software (that is, iPhones that are in violation of their Terms of Service)
Apple’s Software Updates to the iPhone are not mandatory (ie., you don’t have to install them)
You broke your license agreement with Apple by modifying the software.
You installed their optional software update.
The update did exactly what Apple said it would.
You can complain all you want about “I own the hardware, I should be allowed to do what I want” and so on. Yes, it’s true that you own the hardware. You can modify the hardware as much as you want. But you’re licensing the software. The software is Apple’s property. You do not own it. Apple cannot do anything, if, for example, you put Linux or some other firmware on the iPhone. But, if you go messing around with the software, you’re messing with Apple’s property, not yours.
The endless bitching and moaning about a predicted outcome is stupid, plain and simple.
Apple is quickly getting a reputation as a company that is interested in profits over their users. This is also expected. Corporations want profit. Corporations’ allegiances are to their stockholders, NOT THEIR CUSTOMERS. Yes, it is true that a corporation without customers won’t have a satisfied stockholder base for long. Yes, it does get tricky when their customer and stockholder base intersect. But, corporations with large customer bases (Microsoft, Wal-Mart), or corporations with passionate customer bases (Apple, Adobe, ESRI) can venture pretty far into “Evil Company” territory before it starts to genuinely hurt stockholders. The days of “The Customer is Always Right” are long gone, if they ever existed at all.
I do not own Apple stock. I do not own an iPhone. I do not own an iPod. I do love my Macs, and am generally a fan of Apple products. I do not believe Apple is ‘becoming the new Microsoft,’ which is just foolish. The music I have in my iTunes library plays just fine on non-Apple devices. A large portion of the software I use everyday on my Mac does not come from Apple (in fact, much of it is Open Source).
Nevertheless, these days Apple is venturing pretty far into “Evil Corporation” territory. While much of it is customer-unfriendly, they will continue to succeed as long as their customer base remains passionate about their products, and as long as the alternatives continue to be of inferior quality and ease-of-use. It’s easy to say that Apple has been tainted by their various agreements with companies in the media and communications markets, two industries where the most evil companies lurk. And, from a purely shareholder point of view, Apple has a very long way to go before their bottom line begins to take damage.
Much was made when the new iPod devices came out that the software no longer allowed synching with non-iTunes software, like the iPod sync software for Linux. This was also predictable behavior, as the iPod system requirements clearly state that use of an iPod requires iTunes on Mac OS X or Windows. Again, Apple just used the clause that its customers previously agreed to.
So, goodbye, TWiT. It’s been an enjoyable couple of years, but I simply cannot stomach all the belly-aching. There are lots of other quality podcasts that are vying for my time, and many of them don’t have some misguided sense of entitlement.
