Apple: Controversial Company?

[Thunderclaw]

I'm a bit nervous about posting this, since I saw how much support Macs got in the Mac v. PC topic a while back.

But, back to the topic.

My question is, is Apple a "good" company or no? I'm not talking about their products, but their means, or techniques, for lack of a better word.

Before you respond, I'd like to call your attention to the following two articles I found.
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/03/iphone-developer-program-license-agreement-all
http://www.cracked.com/article_18377_5-reasons-you-should-be-scared-apple.html
I'm sure you guys know about the suit by Apple over multi-touch on HTC. But can you really patent multi-touch? That's kind of like patenting headphones. And it stops the industry from moving forward.

[shigzeo]

Good thread Thunder, but I would have started with more hiss and hate. I love Apple products (for the most part), but the company (like all companies) makes horrid decisions. I've been chiding them for a long time at TMA under a tag called 'bad apple', but I think it got lost in the meantime.

They still harbour hate against Microsoft for copying their 'look and feel' in Windows. They were wrong then and are wrong now. You are right: patenting multitouch is a backwards move for the industry and will ultimately make them look bleak, dim, and controlling; but then again, which large company isn't? Everyone wants a hegemonic market, a hegemonic device under which all else will filter through. It's about money and always has been.

The EFF are right, and they are wrong. They are very much like the Greenpeace of the tech world and I laud their efforts, but they have to because no one else will do it - not in a legal manner. The customer is important, but never has it been the goal of any large company to fully cater to its customers. Companies will always notch the market just enough to placate customer disloyalty. So, while I disagree with Apple's handling of HTC cause, I hardly think it's fair to pull them out.

In other ways, they have pushed more than any other large company I know for open internet standards, for music standars (through AAC, even basing their lossless codec on the standard) and for supporting open formats in the OS more than any other commercial OS. But, they stumble blindly, wanting more than anything, to protect and savour their place in the market.

The market is heating up: the iPhone has the edge and will for a long time because of its small platform base and large customer base. It is easy to make an app which will work across the entire platform because there is very little variation. But, other manufacturers who have better spec (the numbers, it's all about the numbers) will take Apple's thunder and now, blind with greed, they poke at interface designing which they 'stole' in the first place, but legally from Xerox.

It's an okay world.

[NineSwords]

I'd say it's pretty standart.

I used to drive for a small transport firm express deliveries from the town where I lived to the Porsche factory. They were some kind of prototype pumps for new Porsche models and the security attached to it was as bad as the stuff the article wrote about Apple sec. Corporate Espionage is a big problem and I may be wrong but the chinese mentality might just be enought that the guy leaped from the building because he caused his company a million dollar lost. I picture now a clichee of a Japanese doing Seppuku because he has been dishonored. Might be hollywood myths but there were also more than enough jumpers at the wallstreet crash.

Their policy to keep the platform clean is also most welcome. We're here complaining in another thread because the store is flodded with crApps. Apple only keeps a back door open to be able to pull stuff they don't seem fit. Sure there are moments when this missfires like in case with google voice, but in general I highly welcome this behaviour. And to be completely honest I am sure their leagalese is one to one what you would find in other dev agreements. They might even be less restrict then that what xbox devs have to sign.

Regarding the jailbreaking I have a very strict opinion. In my eyes the term "jailbreaking" is the same as "backup copy" is for PC software. I don't see anything wrong with apple doing their best to prevent piracy. Just look what "jailbreaking" did to the PSP. It's essentially dead because of the jailbreaking community who all claim that they do it only so they could run homebrew on it, and noone ever even thinks about pirating a game. I am so tired of the homebrew/unsigned code argument when everyone and their mother know what they really mean. There's no need now to struggle with me over that. I'm sure that if YOU dear reader, have jailbroken your device, that you are the one honest sheep in the flock that doesn't pirate any apps. I frequent the shady side of the internet more than enough to know that there is in fact a huge chunk of piracy going on for the iPhone. Just don't come complaining when Apple tries to stop it.

The downside of all this is the carrier lock. thats the part I don't really get. Why not just unlock it after the 2 year contract runs out for example. I have my old 2G iPhone and might go and jailbreak it just to unlock it. Once I have unlocked it the temptation is great to just start copying apps from the net. I think this is a bad business decision from Apple. Sure there are some means from the carrier to have it locked but after the initial contract is finished I can only use it as a ipod or a paperweight.

[mrholder]

I don't think Apple is a bad company, per se. Just like any other company, they're in it to make a profit, and who can blame them for that? I agree with them keeping their new product development under such tight security, but not to the point where it cost someone their life because they were afraid they had accidentally caused a product info leak to the rumor mills. And I don't particularly care for them keeping Steve Job's health so secretive. If the man is sick, let the public know since they're a publicly traded company. They have good people who are under Steve that can run things for awhile. Stocks may go down when the public finds out, but not for long. Of course, no one wants child labor laws broken when a company's products are being manufactured, but Apple caught this in an audit and took corrective action immediately, which is a good thing. It's really hard to control your vendors' hiring practices. Overall I think Apple has had it's issues just like other large Corps, but Apple is in more of a fishbowl because they have so many fans who enjoy their products.