Is Apple the new Microsoft? - iPhone customers begin backlash
By Dave Parrack
With the iPhone about to hit Britain, it seems not everyone is entirely happy with Apple’s new approaches now that they are a mainstream player. Let the backlash begin…
The iPhone is released in the UK this week, with the hype surrounding the gadget at astronomical proportions after it was named as Time magazine’s ‘Invention of the Year’, but it seems that customers on both sides of the Atlantic are starting to express concerns over what they perceive as Apple’s lurch to the mainstream.
Apple devotees are a strange breed, with most being fiercely loyal to their brand and not letting a bad word go by without some sort of response, but now that the Apple brand has grown to huge proportions, and the company is making more money than at any time in it’s history, the consumers are starting to question some decisions by the company and it’s figurehead Steve Jobs.
Apple was always seen to be on the side of the consumer, the anti-Microsoft with money less of a concern than customer satisfaction and innovation. But that has recently been reversed, with Apple now being seen as much of a money grabbing beast as Microsoft has ever been.
1.4 million iPhones have been sold in America since it’s release in June, which are impressive figures. But the decision to cut the price by $200 just 10 weeks after launch meant a lot of early adopters, the lifeblood of a company such as Apple, were left out of pocket and mad at the company they have supported for years.
But that’s not the worst. As the Guardian are reporting, Wil Shipley, an Apple devotee thinks that Apple’s insistence on using closed systems for their products is their worst crime.
“Why is the iPhone locked to a single carrier, so I can’t travel internationally with it? There’s really only one viable reason: Apple wanted a share of the carrier’s profits, which meant giving AT&T an exclusive deal. Which meant, we get screwed so Apple can make more money. It’s that simple.”
“And the iPhone is a closed system, like the iPods before it, so third parties can only develop software for it if they are EXTREMELY close to Apple. This is an incredibly frightening trend. As Apple gets more and more of its revenue from non-Mac devices, they are also getting more and more of their revenue from devices that simply exclude third parties.”
Making the iPhone only work on one network (AT&T in the States, 02 in the UK) really does not serve the consumer well, and makes a lot of people wary of buying in to the Apple brand. There’s only one reason for doing it, and that is to try and wring every cent and penny out of the technology they can… does that remind anyone else of Microsoft?
Some companies worked out how to unlock the iPhones, and offered their services to consumers unwilling to be forced to go with AT&T in the States, but a software security update in September made some of these iPhones freeze up and erased some programs such as games and instant messaging. That’s just playing dirty.
The same is likely to happen in the UK, with some companies already offering to unlock your newly purchased iPhone, and Apple have already threatened people trying to use the service by warning “installing one of the unlocking programs could make the phone ‘permanently inoperable’ when future software updates are released.”
Whether the iPhone is as big a success in the UK as in America remains to be seen, but what is clear is that Apple have changed from being the consumer driven company you want to see succeed, to another establishment player, and a ruthless money making machine along with it.
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November 4th, 2007
Why would anyone be surprised that a company that has always been focused on selling proprietary software and computer hardware would close off your access to providers when it starts selling phones? Apple’s not doing anything differently than it has been for the last 20 years…
November 4th, 2007
[...] Are Apple the new Microsoft? - iPhone customers begin backlash » This Summary is from an article posted at TECH.BLORGE.com on Sunday, November 04, 2007 This [...]
November 4th, 2007
Derick,
You’re absolutely dead wrong. You might want to look up the Magnuson-Moss Act. It’s illegal what they are doing.
November 4th, 2007
Are Apple the new Microsoft?!?!
What is that, Ebonics? Hip slang? I’ve been seeing that a lot lately. Last time I checked, Apple was but one company, not several (aka singular, not plural).
Just curious.
And, yes, Apple’s business practices have gotten a little sleazy of late.
November 4th, 2007
Apple is a company whose purpose is to make profit. That it does so creating gorgeous devices doesn’t diminish its profit motive. If you don’t like the terms of agreement, don’t buy. If part of the deal is to lock the iPhone to a single telephone company and you don’t like it, don’t buy. It’s not the same as Microsoft working to destroy competition and winding up with a monopoly — you have a choice; employ it.
Also, I refer you to Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style. Apple is a single company made up of many individuals; even so, Apple is an ‘it’. You don’t say England are, do you?
November 4th, 2007
The ‘is vs are’ debate is over, I’ve fixed it… sorry, my bad!
Derick, Apple’s approach to business has definitely changed, and okay they may be making more money now, but at what cost?
Richard, gorgeous products maybe, but the whole forcing consumers who want their product to be saddled with a company or deal they don’t want is ludicrous. Give people a choice ffs!
November 4th, 2007
People who say Apple has changed since its rise to extraordinary success amaze me. Apple has always acted in its own best interest even when it was not in the best interests of its customers. In this Apple is very much like most other companies. What distinguishes Apple is not some hippy “let’s change the world for the better” mentality but rather a devotion to excellent design. Apple is not the new Microsoft because its products are bought by individuals in the face of corporate monopoly — 93% of computers are Windows PCs, remember. Apple didn’t deny consumers choices as Microsoft did by demanding OEMs offer only their software on PCs. Even now, iPhones constitute less than 2% of the phone market. You have choices, but if you want an Apple iPhone, you’ll have to get it Apple’s way, or hey, there’s the highway. And unlike with Microsoft, there is a highway.
November 6th, 2007
Wow. Apple is a business. A very successful one with some very good products. I remember when the switch to Intel was announced and the hue and cry from the faithful about being “betrayed”. I’ve wanted to run OS X on my PC for years, but Apple wanted to saddle me with their hardware. Pretty unfair, and not very consumer friendly if you ask me. After I thought about it, I realized the mystique was really nothing but a clever way to market product, and appeal to my inner snob and make me feel more discerning than the BSOD rabble. No matter how many times I used the CEOs first name, Steve was not dropping by for a glass of dry white wine. What’s next? Disney is an amusement park and the only magic is having money left over after the visit?
November 6th, 2007
Locking phones to carrier networks is the way things are done in the US. Consumers trade locked phones for huge carrier subsidies that reduce the price of these phones - many times to “free” with a 2 year contract.
People in countries without carrier subsidies have unlocked phones.
This doesn’t let Apple off the hook necessarily, but the wireless phone industry is going through major changes and it is not clear what contract provisions were desired by Apple and which by AT&T.