Is Apple trying to Destroy customer choice? Yes….
When you go into a shop, online or otherwise, its nice to look at the products, compare them and make your choice.
Now I admit I have never liked Apple, its commercialisation in your face, must use Itunes, strict rules for their devices and when my wifes Ipad official Apple camera connection kit failed to work after Apple upgrade deemed it a security risk to hacking the ipad…. well….
No printing, no file sharing on a file server, no way to import photos without the Ipads app (ie you can not just copy and paste) and especially due to politics Apple/Adobe… no flash Player….. makes my blood boil. How do people tollerate these limitations?
Having said that the product quality and functionality is high. Infact incredibly high.
So I always, look for the alternatives, offering same functionality, yet more.. whats the word…. open. I dont want to hack the devices, I just want apps that I expect. The device should not hinder my daily activities.
But, it seems Apple, don’t think that competition should even exist, and are filing and enforcing patents all over the world, not about the hardware, not about the software, but how it interacts with the user.
Take for example their latest patent…. the sliding unlock bar no the ipad/phone by flicking left to right unlocks the device.
This article explains more http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2011/10/apples-slide-to-unlock-patent-stirs-up-a-hornets-nest-in-taiwan.html
These patents if enforced are threatening to destroy what I feel is fair game. My view is this… if you create a device and the way it interacts with the user, changes the users culture so significantly, then that interaction does not become property of Apple or anybody, but infact becomes the property of the user world.
Imagine, if the car was just invented, and someone patented Accelerator, Brake and Clutch pedal order so that no other car manufacturer could use that order? Thats what Apple are trying to do.
Imagine if Microsoft could have patented things like Alt+F4, Ctrl+Alt+Del… or even Ctrl+P for printing.
And getting extreme, imagine if someone patented a digital clock on the desktop?!
