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The EFF on Apple's "crystal prison"
The EFF takes on Apple and its locked down ecosystem in a long essay on its website. The article calls out Apple and Microsoft for imposing "an ugly set of restrictions" on what users and programmers can do with mobile devices. The EFF also accuses the two companies of providing unacceptable excuses for why they must establish these rules. For iOS owners, the only escape from this crystal prison, says the EFF, is jailbreaking, which lets an iOS device install apps from a variety of sources including the popular jailbreak app repository Cydia. To free mobile devices from this tyranny, the EFF proposes a bill of rights for mobile computer owners that'll let consumers use a mobile device any way they see fit. Under this bill, consumer rights include the installation of arbitrary applications on the device, access to the phone OS at the root/superuser/hypervisor/administrator level, the option to install a different OS altogether and hardware warranties that are clearly independent of software warranties. The group calls on Apple to innovate in this area like it does in hardware and software design. It asks the Cupertino company to lead the way by adopting a new openness that gives users the right to modify their device.
Apple under preliminary antitrust investigation over iPhone, triggered by complaint from Adobe
We'd heard a somewhat sketchy report from the New York Post yesterday that the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission were considering launching an antitrust inquiry into Apple and its various iPhone-related practices, and now it's being confirmed by Reuters and the Wall Street Journal, who say the inquiry was triggered by complaints from Apple's competitors and app developers -- specifically Adobe, according to Bloomberg. The DOJ and FTC are currently deciding which agency will take the lead in any inquiry, but if and when it gets underway there are a few issues at play: the first is obviously Apple's decision to block Flash and other middleware from app development, and the second is Apple's new iAd platform, which comes with its own changes to the iPhone developer agreement that could potentially lock out third-party ad and analytics services like AdMob -- itself under regulatory scrutiny due to the Google acquisition -- and Flurry. We'd also imagine regulators will take a close look at Apple's App Store policies in general, but from a distance looks like the focus is on mobile advertising: both Apple and Google have made aggressive moves into the space in recent months, and both have come under regulatory scrutiny. We'll just have to wait and see how this one plays out -- there's still no official word from either agency on what's happening, and the timeline of any potential investigation and lawsuit will be measured in months and years.
Apple to face antitrust inquiry over iPhone coding restrictions?
Apple's decision to block third-party toolkits and middleware -- particularly Flash -- from being used to develop iPhone and iPad apps has certainly prompted a fair amount of debate around the web, and now it sounds like Steve and the gang might face some even harsher scrutiny: a single-sourced piece in the New York Post reports that the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice are currently tussling over which agency should be tasked with a potential antitrust inquiry into the matter. That would certainly make some noise in the industry, but it doesn't mean much for those of us here in reality quite yet: assuming the report is true, an inquiry would still just be the very first step -- whichever agency is ultimately put in charge would then have to launch a formal investigation and then finally file and win a lawsuit for any changes to occur. That's a timeframe measured in months, if not years. All that said, we can see why the feds are interested: Apple's slowly moving into an ever-more dominant position in the mobile market, and forcing developers to make a hard choice about which platforms to target certainly puts the squeeze on competitors. We'll be following this one closely -- stay tuned.
