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Apple loses big in DRM ruling: jailbreaks are "fair use"
- nexneo 16y agoloses big! Whats apple's loses. Still its responsibility on jail breakers, apple isn't going to help. Actually jail-breaking is helping apple in same ways. That many less devices to support.
- nullgruber 16y agonot exactly, what if a credible cheap support emerges! what if you get cheaper batteries. Apple had tried hard to sell their devices as an experience rather than commodity, now they can no longer live that way. the unlocked iphones become a commodity.
- ubernostrum 16y agothe unlocked iphones become a commodity A commodity which only Apple sells, and which you'll end up paying full sticker price for one way or another (either up-front to get it without a two-year contract, or through an early termination fee if you switch carriers).
- __david__ 16y agoBut how does that hurt Apple? They are still selling phones. If anything unlocking only hurts AT&T.
- joezydeco 16y agoBut if you signed a 2 year contract to get that iPhone 4, how does it hurt AT&T? You're free to put another SIM in that phone after jailbreaking, but the bill will still come every month.
- thought_alarm 16y agoApple already sells unlocked iPhones. And unlocking is legal in most parts of the world; in some places it's actually required by law. Such decisions may affect the carriers, but anything that makes Apple's hardware more useful is good for Apple.
- upinsmoke 16y agoApple doesn't have to support jailbreak iphones users. It still void their warranty etc.
- Zak 16y agoIn the US, that is probably only true if Apple can demonstrate that the jailbreak caused the malfunction: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson–Moss_Warranty_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson–Moss_Warranty_Act
- siglesias 16y agovia criteria that Apple defines...
- upinsmoke 16y agoAccording to Apple it voids your warranty. http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/07/26/apple.says.stance.on.jailbreaking.not.changing/ http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/07/26/apple.says.sta...
- Zak 16y agoAccording to various manufacturers of various things, opening the device, making modifications or using unapproved parts voids the warranty. In most cases, this is illegal and they know it. Mentioning that it is illegal usually causes them to honor the warranty.
- thought_alarm 16y agoThe tech blogs are starting to realize that these kinds of sensationalist headlines about Apple really bring the page-hits. If they lose a few serious readers along the way, well who really cares? The reality, of course, is that Apple has been doing very little to prevent the Jailbreak scene, and I'm sure those who do Jailbreak couldn't give a rat's ass about the legality of it. This doesn't change how Apple approaches Jailbreaking, nor does it suddenly make jailbreaking less of a pain in the ass. And it surely doesn't change users' attitudes. In other words, nothing has changed.
- mrkurt 16y agoApple was explicitly campaigning against this, it's addressed in the article: > The Electronic Frontier Foundation argued that jailbreaking one's iPhone should be allowed, even though it required one to bypass some DRM and then to reuse a small bit of Apple's copyright firmware code. Apple showed up at the hearings to say, in numerous ways, that the idea was terrible, ridiculous, and illegal. In large part, that was because the limit on jailbreaking was needed to preserve Apple's controlled ecosystem, which the company said was of great value to consumers. ---- Also, a previous article: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/02/apple-sides-with-mpaa-riaa-against-drm-circumvention.ars http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/02/apple-sides-with-m...
- gcb 16y agoapple loses big?!?! they abused consumers for a decade and loses big? how is that? in my book that's a major win!
- Zak 16y agoIn large part, that was because the limit on jailbreaking was needed to preserve Apple's controlled ecosystem, which the company said was of great value to consumers. They're providing value to consumers by attempting to legally restrict those same consumers from modifying products they purchased? I understand Apple's general argument about a restricted ecosystem for the typical consumer, but how is the user experience improved for someone who wants to jailbreak a phone by preventing them from doing it?
- chc 16y agoI think Apple estimates the value of its carefully tuned user experience very highly, and thinks most people would regret being able to hose their phones. Not just true power users would want to jailbreak their phones, but only power users are actually able to take that kind of responsibility, and Apple doesn't want iPhones getting wrecked or just not working right.
- sigzero 16y agoI don't see this as "Apple loses big" at all. Nothing really has changed. Those who jailbreak their phone will continue to do so and Apple will continue not to support those phones.