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What's more, they have a pressing reason to not do it. The entire iOS devices ecosystem brings clients exclusively to the AppStore and its apps. They also have

What's more, they have a pressing reason to not do it. The entire iOS devices ecosystem brings clients exclusively to the AppStore and its apps. They also have a network effect for purchasing more simply for device/OS interoperability (think iPhone + Watch). By allowing the installation of a general purpose OS they are giving up a chunk of the profit from those apps and they cut down their own user base, thus making the ecosystem slightly less valuable as a whole. One option would be to allow the installation of an alternative OS only after the device is out of support at least for an image win but this might not justify the effort. I hope this gets regulated in the future so manufacturers are forced to remove any locks preventing the installation of 3rd party software (even make resources available for developers) the moment they stop providing "adequate" support.

realusername 6y ago
> I hope this gets regulated in the future so manufacturers are forced to remove any locks preventing the installation of 3rd party software (even make resources available for developers) the moment they stop providing "adequate" support. I would personally prefer one step further and force to remove all locks if the customer asks it, it's their device, they are free to do whatever they want with it, it's both the right approach morally but also for environmental issues.
- buran77 6y ago
  > I would personally prefer one step further and force to remove all locks if the customer asks it They could but it would cost more than most users bargained for. Most likely a manufacturer would offer you the open device for the price of the device plus the expected loss of value from connected services (maybe something on top just for good measure), or a locked "subsidized" version that can or has to run only as we see today, and that will cost as much as one does now. And they could easily make a case for this even in court. But once the support ends it's more or less implicit that the manufacturer abandoned the device and no longer expects profit (or expenses) related to it and keeping it locked is a harder case to make. And I get a manufacturer's desire to profit from their own devices. But once they abandon them I see no other reasonable legal or moral claim a manufacturer can make. They should issue a final update that removes any protections, and make all relevant drivers and documentation freely available (or even for a modest one time fee) even if this means some binary blobs and a bunch of docs for how to interface with them.

realusername 6y ago

> I hope this gets regulated in the future so manufacturers are forced to remove any locks preventing the installation of 3rd party software (even make resources available for developers) the moment they stop providing "adequate" support. I would personally prefer one step further and force to remove all locks if the customer asks it, it's their device, they are free to do whatever they want with it, it's both the right approach morally but also for environmental issues.

buran77 6y ago
> I would personally prefer one step further and force to remove all locks if the customer asks it They could but it would cost more than most users bargained for. Most likely a manufacturer would offer you the open device for the price of the device plus the expected loss of value from connected services (maybe something on top just for good measure), or a locked "subsidized" version that can or has to run only as we see today, and that will cost as much as one does now. And they could easily make a case for this even in court. But once the support ends it's more or less implicit that the manufacturer abandoned the device and no longer expects profit (or expenses) related to it and keeping it locked is a harder case to make. And I get a manufacturer's desire to profit from their own devices. But once they abandon them I see no other reasonable legal or moral claim a manufacturer can make. They should issue a final update that removes any protections, and make all relevant drivers and documentation freely available (or even for a modest one time fee) even if this means some binary blobs and a bunch of docs for how to interface with them.