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I've been an enthusiastic Apple user since around 1993, and I have tremendous respect for their engineering and design. But IMHO, they've long since passed the

by lukifer 15y ago

I've been an enthusiastic Apple user since around 1993, and I have tremendous respect for their engineering and design. But IMHO, they've long since passed the threshold for antitrust investigation. If I had my druthers, every device manufacturer (including game consoles) would be federally mandated to offer some way of sideloading software. Hell, at least let people run their own code on it without having to buy a developer certificate! As it stands, Apple has all the same incentives to behave badly as Microsoft did in the 90s, if not more so.

jonhohle 15y ago
But what do they have a monopoly on (isn't a monopoly required for antitrust investigations in the US)? Good taste? Surely that's free for anyone.
- lukifer 15y ago
  My (admittedly poor) understanding of antitrust is that it's not illegal to have a monopoly, but rather it's illegal to abuse that monopoly position in anti-competitive ways. And aside from the consumer rights issues of walled gardens, there are serious conflicts of interest with Apple offering services such as iTunes and iBooks while also being the sole software vendor for competitors such as Netflix and Kindle.
- halostatue 15y ago
  Monopolies aren't required for antitrust, but monopolies are watched more carefully for antitrust violations. Antitrust is more about anticompetitive behaviour than market monopolisation.
api 15y ago
I'm really worried about what happens when Jobs leaves or dies. My money is on one of: 1) Some MBA apparatchik takes over the company and does what all the Business 101 books say to do: puts marketing in charge of everything, including design. As a result, their industrial and UI design goes to complete crap. 2) Ditto the MBA apparatchik, but instead they decide to start "monetizing" Apple's leveraging opportunities in a "proactive" manner. As a result, the company becomes full-on evil and I have no choice but to dump them completely and go back to Linux on inferior-design hardware. Combinations of 1 and 2 are also possible.
- halostatue 15y ago
  There's suggestions that neither (1) nor (2) will happen. Currently, Tim Cook is (generally) expected to be Jobs's successor, and he's unlikely to change things that work. But there's a recent article -- sorry, I don't remember the title or have a link to it -- which was talking about "Apple University", which is apparently an HR effort inside of Apple to figure out what it is that makes Apple, well, Apple and make it something teachable so that as new executives come on, they internalize that which makes Apple Apple.
  - pchristensen 15y ago
    http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/05/09/inside-apple/ http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/05/09/inside-apple/ To get the full article, you have to buy the Fortune ipad issue or buy it for a buck from Amazon. I thought it was worth the buck, FWIW.

by lukifer 15y ago

jonhohle 15y ago

But what do they have a monopoly on (isn't a monopoly required for antitrust investigations in the US)? Good taste? Surely that's free for anyone.

lukifer 15y ago
My (admittedly poor) understanding of antitrust is that it's not illegal to have a monopoly, but rather it's illegal to abuse that monopoly position in anti-competitive ways. And aside from the consumer rights issues of walled gardens, there are serious conflicts of interest with Apple offering services such as iTunes and iBooks while also being the sole software vendor for competitors such as Netflix and Kindle.
halostatue 15y ago
Monopolies aren't required for antitrust, but monopolies are watched more carefully for antitrust violations. Antitrust is more about anticompetitive behaviour than market monopolisation.

api 15y ago

I'm really worried about what happens when Jobs leaves or dies. My money is on one of: 1) Some MBA apparatchik takes over the company and does what all the Business 101 books say to do: puts marketing in charge of everything, including design. As a result, their industrial and UI design goes to complete crap. 2) Ditto the MBA apparatchik, but instead they decide to start "monetizing" Apple's leveraging opportunities in a "proactive" manner. As a result, the company becomes full-on evil and I have no choice but to dump them completely and go back to Linux on inferior-design hardware. Combinations of 1 and 2 are also possible.

halostatue 15y ago
There's suggestions that neither (1) nor (2) will happen. Currently, Tim Cook is (generally) expected to be Jobs's successor, and he's unlikely to change things that work. But there's a recent article -- sorry, I don't remember the title or have a link to it -- which was talking about "Apple University", which is apparently an HR effort inside of Apple to figure out what it is that makes Apple, well, Apple and make it something teachable so that as new executives come on, they internalize that which makes Apple Apple.
- pchristensen 15y ago
  http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/05/09/inside-apple/ http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/05/09/inside-apple/ To get the full article, you have to buy the Fortune ipad issue or buy it for a buck from Amazon. I thought it was worth the buck, FWIW.