3 ms·

Apples racketeering and monopolistic behavior? I think this is a step over the line for regulators but so is apples behavior for the last decade or two when it

Apples racketeering and monopolistic behavior? I think this is a step over the line for regulators but so is apples behavior for the last decade or two when it comes to repairability. Fuck em.

Bud 4y ago
The debate over Lightning, of course, has nothing to do with repairability. As an aside, you might want to take a few minutes to look up what "monopolistic" means.
rootusrootus 4y ago
> Apples racketeering and monopolistic behavior? That's a bit over the top, don't you think? When Apple created the Lightning connector, the accepted alternative was micro-USB. And micro-USB is terrible, awful, no-good, crap. Many millions of people are happy Lightning existed to bridge the time before the rest of the world could design a slightly better small USB connector. Which, of course, might still not be as durable as Lightning, but it's good enough.
- bni 4y ago
  Are you telling me there has been other "USB" cables before? No, USB-C came down from the heavens in the dawn of time and evil Apple has been using their evil proprietary lighting all this time, just out of spite to anger Android fanboys.
- simion314 4y ago
  Apple could have at least attempted to standardize his port, but they did not because they charged money when a third pary uses their proprietary ports. So stop crying for poor Apple, they have paid PR people to defend them with better arguments anyway.
  - rootusrootus 4y ago
    How often does the world willingly standardize on something invented by a single company? Even if they had released it into public domain, USB-C was going to happen anyway.
    - simion314 4y ago
      The chance is larger the Zero, we can't even think of standardizing something if is proprietary and we have to pay some corporation outside our jurisdiction a lot of money. So Apple did not even try, as usual they tried to milk things as long as possible exactly how they done it with dating apps in some EU countries.
    - frosted-flakes 4y ago
      All the time. For example, Garmin created the ANT+ protocol for wirelessly communicating sensor data, such as with bicycle electronics. ANT+ is the standard because Garmin actively promoted it as an open standard and encouraged competitors to adopt it.
- dhzhzjsbevs 4y ago
  Like I said, regulators stepping in is an overstep for the reason you're stating. It's a free market, they built a better mouse trap. But at this point, USBC is the better mousetrap, they're now just using their market dominance to force a worse mouse trap on everyone to keep milking lucrative patent fees outside of what an efficient market would allow. So again, fuck em. Side note, this is why I really hate IP law (or at least the over the top term lengths of it). If they didn't have a monopoly on lightening connectors this wouldn't be a problem and the market would resolve this "problem" on it's own. You don't get to act like they're just behaving like a free market participant should when they're actively exploiting a different market regulation. I wonder what the fix here is. Would it be choosing a patent term length that optimises for spurring innovation? Too short and you make it not worth while. Too long and things stagnate like this. Why does society put up with such suboptimal market parameters?
  - Bud 4y ago
    USB-C is, in fact, NOT at all the "better mousetrap" in terms of an iPhone connector. It has no significant advantages for Apple users who already are using Lightning. You seem to be leaving out all the ways in which it's better for Apple's customers to have, and to keep, Lightning, so, let's review so you can argue in good faith and from an informed perspective next time: 1) Lightning is significantly more compact than the USB-C port, enabling a more durable case in the vulnerable area surrounding the port 2) Lightning is more durable as well 3) Lightning even FEELS better to plug in and to use 4) Lightning has superior ability to be waterproofed 5) Billions of Lightning cables and accessories have already been manufactured and are in use and it'd be nice to not replace them all until that's actually necessary
ubermonkey 4y ago
HN loves to describe Apple as a monopoly, but it really only shows that HN readers don't know the definition of "monopoly."
- dhzhzjsbevs 4y ago
  I said monopolistic not monopoly. To say apple is a monopoly would be incorrect. To describe their behavior with service, repair, the app store, and lightening cable fees as anything other than monopolistic would be intellectually dishonest.
  - ubermonkey 4y ago
    LOL. That's only the case if you don't care about the definition of "monopolistic."
    - dhzhzjsbevs 4y ago
      Are you stupid or just an idiot. Read the definition again.

Apples racketeering and monopolistic behavior? I think this is a step over the line for regulators but so is apples behavior for the last decade or two when it comes to repairability. Fuck em.

Bud 4y ago

The debate over Lightning, of course, has nothing to do with repairability. As an aside, you might want to take a few minutes to look up what "monopolistic" means.

rootusrootus 4y ago

> Apples racketeering and monopolistic behavior? That's a bit over the top, don't you think? When Apple created the Lightning connector, the accepted alternative was micro-USB. And micro-USB is terrible, awful, no-good, crap. Many millions of people are happy Lightning existed to bridge the time before the rest of the world could design a slightly better small USB connector. Which, of course, might still not be as durable as Lightning, but it's good enough.

bni 4y ago
Are you telling me there has been other "USB" cables before? No, USB-C came down from the heavens in the dawn of time and evil Apple has been using their evil proprietary lighting all this time, just out of spite to anger Android fanboys.
simion314 4y ago
Apple could have at least attempted to standardize his port, but they did not because they charged money when a third pary uses their proprietary ports. So stop crying for poor Apple, they have paid PR people to defend them with better arguments anyway.
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  How often does the world willingly standardize on something invented by a single company? Even if they had released it into public domain, USB-C was going to happen anyway.
  - simion314 4y ago
    The chance is larger the Zero, we can't even think of standardizing something if is proprietary and we have to pay some corporation outside our jurisdiction a lot of money. So Apple did not even try, as usual they tried to milk things as long as possible exactly how they done it with dating apps in some EU countries.
  - frosted-flakes 4y ago
    All the time. For example, Garmin created the ANT+ protocol for wirelessly communicating sensor data, such as with bicycle electronics. ANT+ is the standard because Garmin actively promoted it as an open standard and encouraged competitors to adopt it.
dhzhzjsbevs 4y ago
Like I said, regulators stepping in is an overstep for the reason you're stating. It's a free market, they built a better mouse trap. But at this point, USBC is the better mousetrap, they're now just using their market dominance to force a worse mouse trap on everyone to keep milking lucrative patent fees outside of what an efficient market would allow. So again, fuck em. Side note, this is why I really hate IP law (or at least the over the top term lengths of it). If they didn't have a monopoly on lightening connectors this wouldn't be a problem and the market would resolve this "problem" on it's own. You don't get to act like they're just behaving like a free market participant should when they're actively exploiting a different market regulation. I wonder what the fix here is. Would it be choosing a patent term length that optimises for spurring innovation? Too short and you make it not worth while. Too long and things stagnate like this. Why does society put up with such suboptimal market parameters?
- Bud 4y ago
  USB-C is, in fact, NOT at all the "better mousetrap" in terms of an iPhone connector. It has no significant advantages for Apple users who already are using Lightning. You seem to be leaving out all the ways in which it's better for Apple's customers to have, and to keep, Lightning, so, let's review so you can argue in good faith and from an informed perspective next time: 1) Lightning is significantly more compact than the USB-C port, enabling a more durable case in the vulnerable area surrounding the port 2) Lightning is more durable as well 3) Lightning even FEELS better to plug in and to use 4) Lightning has superior ability to be waterproofed 5) Billions of Lightning cables and accessories have already been manufactured and are in use and it'd be nice to not replace them all until that's actually necessary

ubermonkey 4y ago

HN loves to describe Apple as a monopoly, but it really only shows that HN readers don't know the definition of "monopoly."

dhzhzjsbevs 4y ago
I said monopolistic not monopoly. To say apple is a monopoly would be incorrect. To describe their behavior with service, repair, the app store, and lightening cable fees as anything other than monopolistic would be intellectually dishonest.
- ubermonkey 4y ago
  LOL. That's only the case if you don't care about the definition of "monopolistic."
  - dhzhzjsbevs 4y ago
    Are you stupid or just an idiot. Read the definition again.