[opendtv] I'm starting to feel sorry for, and worry about, Apple

  • From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:25:15 -0500

I don't feel as sorry. As far as I'm concerned, a manufacturer of a product has 
the right to null the warranty if users mess around with internals that are not 
meant to be user-accessed. But that's as far as it should go. In general, if I 
buy a box, I should be able to do with it whatever I want. Short of endangering 
others or interfering with communications.

Apple is behaving ever more like the Ma Bell of the old days.

Bert

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http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-blogs/other/4205008/I-m-starting-to-feel-sorry-for--and-worry-about--Apple-and-not-because-of-their-iPhone-RF-problem

I'm starting to feel sorry for, and worry about, Apple--and not because of 
their iPhone RF problem
Bill Schweber
7/28/2010 12:17 PM EDT

Let me get this out of the way: I am not a rabid Apple fan nor detractor, and I 
don't own any of their products, for no particular reason. And I do admire much 
of the good work they have done, both in design and in creating new markets.

But I am starting to feel sorry for them, and even worry a little. No, it's not 
because of the iPhone dropped-call/RF/antenna issue. Instead, it's this: as 
Apple has morphed from a "computer" company into a connectivity and wireless 
company, by necessity they've gotten involved with so many more regulatory 
agencies in the US and worldwide. This involvement goes far beyond basic 
EMI/RFI, safety, and frequency-allocation assignment.

For me, it is factors such as the latest "jailbreaking" ruling, see here, for 
example. I know Apple likes to run a tight ship in terms of what they allow, 
opening up their system, and related factors. To me, that's a strategic choice 
they make. As a potential customer, you know about those factors before you buy 
into their world, and if you don't like it, you don't have to buy the product. 
(Whether it's a good idea or not to be so tight and controlling is a good 
subject for a lively debate, but not relevant to my concerns.)

In addition, Apple now has to deal with the equivalent of the FCC is all the 
countries it intends to serve, and this goes far beyond basic channel 
assignment and spectrum usage; it goes it what services are offered at what 
levels, to whom, and how, the terms and conditions of service, and more.

So now Apple has all these "friends" who will help define their product, its 
functions, and its marketing Many of these friends are unaccountable 
bureaucrats who are absolutely convinced that they know what's best. Sometimes 
they do, and sometime they don't, but we'll never know, that's for sure.

I do know that the ability to take chances, and even fail, has been one of the 
key attributes of the IC and larger electronic industry. Along with this 
ability has been the flexibility of vendors to balance and trade-off among 
their product's many technical and non-technical parameters: features, costs, 
product extensions, upgrades, partners, and add-ons, to cite just a few. 
Sometimes companies lose out, sometimes even their customers lose out (hey, 
Microsoft just dropped their "Kin" line of phones, after a mere 48 days on the 
market!). So it goes.

But when "well intentioned" bureaucrats and agencies, who answer to no one, 
start helping you with your product, this sort of risk-taking becomes secondary 
to keeping them happy, and trying to be almost everything to everyone. 
Certainly some market segments have lived with this situation already: medical 
instrumentation, for example, is tightly regulated. But even for medical 
equipment, it's been mostly about safety and effectiveness, rather than what 
features to add in, or what access you have to allow the user.

[An aside: this scenario of legislating what you must offer, and to whom, is 
being played out in Massachusetts on a smaller scale, via the so-called "Right 
to Repair" bill now in the state legislature. It would require that auto 
companies make their proprietary repair codes and instrumentation available to 
independent repair shops, for a fee. The auto companies say they want to 
restrict it to their dealers who have (in theory) had special training and a 
long-term commitment; independent shops say it is merely a ploy to cut them out 
of the repair business. Both sides of this case have good points.]

That's why I worry about the brave new world that our industry is both driving 
and dependent on, exemplified by Apple's situation: you get a lot of baggage 
and barnacles coming along for the ride, and they can not only slow you down, 
but they may radically change your way of thinking and innovating.
 
 
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