Apple blocks rival smart phones

[Horus]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8155795.stm

wow just find this.

Apple's move is just so mean.
I'm wondering if this is even legal.
If so why don't windows just block itune, that way only people with mac computer will buy iphone/itouch.

[Euphoracle]

There is a very nice rule in business that companies should not cross. Do not restrict cross-company products or you will quickly lose your own customers to another company who doesn't have similar restrictions.

Q: How many people would use intel CPUs if they decided to block nvidia cards from being recognized on an x86 motherboard? A: Less.

Q: How many people would use nvidia cards if they only worked on a nvidia chipset? A: A lot less.

Q: How many people would use an iPod if it only worked on Mac computers? A: Less than 8% of the market share.

[ecookman]

very true Euphoracle...
I never thought of that

[apomb]

This move simply means that an earlier version of iTunes must be used with those types of phones. Though, its still an admittedly $h!tty (pardon the language) move.

[gianni]

Douche-move? Yes. But it is admittedly sketchy that the Pre was masquerading as an Apple device to begin with.

[andrew.]

gianni @ Fri Jul 17, 2009 2:41 pm wrote:

Douche-move? Yes. But it is admittedly sketchy that the Pre was masquerading as an Apple device to begin with.

That's how I see it. If Palm wanted their users to have a good media experience on their product, they should've made their own software for it instead of having it pretend it's something else.

[Tony]

If I read the article correctly, Apple has fixed an authentication bug in their software, not blocked the Palm device specifically.

[saltpro15]

Doesn't surprise me. Apple's latest middle finger to the rest of the market was to be expected, the Pre was pretending to be an iPod after all.

[ecookman]

well I don't blame them, because they are just another company who is trying to make money. except being total dicks while doing it...kinda reminds me of tat M one too...oh yea microsoft.

but, yea it looks like a $$ move to me.

[rdrake]

Two things:

1. Palm shouldn't have pretended their phones were i* products to begin with.
   
2. iTunes is horrible anyways, and nobody in their right mind would want to use it.
   

That is all.

Edit: Anybody know how to stop iTunes from opening up and syncing with an i* device in OS X when you plug it in? It annoys me to no end that it does that. Seriously, I just want to plug it in for Xcode, not to sync music.

[Tony]

I think it's simply a bad decision to make a key feature (key "advertised" feature) rely on 3rd party software staying broken... Palm should have known that at some arbitrary point things would stop working the same way, and they should have prepared for such an event better.

@rdrake: iTunes -> Preferences -> Devices -> "Disable automatic syncing for iPhones and iPods"

Although I can't test if that actually works at the moment.

[TheGuardian001]

While it wasn't very smart of Palm to make one of their key features a security hole which was bound to be patched eventually, It's still not very intelligent of Apple to disable support for 3rd party players, even if that can include competitors. The only reason I can see for people to use iTunes at all is the store, since it does tend to have a lot of songs, but I'd rather go to the trouble of finding my song elsewhere than be limited to an iProduct.

[ecookman]

TheGuardian001 @ Fri Jul 17, 2009 11:37 pm wrote:

but I'd rather go to the trouble of finding my song elsewhere than be limited to an iProduct.

And that is exactally why i love the ARCHOS products. same price as a itouch, double the memory, triple the features. E.g. GPS (no cost) and TV recording in upto 720p (last tie i checked) and for all i am concerned a superior touch screen.

[DtY]

rdrake @ Fri Jul 17, 2009 8:14 pm wrote:

Two things:

1. Palm shouldn't have pretended their phones were i* products to begin with.
   
2. iTunes is horrible anyways, and nobody in their right mind would want to use it.
   

That is all.

Edit: Anybody know how to stop iTunes from opening up and syncing with an i* device in OS X when you plug it in? It annoys me to no end that it does that. Seriously, I just want to plug it in for Xcode, not to sync music.

Go into an administrator account and block your user's access to iTunes.

And this isn't a douche move. It's like Windows not giving updates to people who are using a pirated copy.

[andrew.]

ecookman @ Sun Jul 19, 2009 7:42 pm wrote:

TheGuardian001 @ Fri Jul 17, 2009 11:37 pm wrote:

but I'd rather go to the trouble of finding my song elsewhere than be limited to an iProduct.

And that is exactally why i love the ARCHOS products. same price as a itouch, double the memory, triple the features. E.g. GPS (no cost) and TV recording in upto 720p (last tie i checked) and for all i am concerned a superior touch screen.

But you don't have the multi-touch screen and accelerometers (which are very useful IMO) and you don't have the HUGE library of apps and games for it. Plus the iPod touch and iPhone are thinner and smaller and can generally fit in your pocket, unlike most Archos players.