Bonum Certa Men Certa

iPad is Like Zune

Amnesty bin
From fimoculous



Summary: iPad -- like Zune -- might not reach the European Union (EU), possibly due to lukewarm reception and lack of appeal, not trademarks

MICROSOFT'S Zune was such a massive failure that it never made it into most European nations (almost none). Microsoft tries to "contain" the losses and keep the experiments running in just a few countries. Well, after the disappointing launch of the Apple iPad [1, 2, 3, 4] is turns out that Apple too may be getting cold feet and might not be release the iPad in the EU. They blame trademarks.



EXPENSIVE GADGET MAKER Apple is probably already regretting its daft name for its giant Ipod Touch, but it is looking like it will have a devil of a time using the Ipad name in the EU.


Let's remember that Apple is a company that relies on a niche. Apple only sells products in few countries that are wealthy, but in the majority of the world, Apple is not even an option which is why GNU/Linux market share is higher overall. Here is Ballmer's slide from last year:

Ballmer's slide on Macs and GNU/Linux
Steve Ballmer's presentation slide
from 2009 shows GNU/Linux as bigger than Apple on the desktop



In addition to the above news, the FSF has just announced that over 5,000 people signed the "Defective by Design" iPad petition.

The first 5,000 names have been printed on a four-foot tall "tablet" and shipped to Cupertino. Defective by Design will send a new tablet for every 5,000 signatures.


The full press release is reproduced below.




Defective by Design delivers iPad anti-DRM petition with 5,000 signatures to Jobs -- more coming



BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Thursday, February 4, 2010 -- The Free Software Foundation's (FSF) Defective by Design campaign against Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) delivered its "iPad is iBad for Freedom" petition to Apple CEO Steve Jobs today, demanding that he drop DRM on all Apple devices.



The petition was launched at http://defectivebydesign.org/ipad to coincide with the iPad debut event in San Francisco. Within 24 hours, over 5,000 people had signed the petition.



The petition is still accepting signatures, but the first 5,000 names have been printed on a four-foot tall "tablet" and shipped to Cupertino. Defective by Design will send a new tablet for every 5,000 signatures, so supporters can still add their voices at http://defectivebydesign.org/ipad.



Photos of the tablet being delivered are at http://www.defectivebydesign.org/apple-ipad-drm-petition-mailed.



In a cover letter to Jobs, Defective by Design said, "5,000 people in 24 hours took time out of their day to call you out on this, and demand change. There is still time for you to do the right thing in the next 60 days, before the iPad actually goes on sale. You can drop the DRM from the device and the App Store, and actually embrace the ideals you claim to stand for -- creativity, freedom, and individuality." The full text of the letter is online at http://www.defectivebydesign.org/jobs-ipad-letter.



About the Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at http://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.



Media Contacts

John Sullivan Operations Manager Free Software Foundation +1 (617) 542 5942 campaigns@fsf.org

Holmes Wilson Campaigns Manager Free Software Foundation +1 (617) 542 5942 campaigns@fsf.org

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