"We've always been shameless about stealing great ideas."

--Steve Jobs, Apple

Summary: A quick walk-through covering Apple news as it relates to Free software and to Android (Linux-based)

YESTERDAY we wrote about Apple's latest attack on Android, where Steve Job was claiming that it is not open (whatever he meant by open).

"The first thing most of us think about when we hear the word 'open' is Windows," Steve Jobs is quoted as saying. (hat tip: Jan Wildeboer]

He keeps redefining or distorting the meaning of "open" to suit his own agenda. That's fitting, right?

Apple keeps blocking certain applications (including Free software) from being installed on hardware it sells. That's truly open, eh? Here is a pro-Apple site talking about "guidelines for Mac App Store":

Apple has posted the Review Guidelines for what will soon be the omnipresent Mac App Store, and many developers aren't happy with what they're seeing. Like the iOS App Store, Apple will control the gates and review each application before it's posted. 70% of the profits will go to the developers, and 30% will presumably pay for chairs in which Steve Jobs and the rest of his executive team will sit to watch the iOS App Store money roll in.

"Apple OSX 'invents' Apt" claims this blogger at sight of this "Mac App Store" (which ideally should not be necessary, assuming people need not go through Apple for permission to do things with hardware they bought to allegedly own).

At today's Apple conference, one of the big roll-outs is Apple's new Mac Store.

Basically, its a way to use aptitude on OSX, for paid apps.

Debian has had apt and aptitude for a long time, with or without graphical frontends, allowing users to search for, install, and update software to their Debian OS. Other GNU/Linux Operating Systems have had their own package managers for a number of years now as well.

We keep hearing about Free(dom) software applications being blocked, but there are some conflicting examples, with some that suggest Apple will shoot down GPL-licensed software and some showing otherwise. We recently remarked on Apple's GPL disdain and Foxconn's violations of human decency/rights (which Apple seems to have no real problems with). Is this the new scandal we've been hearing about?

Is Apple's suicide factory outsourcing to even cheaper Chinese peasants?

[...]

By contrast, according to Forbes, Mr. Gou has a net worth of $5.5 billion. Steve Jobs has a net worth of $6.1 billion

It's a typical move towards cheaper and cheaper labour to improve margins. So much for the company which charges so much for computers. The New York Times asks this week, "Will Apple’s Culture Hurt the iPhone?"

The article says that "Americans now are buying more Android phones than iPhones. If that trend continues, analysts say that in little more than a year, Android will have erased the iPhone’s once enormous lead in the high end of the smartphone market."

“As usual, whether the subject is antennas, Flash or shipments, there is more to the story and sooner or later, even people inside the distortion field will begin to resent being told half a story.”
      --Jim Balsillie, RIMYes, this is why Apple is increasingly afraid and aggressive towards Android. Even RIM has taken heat from poor Mr. Jobs (we posted the video yesterday, as Ogg), who faces this strongly-worded rebuttal from Jim Balsillie: "For those of us who live outside of Apple's distortion field, we know that 7-inch tablets will actually be a big portion of the market and we know that Adobe Flash support actually matters to customers who want a real web experience. We also know that while Apple's attempt to control the ecosystem and maintain a closed platform may be good for Apple, developers want more options and customers want to fully access the overwhelming majority of web sites that use Flash. We think many customers are getting tired of being told what to think by Apple. And by the way, RIM has achieved record shipments for five consecutive quarters and recently shared guidance of 13.8 – 14.4 million BlackBerry smartphones for the current quarter. Apple's preference to compare its September-ending quarter with RIM's August-ending quarter doesn't tell the whole story because it doesn't take into account that industry demand in September is typically stronger than summer months, nor does it explain why Apple only shipped 8.4 million devices in its prior quarter and whether Apple's Q4 results were padded by unfulfilled Q3 customer demand and channel orders. As usual, whether the subject is antennas, Flash or shipments, there is more to the story and sooner or later, even people inside the distortion field will begin to resent being told half a story."

Apple has opened a can of worms and this has turned into somewhat of a PR disaster, with headlines going as far as this from the mainstream press (news.com.au): "Seven inches is enough, RIM tells Jobs"

More people are beginning to realise that there is nothing of much substance underneath Apple's heavy marketing with a flavour of arrogance. Microsoft is in many ways the same, but its marketing has been less successful. The Apple-like propaganda/attacks are failing (see this new cartoon about better cash cow marketing from Microsoft) and BPOS is now being called "Big POS" (big piece of s***thing) because it's too poor [1, 2, 3] to substitute the cash cow, Microsoft Office. Generally speaking, both Apple and Microsoft do things which are indicative of weakness right now. Free software is jeopardising their cash cows. ⬆