Apple products are beautiful and functional. Many people brag about their iPod or Mac’s stability, but there is a good reason that Macs are so stable. Apple is very restrictive as to what others are allowed to do with their systems.
For example, if you have a iPod, you can only use iTunes if you want to sync music to it. If you have another brand of media player, it will not work with iTunes.
Most standard hardware such as keyboards, mice and printers are compatable with both Macs and PCs, but when it comes to software, Apple has some very strict standards that developers must meet and money must exchange hands to apply for Apple approval.
This week, Apple pulled the biggest “Apple move” of all, they released an update that rendered $500 iPhones unusable because people had changed the devices to run on cell networks other than those approved by Apple.
The iPhone was designed to run on AT&T here in the States and it could only run software that had been approved by Apple. Resourceful hackers found a way around these restrictions and released a few small software patches for free that would allow users to customize their iPhones more and run them on whatever cell network they were currently subscribed to.
Apple could have allowed the changes and sold more iPhones, but their relationship with AT&T was more valuable than the relationship with those who had paid $500 for the device.
So, they released an update to fix some functional issues with the phone and along with it, they broke the phone and voided the warranty for anyone who had installed theses unapproved patches.
Now, many iPhone users who bought the iPhone because they wanted to be one of the cool kids and conform to the hype are learning their first lesson in the drawbacks of Apple products.
Apple products are beautiful, they are easy to use, they are sexy, and they are cool, but like other cliques, they don’t like to play with anyone outside of their circle.
Even for Apple though, this is the biggest bully move they have ever made. I wouldn’t be fix is released in a few days or weeks that will restore the broken iPhones to factory standards but with updates that prevent the previous hacks from working.
This is an important business technology story to follow. If they get away with it, it could set a new precedent for other companies. If they get trampled and their reputation becomes tainted, it could mean that Apple loosens their restrictions more in future products.
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