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Will Apple be forced into licensing?

updated 09:15 pm EDT, Sat October 21, 2006

Future is licensing?

One ZDnet blogger believes that Apple's continued success--including the forthcoming release a rumored "perfect" iPone--could force some governments to file an anti-trust lawsuit against Apple, which could force the company to open up its proprietary iPod/iTunes ecosystem, but allow the company to profit handsomely. "Eventually, some governments will force Apple's hand under antitrust law. If not here in the US, then somewhere else. Apple knows this and the name of the game at this point is arbitrage. Somewhere, on Apple's general counsel's spreadsheet, is the cost of an antitrust settlement against the company � the sort where the company is forced to open up its interfaces on a fair licensing basis much the same way Microsoft has been forced to do the same. No matter how conservative the what-if scenarios in that spreadsheet are, Apple will still profit and very famously so."

by MacNN Staff

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Ashari
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2003

0

10/21, 09:59pm | report spam | close Reply |
Not going to happen

While Apple may have a big chunk of the music download marketplace (as well as the players that play said music), they are a tiny spec compared to places that sell CDs... and it isn't anywhere near "anti-trust" when a person can simply go down to Wal*Mart and buy a CD, forgoing the entire iTunes "experience".

IANAL but this sounds like it would be very easy to defend against.

aristotles
Grizzled Veteran

Joined: Jul 2004

0

10/21, 10:11pm | report spam | close Reply |
Force govmnt use multi OS

It is funny how the government has policies for multiple vendors for hardware but they only use windows. If they are going to keep this hardware vendor bullshit in Sarbanes O. and government contracts, shouldn't they also mandate multiple software (OS) vendors and open standards for interoperability?

aristotles
Grizzled Veteran

Joined: Jul 2004

0

10/21, 10:19pm | report spam | close Reply |
Consoles are not interop.

Music players, like consoles are entertainment devices and are not essential for doing business whereas computers are general purpose devices that people use for various pursuits.

If we do not expect consoles to be interoperable, why should we expect this from music players? The only reason Apple created the iPod in the first place was because MSFT refused to provide support for OS X WMP syncing with the WMA devices out on the market.

bhuot
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Joined: Nov 2003

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10/21, 10:26pm | report spam | close Reply |
not consistent

I have not seen any of these supposed licensing of MS Office propritary formats. If Microsoft is only going to get a slap on the wrist for illegally leveraging its monopoly to kill off competition, then why should Apple be forced to change their file formats when you can very easily burn the music to CDs and then rip mp3s of them and use them in any music player.

danviento
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Joined: Dec 2005

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10/21, 10:31pm | report spam | close Reply |
The end paranoia

THe blogger makes a closing comment about apple stopping the output of a windows based iTunes. What's the likelihood of THAT happenning? I wouldn't think much of it personally. Sounds to me like this guy is afraid of Apple exploiting the dominace that MS has been so willing to use in the past. However, in my experiece, APL has tried to allow as many ppl to make use of its wonderful design as they have the resources to do. I wouldn't worry about this unless they loose Jobs.

climacs
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Joined: Sep 2001

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10/22, 02:12am | report spam | close Reply |
no s***

is the guy an attorney or just some random dude on the web, talking out his a**?

e2Sync
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Joined: Feb 2005

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10/22, 04:30am | report spam | close Reply |
climacs

I'm not so sure there's much difference between the two except one has a bit of paper that says he's been professionally trained to do it.

e2Sync
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Joined: Feb 2005

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10/22, 04:31am | report spam | close Reply |
an ipone !

even cooler the iPhone I bet!! Can't wait to get one!

loudpedal
Forum Regular

Joined: Oct 1999

0

10/22, 10:36am | report spam | close Reply |
Forced M$ to licence?

This guy doesn't remember (or was never taught) his history. No one forced Microsoft to licence MS-DOS & Windows to multiple hardware vendors. It was their business model from the beginning.

And hopefully, if a government does step in, they will be as effective against Apple as they were with MS. I haven't seen any punitive ruling that has had any real effect. Microsoft has hurt itself through crappy program management & outright boring products more than any court decision.

Hillbilly Geek
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Joined: Aug 2006

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10/22, 05:28pm | report spam | close Reply |
what the heck is

an iPone? anything like a corn pone? ;-)

UberFu
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Joined: Oct 2002

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10/22, 06:16pm | report spam | close Reply |
first off.....

this article is based on a blogger's opinion_

2ndly - there IS NO ANTI-TRUST HERE_

Anti-trust is loosely defined as an entity that is price fixing and using restrictive practices that hinder the market among other things_

monopoly is defrined as a market where is is ONE supplier of a good or a service in a given area_ Examples would be local phone companies or cable television companies in many markets where if you want one of these services but there are no other options available if you don't like the company_

Apple and it's iTunes/iPod product/service DOES NOT fit these criteria_

� There are many other download services online_ � You can RIP music from a CD you purchased an load it on yore iPod_ � There are many different MP3 Players available for the consumer to choose from_ � And with an internet connection all of the above can be accessed globally_

If EVERY MP3 Player on the planet had no choice but to connect to iTunes in order to swap songs or go thru the ITMS in order to acquire musisc or other media - then yeah - maybe_

Right now - if anything they are closer to a monopoly than an anti-trust_ But this is if you ONLY look at there market share of ALL MP3 Players_ There is neither an anti-trust or a monopoly here_

Just another example of excellent MACNN reporting skills and the fact that any genius with a 'puter and some rudimentary typing skill can somehow get the attention of said news sources reporters_

Gotta love it_

debohun
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Joined: Feb 1999

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10/22, 07:25pm | report spam | close Reply |
It's a legitimate concern

Get real guys, Apple's market share is huge, and its competitive practices, when it comes to iTunes/FairPlay, almost as anti-competitive as Microsoft's. The only thing that is keeping the Government from going after the iTunes/FairPlay is the current Bush regime, which thinks that corporations are uber-people who shouldn't have to abide by the same laws as the rest of us. (Look at what they did for bankruptcy; protected corporations and made bankruptcy almost impossible for flesh-and-blood people.) Apple should squeeze all they can out of iTunes now, and then develop and execute their own strategic plans to open the system, because the current suspension of anti-trust law won't last forever. Try reading Pride Before the Fall: End of the Microsoft Era. It's an excellent insight into the hubris and arrogance that develops inside the protective shell of incorporation. Apple is not immune; and, it is easy to argue that, under the leadership of a charismatic (no matter how brilliant), it is even more likely susceptible.

debohun
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Joined: Feb 1999

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10/22, 07:30pm | report spam | close Reply |
Bundling...

By the way, for those above arguing about definitions of anti-trust and focusing their attentions on market share percentage, they should especially pay attention to the Microsoft case. It is bundling that will bring iTunes/Fairplay to its knees, just like bundling (would have, without Republican protectionism) brought down Internet Explorer/Windows.

elroth
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Joined: Jul 2006

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10/23, 03:39am | report spam | close Reply |
RE: not consistent

"You can very easily burn the music to CDs and then rip mp3s of them and use them in any music player."

I hear this said all the time; I've never done it, because I use lossless formats, but tell me this:

If you have an iTunes music file at 128 AAC, and you burn it to CD, you then have an aiff file, but at the quality of 128 AAC, which means you've lost a fair amount of the music. If you then rip it and convert it to mp3, you are losing even more content. Wouldn't this sound like c***, basically?

Ikon
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Joined: May 2005

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10/23, 06:35am | report spam | close Reply |
what when how who?

Apple can't be blamed for monopoly when you consider the choices you have. You can run all the OSes you can think of on a mac (intel) and you can have all the songs they sell on iTunes on other services, even on CD :-)

MuppetFloss
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Joined: Aug 2005

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10/23, 07:25am | report spam | close Reply |
DRM

"why should Apple be forced to change their file formats"

The file format doesn't come into play. Apple uses Mpeg4 audio, and Mpeg4 is the new standard for everything now: internet, HD-DVD, 3G, digital TV broadcasts, etc. So Apple's file format is about as open as it gets.

(M$ is in worse shape, actually, as both the file format and the DRM are proprietary. I wonder if we could force them to use AAC, or might that slightly undermine their entire business strategy...hmmm.)

The thing that is closed and proprietary is DRM. I believe all DRM is closed and proprietary. It might be good if Apple - and everybody else - were forced to use an open DRM system, but that would mean opening all the DRM in the world to a single universal standard. This would affect all media, from music to movies to ebooks - anywhere there is DRM.

It would also mean instead of cracking all the individual DRM systems one by one, people could team up to crack a single method. But of course, that might lead to completely undermining everyone's faith in DRM and the whole digital media economy might collapse ;-) Damn Apple and it's proprietary ways! Damn them all to h***.

Incidentally, elroth, you're right - if you convert from compressed (AAC, MP3) to uncompressed (Aiff) and then re-compress, you lose quality. Presumably this is a prerequisite by the 5 record companies: if a consumer has the option to work around DRM, at least the quality is reduced. (That's both the value and problem with digital - no loss of quality when copying.)

ibugv4
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Joined: Jun 2003

0

10/23, 10:57am | report spam | close Reply |
sound like c***, no

I took my 2GB iTunes collection, burned it all to about 50 CDs or so, then re-ripped the music into MP3 format on the same machine to have TiVo-Compatible music that was well within my rights as a consumer. It took me a long while, however I have an Audio-CD Player backup of the music and I have a variant of them that works for my other needs, such as TiVo. I don't hear any difference in the files, and I've used them for years. They sound just fine to me, but I make up the 90%+ of people who don't have perfect hearing that listen to music. I also don't listen to, nor realy care, about the theoretical sound loss and pitch loss of conversions when I don't always hear my cell phone ring. Lets not forget we're dealing wtih the generation of deaf ears (literally).

Fast iBook
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2003

0

10/29, 03:56am | report spam | close Reply |
Bundling?

Bundling? Some pc vendors bundled iTunes for windows on their machines, not sure if any do now. Apple, as far as i can tell, can't be forced to open iTunes if microsoft wma/wmv based services aren't also forced to open as well. It would be utterly unfair to have one companies' DRM opened, and not all of the rest too, which would defeat the purpose of DRM, because people would crack it, and services like the iTMS would lose profit, if not start to sink. The people at apple for example, work very hard to keep its content of the highest quality etc etc, the pirates don't care what the quality is really as long as its not total c***, but they don't need to work nearly as hard as apple, because there are 1000x the people that apple even has employed working against the DRM system overall. Common sense says a multitude of DRM standards supports the continuation of the whole idwa of DRM and electronic music marketplaces. Don't poke a hole in a baloon, even the smallest one will make it deflate. Maybe some years from now, but not now when its just very much still beginning. Foolish.

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Will Apple be forced into licensing?

updated 09:15 pm EDT, Sat October 21, 2006

Future is licensing?

Not going to happen

Force govmnt use multi OS

Consoles are not interop.

not consistent

The end paranoia

no s***

climacs

an ipone !

Forced M$ to licence?

what the heck is

first off.....

It's a legitimate concern

Bundling...

RE: not consistent

what when how who?

DRM

sound like c***, no

Bundling?

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Will Apple be forced into licensing?

updated 09:15 pm EDT, Sat October 21, 2006

Future is licensing?

Related Articles

Recent Articles

Not going to happen

Force govmnt use multi OS

Consoles are not interop.

not consistent

The end paranoia

no s***

climacs

an ipone !

Forced M$ to licence?

what the heck is

first off.....

It's a legitimate concern

Bundling...

RE: not consistent

what when how who?

DRM

sound like c***, no

Bundling?

Login Here

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