http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/02/08/jobs.letter.for.iphone/
Jobs anti-DRM stance really for iPhone?
updated 10:05 am EST, Thu February 8, 2007
Jobs letter for iPhone?
Apple CEO Steve Jobs' open letter to the world declaring Apple's support for DRM-free music may be a gambit to force content providers to re-negotiate their contracts to support downloading music and video directly to the iPhone, according to one Fortune blogger. Apple's licensing agreements with record labels are very restrictive, but that was the best deal Jobs could get at the time when digital music was still an anomaly in the public eye. Jobs issued his letter following several reports detailing increasing pressure overseas, as numerous European countries band together in an effort to open up Apple's iPod/iTunes ecosystem in a plea for fairness on behalf of customers.
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Jobs knows something
I'm still trying to parse his comments, like many others. Perhaps Jobs knows that the closed nature of iPod/iTunes can't last forever, especially due to the EU.
This is a key difference between Jobs and the music biz suits. Jobs understands that you can't resist broad trends forever - it's a fact of life in the technology business. You have to adapt when faced with an irresistible force such as the Internet or Moore's Law.
Music industry execs, however, think you can control everything with lawyers and contracts. Which is why they thought they could sue filesharing out of business, and why they will continue to cling to their outdated property rights management schemes long after technology has rendered them obsolete.