Apple legal anger management: One step forward, two steps back
You know, it's a good thing that Apple is a beloved, cult-like company that makes awesome products that everyone covets, or else people might start to get the idea that the company's legal department is kind of mean. Three moves this week of interest in this arena:
- Starting on a positive note, the NDA restrictions on the iPhone SDK have been dropped in regards to applications that have been accepted and released onto the App Store. This means that all those "How to write iPhone apps and get filthy rich" books and magazine articles that have been held in reserve to this point ought to be hitting the shelves any day now. Note that this only applies to apps that are selling on the store, so if yours gets rejected, you're still not supposed to complain in public.
- The National Music Publishers' Association aiming to increase artists' per-song download royalty from 9 to 15 cents, and Apple is threatening to shut down the iTunes store altogether if this happens. Nobody know exactly how much Apple makes on the iTunes store -- I've actually heard whispers that it's in fact a loss leader designed to sell iPods and iPhones -- but a 6-cent drop in revenue on a 99-cent purchase does seem like it would eat into what must be fairly narrow margins. Most people think this is an idle threat, though.
- Oh, and the Apple-Psystar war still rages, with Apple's saying that Psystar's antitrust claims "ignor[e] fundamental principles of antitrust law, and the realities of the marketplace." Ouch.
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What the hell are you talking about?
"...people might start to get the idea that the company's legal department is kind of mean."Josh:
What the hell are you talking about? Now, I understand that blogs are not generally rife with journalistic integrity, but how about at least connecting the dots from your headline to your article? Perhaps you should consider having an editor review your work before posting.
At any rate, I suppose the one step forward refers to Apple loosening the NDA restrictions for the App Store. But what are the 2 steps back? Apple's statements regarding the NMPA's attempt to push royalties from 9 to 15 cents per download? Is that supposed to be a step back? If so, I would say you are way off the mark. A step back would be Apple acquiescing to such a dramatic increase and simply passing it on to the consumer.
Lastly, based on these 3 moves by Apple this week, how would anyone conclude that Apple's legal department, is "mean"? If you would like to avoid your work being dismissed out of hand to the point of you being treated as irrelevant, I would suggest you explain your analysis a little more (or at all).
Opinion piece is a opinion
Opinion piece is a opinion piece. I guess what your asking for is sort of a ministry of Apple truth.lol. itunes has grown into a BLOATED solution for all things Apple (with music as its crown jewel) The music companys know full well that Apple cant simply cut the music without bringing the whole house down. Apple will blink and give the music companys what they want as itunes without music is shit. Run that through the ministry of truth.Excellent point
And well said.