After reading several articles and blogs, I agree with those who blame Apple. Their decision to lock their platform and delivery system down so tightly is now backfiring on them. They've provided a way for themselves to act like Big Brother, and now their carrier is demanding access to those abilities. Apple now looks very bad - and deservedly so - for not telling AT&T no.
As far as the carrier goes, in this case it's AT&T, but would it be any different if any other carrier were at the helm and saw a product coming along that
(a) threatened their existing business model, and
(b) would be implemented over their own infrastructure, and over their objections,
if they had a method to prevent all that sitting right in front of them? I really can't imagine Sprint, Verizon or T-Mobile would behave differently. From locking down ringtones to forcing people to buy themes and wallpapers (!) through an inefficient and painful proprietary catalog, I think all 4 carriers have consistently tried to control as much as they were able to on all of our phones.
And here's Apple, providing AT&T with an easy way to protect the status quo by refusing to say no to their anticompetitive demands.
|