Tag: Competition
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DRM for Chargers: Possibly Good for Users
Apple has filed a patent application on a technology for tethering rechargeable devices (like iPods) to particular chargers. The idea is that the device will only allow its batteries to be recharged if it is connected to an authorized charger. Whether this is good for consumers depends on how a device comes to be authorized.…
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Why No Phoneless iPhone?
I know the iPhone is like so last week, but I want to ask one more question about it: why does Apple insist on users registering for an AT&T account? Officially at least, you have to agree to a two-year contract with AT&T cellular before you can activate your iPhone, even if you will never…
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Why Did Universal Threaten to Pull Out of iTunes?
Last week brought news that Universal Music, the world’s largest record company, was threatening to pull its music from Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Why would Universal do this? The obvious answer is that the companies are renegotiating their contract and Universal wants to get the best deal they can. Threatening to walk is one way…
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Behind the iPhone Frenzy
Let me say right up front that I have not accepted the Jesus Phone as my personal Lord and Savior. The iPhone might turn out to be insanely great. It might become the best-selling mobile phone ever. Or it might not. Either way, the iPhone’s arrival and the attendant frenzy mark the beginning of a…
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Why CEOs and Companies Break the Law
Ben Horowitz, CEO of Opsware, offers an interesting essay on why so many bigshot CEOs seem to be in legal trouble. Why, he asks, would a rich and powerful executive risk going to prison? The easy answer, greed, is too simple because many of these guys were already tremendously rich and stood to gain little…
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All the Interested Parties? Not Quite.
Here’s a quick quiz to detect whether you’re stuck in Washington groupthink. There’s a patent reform bill under consideration in Congress. According to a blog entry by Andrew Noyes at the National Journal, a group of Republican senators sent a letter to Rep. Howard Berman, the chair of the relevant House subcommittee, asking that the…
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EMI To Sell DRM-Free Music
EMI, the world’s third largest record company, announced yesterday that it will sell its music without DRM (copy protection) on Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Songs will be available in two formats: the original DRMed format for the original $0.99 price, or a higher-fidelity DRM-free format for $1.29. This is a huge step forward for EMI…
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FreeConference Suit: Neutrality Fight or Regulatory Squabble?
Last week FreeConference, a company that offers “free” teleconferencing services, sued AT&T for blocking access by AT&T/Cingular customers to FreeConference’s services. FreeConference’s complaint says the blocking is anticompetitive and violates the Communications Act. FreeConference’s service sets up conference calls that connect a group of callers. Users are given an ordinary long-distance phone number to call.…
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Apple Offers to Sell DRM-Free Music
The Net is buzzing with talk about the open letter posted by Apple CEO Steve Jobs yesterday. In an apparent reversal, Jobs offers to sell MP3 files, free of anti-copying DRM technology, on the iTunes Music Store if the major record companies allow it. Much as I would like to see Apple renounce DRM entirely,…
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Sharecropping 2.0? Not Likely
Nick Carr has an interesting post arguing that sites like MySpace and Facebook are essentially high-tech sharecropping, exploiting the labor of the many to enrich the few. He’s wrong, I think, but in an instructive way. Here’s the core of his argument: What’s being concentrated, in other words, is not content but the economic value…