If Microsoft was running Iphone's AppStore instead of Apple, how would you and the antitrust bodies react?

In reply to MG Siegler @parislemon regarding the comparison between the AppStore's action against Adobe and the development of railroads:

It's not fair to compare the railroad system of the US with Japan's one: Japan has a very narrow island, so most traffic goes north/south. The US and Canada are huge country: they are large, long, AND interconnected. That's why both countries need standards, while Japan does not. It's better to compare US & Canada with Europe where the railroad standards were different (I know for sure between Spain and France at least), and it has only been a decade that they are really bringing one standard, and in the same time we are seeing super high speed trains between Madrid and Paris for example. So, I don't think that you have to link the standardization to lack of innovation. 

The lack of innovation comes from the lack of choice. One standard is fine, but a platform has to let the developer chose if he/she wants the standard coding language/compiler or go another way. By forcing this up on the developers, Apple is imposing an artificial comparative advantage of its phone over the others which I would call the "lock-in advantage".

Think about what Microsoft could have done with it's "platform" advantage on Windows Media Player if the Antitrust laws were not hanging on the neck of Bill Gates, imagine Microsoft sayging that Windows would not support the Ipod as it was a duplicate features on Windows because Microsoft has its Zune, same thing for Itunes as Microsoft had Windows Media Player, same thing for Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Chrome etc... as there was already Internet Explorer. Apple is doing the same, it's using it's platform advantage to impose a standard and dismiss competition.

I usually don't like government involvement but, as I pointed it out in this status on Twitter, if it was Microsoft who were acting like Apple we would get the Antitrust squad breaking Redmont's doors: just imagine MacOS' hardware lock-in (instalable only on Mac hardware), Itunes monopoly (what 70% of music online goes through it right?), AppStore monopoly (no third party store on Iphone!!!), Iphone OS language monopoly, Iphone OS compilation monopoly. If you think about it, it's like what Rockfeller did in the early oil-rush: selling the tools to dig, selling the platform to transport it, but what he did not is own the land, and that's what Apple is doing. Think about the "serf" in the middle-age: they didf not own the land (the platform), they did not own the tools (the language), they could not go anywhere else (the lock-in or the exit barriers), they only owned what they harvested (the software) and they had to share it with the master (30% goes to Apple, right?). 

Obviously the comparison is a little far-fetched, but I understand what Adobe is saying, while I also understand that Adobe has a quasi-monopoly on the web regarding Flash, it's only the format, there are litteraly dozens of tools that let you produce Flash software/games/videos etc. And there are hundreds of stores online where to buy flash. Apple is doing the opposit, and by doing this it increases the pressure on the developer while giving him little ways of getting out as the platform became so ubiquious among smartphones and high end phones. I know that's not what Apple is telling people, Apple talks about the quality of its platform and the quality of Iphone's software written in native language. But if people want to write in a language which renders poorly on their platform, let it be and let consumer chose to fly away and go  to a competitor who programs better directly in the native language, no? It shouldn't even be a debate! Isn't it what we call capitalism? Let the best developer win the customers? If customers don't like a program they will switch to the competitors. Point in case, people left Internet Explorer beside the massive and dominant market share until 2005. For that matter, I think that Apple talk are kind of B.S as when it comes to an end, it's mainly the bottom-line that counts and by locking the users and programmers in, and building big walls of "exit barriers" for software portability it helps imposing development for the main platform only. And the more time the government wait to react the more innovation will suffer among the community, and so will you as a consumer! 

I feel that I'm always ranting these days, but what Apple and Facebook are doing regarding different aspects of "users disrespect" goes beyond my understanding (not the financial understanding obviously). And the way people and the government reacts to that is concerning. The government should start questioning some practices Apple has and this is getting urgent: AppStore being the sole platform for selling software on Iphone, Iphone language and compiler being the sole for programming on Iphone, and the ViP ad network that gives insiders tracking information while in the same time forbidding competitors from tracking the users in their TOS are among the most proeminent example in my belief. 

Did I miss any? Am I just wrong? 

The iPad: a little too hyped for what it is... & The JooJoo: the first full cloud computing experience...if only software/services providers follow....

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I'm not a blogger, I don't really post all my thoughts, but I need some insights on this one, that's why I'm back from hibernation...

I'm not a big fan of the closed system of apple, but there is one thing they know how-to do is the media attention. It really amazes me when i see big names like OM Malik saying that the Ipad is going to kill anything else (Kindle, HP Slate or whatever), because that leads to self-fulfilling prophecy. And the analysts are not supposed to do that I guess, because the kinds of OM are not financial analysts, they built their fame on the analysis of gizmos etc... so their loyal fan base kinda trust them. I understand from a financial point of view that probably the Ipad is going to kill whatever is on its way, just like the iPhone did it for Nokia which still needs to give a real direction for the open-sourced (now) Symbian, but that's only because of the sex appeal (and form-design & accessories microcosm) of Apple and any "i"-stuff they bring to the market. Common guys, even the big media houses seemed so thrilled about the device, we saw it all over TV. I mean, I watch TV perhaps 20min a day, and I was able to have a glimpse of it.

For me that really leads to misinformation. Let me explain, if mainstream media wants to talk about technology and gizmos, fine. But to publish only one side is really a bias that should be. Have you heard about the slate? What does the Ipad do that really deserves that kind of attention compared to say the joojoo or the slate? Apps? Ok with more that a hundred-thousand apps already compatible (or with a minor reprogramming tweak), it's obvious that soon you will be able to buy the iKitchen accessory that will let you hang your ipad on the oven with your favorite receipt on while you are cooking, then turn it and watch the latest clip on Haïti, or on Michael Jackson while you are waiting....that's true! But still, you see the Ipad on TV and the guys there don't even say that there is any competition out there?? Wtf? Really, no other device? Really, they even quote Steve Jobs marketing b.s. (and I'm not an apple hater) by calling it a "magical (?) and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price"...waw!!! Apple does not need any advertisement fund anymore, they got it free! Don't let me start on the "magical" harry-potter-ish statement....

Everyone is talking about the 140 000 or so apps that are compatible with the Ipad. That's true and obvious. But, Joojoo might be on the verge of bringing a whole new internet experience through digging deap inside Macromedia Flash and all the cloud-hosted apps. That's funny how everyone is calling that device dead or so with no added value (well for the price I would agree, but the Ipad would probably bring the price down now that we know the market price of the "high-end" tablet). That's unfortunate that they do not have the name/money of some, and if I were Adobe, I would really support the initiative to counter HTML5's video support and Apple claim that Flash is "dead" in a a way by not supporting it for the last 3 years on its Iphone/Ipod touch. There would be a real win-win deal there: Joojoo gets the media/investors attention after Mike Arrington chocked on the deal, and Adobe would get a technology showroom for flash....and....why not think big: get their own Adobe AppStore (is there any on the web? please enlighten me)! That's the deal today, no? We saw Nokia sinking because they changed the OS Software only when the hardware changed leaving people looking for apps all over the web just to realize they were incompatible, and Ovi is really a "too-late-with-no-added-value innovation" to really bring something to the table.


So, imagine that:

1. Adobe funding and bringing the attention on the Joojoo.
2. Adobe hosting a flash app-store.
3. Finding a solution for data retention of the flash apps on the cloud (and not only the social-media services that are already doing that).
4. Having a real OS with Google-gears style local on-device data retention for all the apps.
5. Calling me a say thanks! ;)

I do believe that this is a killer/not seen yet combination of device and cloud computing (let me know if I'm wrong, I study pretty hard, so no time to stay aware about all what's going on the web2.o stuff). It could really be the first full cloud computing experience with a usable local aspect, just like you have to sync your Iphone with your computer every now and then to get, you would synchronize your Joojoo Tablet/Slate with the cloud when you are back home/at the office/at a friend's house/at a starbucks etc...

And just to finish: hey Adobe, if you don't do a bold move like that, you'll keep losing market share for you flash format toward html5 (I mean less sales of Adobe flash CS, and more of Dreamweaver CS!;) or you'll keep wooing Apple to get it adopted on Iphone/Ipad platform until perhaps one day it will. But just a hint: do you remember the floppy disk on the first i-macs, Apple never put a player on them even with all the controversy....

Well, that's only my 2 cents, what about yours?