[Dale @ Sep 29th 2007 11:51PM]

Last I heard, the iPhone wasn't subsidized by AT&T. Therefore, why would Apple care so much? Oh...because they're a monopoly. They have a virtual monopoly on the MP# player market. And now there's trying to extend that monopoly into a new marketplace.

Where have I heard that before? Oh yea! Microsoft! So Apple is just as bad as Microsoft.

Don't buy Apple.

[derek @ Sep 30th 2007 12:00AM]

What the HELL are you talking about? Apple has an exclusive contract with AT&T. Apple has more control on adding new features than any other company, that's why it must be locked onto AT&T. It isn't a monopoly, if you don't like it, buy something else. You have options.

[Jesse S @ Sep 30th 2007 12:03AM]

Apple is hardly a monopoly, but no shit they are as bad as MS. They are a corporation, they hardly care about the consumer.

Apple marks up cheap products exponentially, designs them well, has (in a marketing sense) awesome marketing, and great business sense.

Don't tell the fanboys though, they'll kill you.

[Henrik J @ Sep 30th 2007 12:07AM]

AT&T paid Apple a lot of money to get exclusive rights to sell the iPhone and now AT&T needs to make a profit from selling services to the people who bought the phone, if Apple just said "Screw you AT&T, we allready got out money" then why would anyone want to work with Apple again? Why would any European cell cell company sign a similar deal if they could see that Apple did nothing about all those unlocked iPhones?

[michael @ Sep 30th 2007 1:13AM]

What the heck are you talking about?

As bad as Microsoft? Monopolies?

If you call Microsoft a monopoly, then I guess you could call Apple a monopoly also. Mainly the fact that it's installed on all Macs, so Mac users have smaller choice.

But I would hardly say their monopolies, because you can install many OS's on a computer. Nobody says you have to buy from a certain company. There's tons out there.

And as far as I'm concerned, Microsoft isn't bad, if you consider they still make products worth buying. I'd hardly call Xbox 360 or Office 07' bad.

So maybe you should do some research before accusing companies of bad stuff. They're in it for profit, as much as providing a good service.

[ark_v2 @ Sep 30th 2007 3:09AM]

It started to become after 2001. That's all I'm going to say about that. About someone pointing that the prices for apple products were low...are you feeling well?

[Dale @ Sep 30th 2007 5:40AM]

Oh I know Microsoft and Apple well. I worked almost 13 years for Microsoft and during that time did much competitive research on Apple. This isn't off the cuff. Its with a ton of experience, inside knowledge, and wisdom.

Buy what you want to. But realize that Apple has a monopoly on the mp* market and is trying to extend that into the cell market. Micrsoft has a monopoly on the OS market as evidenced in both the marketplace and by US and EU ruling.

Anyone have more knowledge and experience? I'm really open to it but I doubt many do.

[John @ Sep 30th 2007 10:36AM]

Marketing 101: High market share and monopoly are two different concepts entirely.

A monopoly is when there is only one product on the market that fulfills a specific need. High market share is when there are multiple products on the market, but one sells more and more people have it.

I several MP3 players before iPod came out, and I would NEVER go back. Does Apple care about me specifically? Probably not. At the same time, when I owned PCs, I never once got the feeling that Microsoft cared about my experience. Half of my time on the computer was searching knowledge bases for how to remove spyware or how to keep automatic update from restarting my computer every 5 minutes. At least with Apple products, I don't feel like I have to deal with that bullshit and I can just...get on the computer, do what I need to, and log off.

Saying Apple sucks because they're a corporation is really funny, considering we live in a corporate society, and I'm willing to bet that about 1% of everything you own comes from a "Ma and Pa Shop."

DON'T HATE THE PLAYAZ, HATE THE GAME.

[luke @ Sep 30th 2007 1:40PM]

you are as ignorant as the load i just flushd.

[Mitch @ Sep 30th 2007 1:39PM]

You are Wrong, Apple in fact was the original monopoly, does any one remember back to the APPLE II Days?

Apple would not license the system to anyone keeping up the costs of computers in the 2K range while counterfeits, where selling for under 500.00, the one company that worked out a way to emulate them (Franklin Computer of NJ) they sued until they put them out of the computer business.

So, this is nothing new for APPLE it their standard practice. Anyone who thinks that APPLE is the Good guy and MS is the Bad guy should look into Apple's business practices. They are one of the most Hawkish IP companies around, and when it comes to releasing anything for the greater good, if it isn't good for APPLE then it isn't good, period!

[Rich UK @ Sep 30th 2007 4:05PM]

Just because apple may have been a monoply back in the apple II days doesn't mean it is now, if you invent something new and sell it you are more than likely going to be the monopoly! MS and Apple can't both be monopolies at the same game. Would people quit calling apple a monopoly, they haven't monopolised anything really!