Apple used to be the User’s White Knight. Always putting the user first offering unprecedented ease of use and beauty. This seems to have come to a grinding halt in the recent move to reject the launch of Google Voice in the AppStore. It woudl not be too much of a wild guess to assume that At&t has a part in this decision. In an open competitive market this should not really be possible. So how did they think? Why was Skype for iPhone approved?

An other question I find worth mulling over is; what is it At&t and Apple are so afraid of? Do they feel they have a weak position in the mobile ecosystem? Do they not believe in the strengths of what they deliver jointly and independently? If it was At&t pushing this decision, what is it Apple is afraid of? They cannot possibly be depending on At&t to sell and distribute the iPhone. With the current success I am sure any of the other US carriers would sign a deal with Apple and let Google Voice up on the AppStore as well. After all Google Voice is not the only player creating a disruptive change in telecommunications. Players like Rebtel and Skydeck are well at it togethere with scores more.

To me carriers risk ending up in the same reactice panic struck place where the record labels are today. They build walls (and dig their own graves) by protecting their old revenue streams by legal fights instead of deliver stuff in a way that consumers actually want it.

As if the Google Voice decision is not enough. Apple also wants to more or less criminalise “jailbreaking” your iPhone so you can install other apps than the ones on the AppStore. Threat to the national security is the reason in a letter to the Copyright Office. Supposedly base stations can be knocked out by cyber terrorists. Why not do as we have done with the internet so far? Protect what needs protecting instead of shutting down the internet?

It will be interesting to follow the story as it unwinds. Next case will be the very much anticipated Spotify client for the iPhone. It is ready to go, just waiting for that rubber stamp from Apple.

Well, if you are used to (unfortunately) the severe lack of transparency in the mobile business these two headlines both make sense. The iPhone is going to be sold at 1 EUR conditional to you sign a 2 year contract for a package that runs at 89 EUR per month including high volume of calling minutes, SMS and unlimited data. A pretty standard pricepoint for such package. So all we know about Germany is that we do not know what the iPhone itself will cost. Let alone if we will be able to buy it free of any contract.

In Sweden the designated carrier Telia can’t say what it will cost and how you can buy it. Apple in Sweden say nothing at all about this.

In the US the net seems to be drawn tighter and activation of an AT&T package is required at the point of sale of the iPhone. What does zibri think of this?

If I may speak for the consumers of the world I say “Let the betting and guessing stop. We want the facts now!”