The Successful Target

It’s an old story: build a better mousetrap and become successful, then people come out of the woodwork denouncing you and, in many cases, trying to get into your pockets.

Such is the story with Apple. Now that the iPod is a runaway success and holds much of the market for MP3 players, pundits have been having a field day over its DRM scheme. There are lawsuits vying for some of the sweet billions in Apple’s bank account, claiming that iPod is an illegal monopoly. All of this stems from the completely wrong assumption that iPod will only play music purchased from Apple’s iTunes Music Store.

Even the New York Times is jumping on this Bash Apple Bandwagon:

The term “crippleware” comes from the plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit, Melanie Tucker v. Apple Computer Inc., that is making its way through Federal District Court in Northern California. The suit contends that Apple unfairly restricts consumer choice because it does not load onto the iPod the software needed to play music that uses Microsoft’s copy-protection standard, in addition to Apple’s own.

Ms. Tucker’s core argument is that the absence of another company’s software on the iPod constitutes “crippleware.” I disagree. It is Apple’s own copy-protection software itself that cripples the device.

Here is how FairPlay works: When you buy songs at the iTunes Music Store, you can play them on one — and only one — line of portable player, the iPod. And when you buy an iPod, you can play copy-protected songs bought from one — and only one — online music store, the iTunes Music Store.

The lawsuits, which seem like they must be quietly pushed by competitors, claim that the iPod should be able to play downloaded, protected music from other services. Conversely, there are also lawsuits claiming that other music players should have access to iTunes as well.

I think this is all bull. There are a multitude of music players out there. If you want to play music from a certain store, buy a music player that supports that format. No one is forced to buy an iPod, and in fact the people who buy iPods are paying a premium price! There is plenty of choice in the music player business; these arguments are spurious.

On top of all this, the pundits generally ignore the fact that iPods can play many different audio formats including the ubiquitous MP3. Here’s a novel idea for you: buy a freakin’ CD and rip it. No DRM hassles, no problems playing it on many different players, no worrying what happens when your hard drive crashes because you own the CD as backup.

Or, if you must buy from the iTunes Music Store, the DRM is easily circumvented — by Apple’s own design. Simply burn a CD of your iTunes music, then re-import it as an unprotected MP3. What could be easier?

There are so many detractors of Apple’s DRM system; and on a generic, I-hate-DRM level, I agree. But in the realm of DRM, Apple’s implementation seems very fair and easy to deal with. It is simple, and it works with all Apple products. I mean, even Microsoft can’t get its own DRM system to work with all Microsoft products — Zune, anyone?

Now comes iPhone, which — even though it is six months away from release — is being targeted for complaints by people who’ve never seen one. The idea that the iPhone may be locked down to Apple software only is driving pundits and the blogosphere to distraction. Why aren’t these people complaining about other phones in the same vein? Where is the wide outrage at cellular companies locking down phones so that you can’t use your own ringtones but must pay a whopping $4 to download one from the company? How many third party apps make your Treo crash repeatedly until you recognize that there are at least a few benefits of a closed system?

I sincerely doubt that the iPhone will remain a completely closed system. Apple recognizes the need for a rich selection of Widgets, and will most certainly be providing the capability to “roll your own.” Then again, it could be that Cingular is the instigator of this — they will certainly want to charge us extravagant sums of money to download new software from them.

On top of all this is the ridiculous complaining about the phone’s possible features. People are going crazy with reasons that they’ll never buy one — although we all know that they will be first in line. Silly complaints such as “why doesn’t it have a 5 megapixel camera?” This is one of the dumber complaints I’ve seen. If you’re taking 5 megapixel pictures, you want a real camera, not a tiny “extra” on a phone. How many real photographers would ever consider using a phone to take pictures? Camera phones are meant for fun, not for professional level photography. Does anyone — anyone — buy a cell phone based on what kind of camera is in it?

One of the most galling things about all the complaints is that they are holding Apple to standards they’d never expect another company to meet. Where are the complaints that the Blackjack phone, priced at $450, has only a 1.5 megapixel camera, less resolution than the iPhone?

What about the Treo 750, which is $650, more expensive than the iPhone. It only has a paltry 1.3 megapixel camera.

One of the most galling complaints I’ve been seeing is the price. $500 to $600 for a smart phone is at the high end, but by no means is it the highest price out there. And these complaints are coming from people who’ve spent $350 for an iPod that only plays music and tiny videos. I’ll bet that the people complaining about the price are already formulating financial plans in their head so that they can buy one the day they arrive.

There are real, curious omissions from the iPhone, such as a way to add more storage (such as an SD card). Still, we’ve only seen hand-built prototypes at this point, although Apple has published the details of it as if it is a final product. The thing is, they haven’t published all the details, and the information vacuum is being filled by ill-informed speculation.

The reason this phone will be a success is the same reason that so many people are lambasting it: consumers expect innovation from Apple. They just don’t always recognize it when they see it. They didn’t recognize it when the iPod debuted, and we heard the same kinds of complaints.

We’ve got six months before the device debuts. Give it a rest, guys.