“Apple also heard about the theme and ad campaign. I received a call from our contact at Velti this evening as well as an email asking me to please take the theme out of Cydia. On the phone, he explained Apple had contacted Toyota and requested they remove the theme and stop the advertising campaign. They (Velti) in turn contacted me relaying the message. The reason Velti listed for the removal request of the theme emailed through our dev portal was ‘Toyota’s making us take it down…’ Toyota had agreed to do so to ‘maintain their good relationship with Apple’, our Velti contact told me on the phone.”
“If we can’t make them go away legally, we’ll strike fear into their supporters instead.”
Don’t lie. Apple is al about being nice and awesome. They NEVER do anything wrong. Several people on the web with popular blogs have told me so, so it must be true.
Several people? Nah… That’s probably just John Gruber using multiple aliases.
Apple is the kind of company that will cut you off if you do something like this.
Remember what they did to ATI when they preannounced graphics cards in new PowerMacs?
If Toyota didn’t pull this, Apple would cut off their ability to even mention the names of their products in marketing their cars, or even offer an iPod/iPhone dock as an aftermarket option. Considering they are aiming for the younger market with their Scion line, that’s going to lead to a real big financial hit.
Apple’s sending a message to other large companies, which is “Advertise on Cydia at your own peril”
Not unlike Microsoft’s message to OEM PC vendors a decade ago: “Dual boot another OS on hardware you sell at your own peril…”
Typical Apple… control freaks.
I bet Google would never do something like this since they’re open and all, especially when it comes to Honeycomb source code or how they give early access android builds to every single device maker.
That several people are doing something wrong does not mean that it becomes somehow more okay to do so…
Yes that is correct although in this case you can’t expect anything else from Apple or anyone else in a similar situation.
I like the jailbreak community for what it brings to the table however Apple has some reasonable points to be fully against it.
One, app piracy and two, security reasons.
If they don’t clearly show that they’re against it, they will receive negative publicity every time there’s an issue with either of the two. They already faced such problems when there was a security issue with jailbroken iPhones a couple of months ago. This spurred numerous misinformed articles about how the iPhone was insecure.
A major corporation coming out like this and backing the jailbreak community is a clear foul.
I see several problems with this.
1/Any consumer-grade security system can and will be broken if there’s an incentive to do so. By artificially heavily restricting what people can do with their iDevices, Apple creates a big incentive for hackers to break their security. That it is in the name of jailbreak or not is in the end unimportant: everyone loses.
2/Apple were not forced to restrict things like home screen customizations or USB transfers in order to prevent piracy. They could have used the security system of every single other phone, where DRMd files are put in a special folder which is not accessible via USB. In that case, it would be perfectly okay for them to patch any breach of security at this level.
“1/Any consumer-grade security system can and will be broken if there’s an incentive to do so. By artificially heavily restricting what people can do with their iDevices, Apple creates a big incentive for hackers to break their security.”
That is correct.
Obviously the existence of jailbroken iphones is proof of security holes. It’s somewhat ironic the existence of flaws can be beneficial to owners, who use them to unshackle restricted devices. Regardless, there is no denying that security is a real issue.
“2/Apple were not forced to restrict things like home screen customizations or USB transfers in order to prevent piracy. They could have used the security system of every single other phone, where DRMd files are put in a special folder which is not accessible via USB.”
I hope everyone here knows why DRM is fundamentally broken, but if they insist on using it there is no need to reinvent the wheel: DRM files are encrypted so there isn’t any need to protect the media/binary files themselves. The only thing that needs protection is the decoder+keys.
Of course the reasons apple restricts devices has nothing whatsoever to do with piracy, they want to control the platform and block competitors from directly reaching their customers. Every single apple move is carefully calculated to eliminate competitors.
Well, if they still have to hide things around, I personally preferunencrypted files to be hidden instead of having to suffer the resource consumption of decryption anytime I open them. For file transfers, the user should, on demand, be able to create an encrypted version though.
It’s well possible, but to prove that we’d first have to prove that every single other hypothesis suggested by Apple’s defenders is wrong. That’s how the game works
Neolander,
“Well, if they still have to hide things around, I personally preferunencrypted files to be hidden instead of having to suffer the resource consumption of decryption anytime I open them. For file transfers, the user should, on demand, be able to create an encrypted version though.”
I prefer unencrypted all round, but if the files aren’t encrypted internally then offline attacks become rather trivial. Just access the SDD from another machine.
“It’s well possible, but to prove that we’d first have to prove that every single other hypothesis suggested by Apple’s defenders is wrong. That’s how the game works”
Surely though it makes sense to call a duck a duck and let disillusioned crackpots say what they will.
Neolander,
“That several people are doing something wrong does not mean that it becomes somehow more okay to do so…”
I’m shocked to see so many anti-google posts on this 100% apple article. Would google do this? Maybe, but until they do it’s hardly fair to criticize them over something that apple has actually done. It is ridiculous how biased some people are.
Without fail, any news critical of apple will always lead to accusations that it’s somehow someone else’s fault.
This is a war, everything is allowed
More seriously, I’m not exactly anti-Google. I regularly use some great technology coming from them like Translate, Maps, or GMail. I also prefer Google’s way of designing and managing a mobile operating system to Apple’s, as anyone caring about things like freedom of press should.
However, I don’t agree that Google have somehow suddenly made the messy mobile space open. We still have a broken update system, hidden hardware specs, locked proprietary BIOSes, a dominant mean of app distribution that’s under full control of Google, hidden source code in an OS which claims to be open-source, proprietary development… In short, this war is far from being over yet, Android is one step forward, but we still have a lot of way to go before something like Linux and its distros emerges in the mobile space.
(And yes, I know that Android is a fork of Linux. That’s part of the point: open soft/hw like Linux or the PC platform are needed for innovation to prosper)
Edited 2011-04-06 05:56 UTC
Don’t search too far. Meego is already out.
Edited 2011-04-07 17:31 UTC
This is probably the most valid point made in the comments. The very same people who are labelling Apple as evil and paranoid over this seem to have absolutely no issue with Google doing what they’re doing with Honeycomb, yet their underlying reasons are identical.
Toyota advertise iDevice connectivity in their hunks ‘o junk, promoting this custom UI that requires hacking your device. By Apple allowing that advertising to go ahead Apple are sending a message to all and sundry that hacking your iDevice is ok, and promoting non-standard products on the Cydia store is also ok, which by default means that diluting the Apple brand and their iDevice UI is ok.
This is exactly the reason Google is using for wanting to have more control over Android, only those blinded by their Google RDF wouldn’t be able to see that.
Not really. What Google (or MS or whatever) has done or would possibly do has no bearing on what Apple is actually doing.
You’ve got it backwards. Apple are denying people the right to control their own purchased goods, Google are only denying people access to the development cycles of Android, however customers are still free to hack Android as much as the want.
In short all Google want to do is stabilise what gets sold to customers, NOT what customers do with it post sale.
Edited 2011-04-07 01:33 UTC
Sorry, but what the hell does that (or even Google) have to do with this article?
You really are starting to paint yourself in a negative light, given some of your recent random ‘potshots’.
Apple are so screwed up by their paranoia, that they can’t even tolerate ads
They act like dirty politicians who are dreading competition.
Edited 2011-04-05 20:39 UTC
I wonder if someone at Toyota was using the opportunity to get back at Apple co founder Woz for those unsolicited comments he made about problems of uncontrollable acceleration in Toyotas.
http://www.egmcartech.com/2010/02/02/apple-co-founder-says-toyota-a…
Paranoia and corporate intrigue aside, with Android’s dominance of marketshare, I think its only matter of time before Apple loses its share of mp3 players as well. In which case, ipod integration, is sort of an undesirable feature for most people. Then Apple’s leverage disappears. Then Toyota can advertise on Cydia. Just a few years early, Toyota.
Throwing shit at Google will not make Apple shine. Apple remains one of the worst if not the worst company in the history of technology as far as openness is concerned. Do you even realize that Google DOES ALLOW alternative app stores such as Amazon’s?
Yes this openness is clearly paying off
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/04/developer-frustration-g…
Of course, they’re finally realising that isn’t doing them any good and they’re becoming less open by the day (but never publicly admitting it).
OMG! Consumer freedom and choice makes it harder for developers to coerce users into buying their apps from a “walled garden” store? I would have never guessed.
You might as well have quoted the last two paragraphs of that article to make your point:
“Whether they’re currently satisfied with Google’s OS or not, it looks like developers will continue writing code for it.”
Hmm… guess the strategy works anyway.
… And not to mention they allow you to install non-market apks on YOUR device. Something Apple thinks is too “complicated” for their dumb devices.
why is it, that every time apple company is mentioned in the osnews, comments tend to be less constructive and more flamatory, like it has some ability to bring worst out of people
Why is it that any time someone tries to do something constructive to the Apple platform that Apple must use its strength to bulldoze over them?
What goes around comes around. Toxic actions incite toxic comments…
maeda,
“why is it, that every time apple company is mentioned in the osnews, comments tend to be less constructive and more flamatory, like it has some ability to bring worst out of people”
It think it has to do with people having a pre-formed opinion of the company, and instead of accepting the facts as is, they try to manipulate them to fit within their world-view.
“A couple days ago I wrote an article discussing Toyota’s Scion theme they’d published in Cydia through Velti”
What the hell are Cydia and Scion theme, and how do they relate to Apple?
Ok, I could google it, but some kind of background info would be nice.
Without understanding the issue at all, here’s an oblig. knee jerk reaction: “Go Toyoya! Screw Apple!”. (Yes, I own a Toyota Corolla, but don’t have any Apple hw).