Comments on: Questioning iPhone SIM unlocking on the App Store: is the obvious unimportant?

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:23:41 +0000

I’m not sure if it was a “wasted question,” but it was not a very good question. We knew what the answer would be before you even asked it.

I think an example of a good question was “How likely will there be a VoIP?” Now that was a good question partly because the answer it elicited was a bit unexpected and it delivered new information to us.

By: Weekly Random Ramblings of a Random Geek | The Outboard Brain Of A Geek

Weekly Random Ramblings of a Random Geek | The Outboard Brain Of A Geek — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 02:52:11 +0000

[...] (coming soon), lack of ability to access data over EDGE (wifi is allowed), disallowed VOIP, limitations on certain applications, no Windows development environment (personally doesn’t affect me, but A LOT of users are [...]

By: Blain Hamon

Blain Hamon — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:43:57 +0000

Alas! Hindsight is 20/20. If you get to ask that question again, I so want to hear, “And if someone makes an iPhone unlocking program called ‘Blue Box,’ do they at least get points for irony?”

By: JT

JT — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 23:17:18 +0000

I think it was a question that needed to be asked and glad you did.

By: TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » iPhone SDKと諸々の制限：いいことずくめではないディテール

TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » iPhone SDKと諸々の制限：いいことずくめではないディテール — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:15:41 +0000

[...] これと同じ理屈でSIMロック外しも禁止である（←訳注：イベント最後の質疑応答で「App StoreではSIMロック外しのアプリも認めるのか？」と尋ね、ジョブズの答えが「NO」だった件について、質問したエンガジェット編集長が所感を書いてるエントリです）。　それなら、これ以外のもっとブラックでなく白（合法的）なアプリはどうなるんだろう？　John Gruberは、「アマゾンは（iTunesに対抗する）Amazon MP3ストアから楽曲が購入できるiPhoneアプリ（OS X Touchアプリ）も作れるのか？」と疑問を投げかけている。これはすごく良い質問で、今のところこれに対する答えはないのだ。 [...]

By: David Gonzales

David Gonzales — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:56:27 +0000

You think maybe Steve wasn’t expecting that question of yours?

By: Vance

Vance — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:45:30 +0000

I saw it more as a STATEMENT than a question, and a statement that had to be made. Good job.

Funny, when I saw that come across the “wire”, I thought, “that sounds like a question Ryan would ask”, but I had no idea. :0)

By: brian lam

brian lam — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:00:26 +0000

It was a good question, because it brought up unresolved conflicts between the consumers and apple. And it got the most emotional response of the day.

By: András Puiz

András Puiz — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 14:52:34 +0000

It was a wasted opportunity. If you wanted to ask something more general (as in, what exactly will be the criteria for approval by Apple), you should have asked that question.

By: Dave Winer

Dave Winer — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 14:32:34 +0000

Good for you — that’s the flipside of the question I tried to discuss with you on the phone a few weeks ago. Your question implies an assumption that software markets should be open. You’re questioning a brute force lock, they control distribution and certainly won’t let any software they don’t like to be distributed. The other kind of lock, one in the customers’ and press’ mind, is that once Apple enters a market, all products even remotely near it are dead unless they come from another giant company. This question isn’t ever looked at any deeper than that. Maybe the developer has something truly different from Apple. Isn’t it the journalist’s job to explain that? Do your questions have a point? Some of them do like the one you asked yesterday. It’s good for journalists to make a point now and then.

BTW, I asked a similar question at an Apple press conference in 1998, and have never been invited to another. No regrets. As you found out yesterday the press that covers Apple are a bunch of ninnies, they are owned by the company — if they ever criticize the company in a meaningful non-superficial way, no more invites.

We need developers to create the software they are motivated to create, and it makes no sense to give Apple editorial control over the developers, any more than it makes sense to give them editorial control of Engadget.

By: Alper

Alper — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:36:38 +0000

Great question! Here in the Netherlands we’re still waiting for an iPhone launch. The only option to get an iPhone is to import one and break it.
If Apple is losing any money, it’s their own fault.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:35:54 +0000

I have to agree with Diego. Of all the things you could ask Steve Jobs when you had one shot - you chose the one with the most obvious answer.

Its your choice, I just think with such limited QnA time with Jobs i’d expect people to really make the most of it for the benefit of readers of the respective blogs and newspapers. Jobs’ response to your question was a “no shit” moment for me and thus somewhat a wasted question, regardless of the rationale.

But as I said, its entirely your choice.

By: iPhone SDK: Some Of The Details Aren’t Great.

iPhone SDK: Some Of The Details Aren’t Great. — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 11:50:50 +0000

[...] applications to threaten any of their revenue streams from the iPhone. Likewise, SIM unlocking is forbidden. But what about other, less black and white applications? John Gruber asks if Amazon would be able [...]

By: Dom Barnes

Dom Barnes — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 11:38:29 +0000

Glad you had the balls to ask this question. As you see, many people think it was wasted. But more the fool we would be to start making assumptions. Its like the VOIP question. Most people would assume it wouldn’t be allowed as it would cut into the revenue stream of AT&T and the other providers. But hey, it was asked, and we got an interesting answer we didn’t expect.
Keep pushing that envelope Ryan!

By: Diego

Diego — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 09:58:40 +0000

Not a good question. Not good at all. One shot and you blew it. Shame.

By: Chuck Shotton

Chuck Shotton — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 08:02:31 +0000

In keeping with the sandboxing theme, I’d be interested to know if interprocess communication is allowed between apps developed with the SDK, If apps can’t share data from the file system, can they use pipes, RPCs, or some flavor of web services to do it? (Because if they can, the concern that data only has to be stored in a single app’s package tree is somewhat irrelevant.)

And if not, then a huge piece of functionality is going to be missing for suites of apps that would need to cooperate on the client side.

By: LKM

LKM — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 07:47:25 +0000

The question had some merit. At least it’s on record now. Still, I would have preferred a question where the answer wasn’t obvious. Why not ask whether they will allow something package management software (which could be seen as competition to the official store). Or will they allow something like AFPd, which runs in the background, which seems to be forbidden by the human interface guidelines?

By: pat phelan

pat phelan — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 07:37:18 +0000

Perfectly resspectable question Ryan.
In fact it Sim unlock should be available in Apple stores @ around $200.
Unlock it professionally and your good to go.
Apple gets it carrier kickback upfront, users get a working never to be bricked phone and 1-1.5 million phones dont go missing.
Better income that the incredibly short sighted iFund.

By: Brandon Keepers

Brandon Keepers — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 07:03:34 +0000

Excellent question and I’m glad it’s now on the record.

If apple gains the market share they hope to, they won’t be able to maintain the exclusivity of the iTunes distribution channel unless they allow competition, otherwise they’ll be asking Microsoft for advice on dealing with antitrust suits.

By: Futurdreamz

Futurdreamz — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 05:40:25 +0000

Apple could release an unlocking App on thee App store, but it’ll need to be pricy to compensate for lost revenues.