That’s a rule: I’d actually prefer it if it said that on the box, but it doesn’t. You get to buy it and then find out that it doesn’t work, or you get to research all the things you might want to do online first.

Doing some research online before buying any product, especially tech products, is the least you can do today. A couple of months ago I bought a LaCie portable DVD burner, and on the box it did not say it was Mac compatible — it appeared to be “made for PC”. But a bit of deduction (the requirements mentioned a “USB-equipped computer”) and research, and I bought it with confidence. There was some risk, but it was worth the attempt.

Back on the iPhone. There may be a lock-in, but I think it’s all in the eye of the beholder. A developer or any geek who feels compelled to hack and customise any device he owns (often for the sake of it) will only see limitations and hindrances and lock-ins. The man of the street who is a little design-aware and loves things that work, will find a great product in the iPhone or iPod and won’t mind what other programmers/developers/assorted geeks consider flaws, limitations and whatnot.

For the record, I am a long-time Apple user but have always used my head and criticism before buying the next Apple product. My friends and clients know I’m not a Mac zealot and that I utterly dislike to be labelled as one. Having said that, I’m going to buy an iPhone as soon as it’s available in my country. Why? Because it meets my needs. I’m having a good preview of what I’m going to buy, since my wife has been given an iPod Touch for Christmas. The applications currently available are more than enough for what I need in such a device. I’m well aware that the possibility of installing third-party applications would exponentially increase the already high potential of the iPhone platform. I think that Apple is well aware of this fact, too. And I think that there must be reasons behind Apple’s choice not to open the iPhone to developers as soon as it was shipping. I tend to believe that the iPhone was still not ready for that when it launched, and during these past months Apple engineers have been working behind the scenes to make the iPhone inherently more robust.

Many users, I daresay the majority out there, do not really mind lock-ins when the products and/or services they buy “just work”. That’s the thing with Apple: the iPod is the best selling “MP3 player” because its model and interface have worked and work. The iTunes Store is hugely successful because the system is well-thought and designed. Despite lock-ins, limitations, etcetera. The iPhone is going to be as successful (it already is) for the very same reasons.

I have great esteem for Mr Schneier (I’m responsible for the Italian translation of his Cryptogram newsletter), but I admit I was as puzzled as Ben Darlow when I read that sentence about “a list of complicated rules”. I immediately thought that Schneier may simply be unfamiliar with the product. I think it’s not that difficult to understand what can and cannot be done with an iPhone. Since its introduction, the volume of electronic ink spread throughout the Internet is encyclopedic.

Cheers,
Rick

You clearly don’t belong to this conversation, as you would NEVER try to use something that is not produced by your demi-god company.

Being “design-starved” would be “social death” for sure! Total control is so good for the economy! Look at all those millionaire Mac developers! Oh, wait…

You will still lose some quality by burning and re-ripping, but it’s not the audio catastrophe it is with MP3.

And that’s the end-state, least-probable situation. If you don’t like DRM’d AACs, don’t buy them, and you can still use iTunes, the iPod, and even (with some care to only get iTunes Plus tracks), the iTunes music store.

The thing you poor design-starved people who haven’t switched yet never get is, we’re not fanboys. Every time you say that, you’re just admitting that you have no clue what’s going on. Us Mac users actually have stuff that works, and doesn’t suck, that’s why we’re happy. I know, you will never experience joy as long as you continue using a PC, so you can’t understand that concept, but it’s true.

Yeah, and your already crappy mp3 will lose even more info as you re-rip it, re-applying the compression algorithm.

Mark, I can see Apple as being slightly less evil than others, but hardly worth the fanboyism.

There is no lock-in, there is only people who didn’t RTFM.

If you’re in prison you’re technically not “locked in” because you could have chosen not to commit a crime in the first place. Right?

That’s a pretty asinine comparison.

- Chris

Ian