Ja, klopt
Ik heb een keer een snel mailtje naar de Europese Commissie gestuurd:
Hello,
I was wondering when the EU was going to handle the abuse of power by Apple.
1. The Operating System (eg. OS X) and hardware (eg. iMac) are tied, one can't buy the software without the hardware and vice-versa.
2. The Operating System (OS X) comes tied with a Media Player (iTunes) and a Web Browser (Safari).
3. If one wants to use Music Players from Apple (eg. iPod), one can only use them if you install Apple software (iTunes).
Is there a reason why Apple can continue in this abuse of power, which I don't understand?
If not, then I would like to urge an enquiry in these allegations.
Yours sincerily,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
En na een tijdje kreeg ik dit (uitgebreide) antwoord:
Dear Mr anandus,
We thank you for your question and comment. Feedback from interested citizens is a very valuable source of information for us which we take very seriously.
Please note that Article 82 of the EC Treaty concerns "abuse […] of a dominant position". This implies that a specific type of conduct may be forbidden under Art. 82 for a dominant company but not for a non-dominant company. There is a clear consensus that Microsoft is dominant on the market for PC operating systems. (Even Microsoft itself does not deny this.) One of several small competitors of Microsoft on the market for PC operating systems is Apple which is not dominant on this market.
Both the Commission's 2004 finding (upheld by the European Court of First Instance in 2007) that the tying of Windows Media Player to Windows was in breach of Article 82 and the preliminary finding (in a statement of objections in 2009) that the tying of Internet Explorer to Windows is in breach of Article 82 depend on the fact that Microsoft is dominant on the market of the tying product, i.e. the market for PC operating systems.
It follows from this that even if Apple indeed ties the Safari web browser to its PC operating system this would be unproblematic under Article 82.
The same argument, of course, applies to any other software product that Apple may tie to its PC operating system.
When it comes to devices other than PCs, Apple's conduct with regard to the openness of its platform and possibly tied software products could potentially be caught by Article 82. However, for this it would have to be shown that Apple has a dominant position in the relevant market covering those devices.
Prima facie this is not the case because there are several competing manufacturers of MP3 players and of smart phones. Of course, this situation may change over time.
A similar analysis applies to the market for PC hardware or complete PC systems. Apple is indeed active on this market (selling Mac computers) but in view of many other large PC makers (such as Dell, Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard etc.) Apple clearly is not dominant on this market. Therefore no problem under Article 82 can arise out of its bundling its hardware with its software. (Incidentally, there appears to be no company that is dominant on the market for PCs, therefore PC manufacturers are free to decide whether they want to ship their systems with a Windows operating system, or Linux, or even no operating system at all.)
Finally, it must be emphasised that it is not the Commission's intention, under any circumstances, to cause end consumers to receive PCs with pre-installed operating systems but without a web browser. Any potential remedy that the Commission may have to impose in case its preliminary findings are confirmed will have to reflect this.
We hope that this information will be of use.
Dus
Whieee schreef op vrijdag 09 oktober 2009 @ 17:49:
Apple verkoopt geen computers en OS'en, maar een platform. Een Apple computer en Mac OSX vormen samen het 'Mac' platform. Wanneer Apple ervoor zou kiezen om OSX vrij te geven voor whitebox systemen zou een eventuele mindere gebruikerservaring door gebruik van inferieure hardware of inferieur industrieel ontwerp (de handigheidjes maken de Mac) kunnen zorgen voor een negatief imago.
Apple houdt met haar huidige beleid controle over het OS alsmede de hardware waarop het gedraaid wordt.
Het grappige is dat Apple expres de prijs hoog moet houden om ervoor te zorgen dat hun marktaandeel relatief klein blijft (zeker ten opzichte van Windows), omdat anders Kroes om de hoek blijft kijken.
Wat dat betreft betaal je deels voor de 'exclusiviteit' om bij die minderheid van Apple-gebruikers te mogen dan voor het daadwerkelijke product.
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Voor 86% gewijzigd door
anandus op 18-10-2009 13:49
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Los daarvan kan ik niet zeggen dat Windows een goeie reputatie heeft. Veel mensen in mijn omgeving kennen de vele bluescreens van ME nog, en dat zijn verder leken. De reputatie van Windows is daardoor echt behoorlijk beschadigd. :strip_icc():strip_exif()/u/33301/jetpack-cargonaut-60x60.jpg?f=community)
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