

Did FTC Probe Cause Apple to Change App Rules? - tylerrooney
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/09/ftc-apple/

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ataggart
I found it interesting that the pundits on NPR are claiming that this change
may be intended to blunt competition from Android by keeping developers on
iOS, as well as suggesting that this change may have been in response to FTC
concerns. I love how one can view both closing and opening the license as
hurting the competition. Doublethink is alive and well.

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rsingel
As the author of the article, I'd argue that the evidence that the FTC is
talking to developers about tools (not so much about blocking Flash) shows
that Apple was feeling FTC pressure. Jobs argued hard, and not
unpersusasively, that third-party tools weren't the best for the ecosystem, so
I think it's likely this reversal isn't what they want, but what they think
they need to do to avoid a PR embarrassment from an FTC action or formal
settlement.

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lzw
Apple decides to do C. But C is a lot of work. So they do A and say "make web
apps" and they start working on B. Meanwhile everyone screams, we want B, even
though apple never promised B. Apple delivers B and everyone demands C and the
FCC starts nosing around to see if it can drum up some "donations" to favored
senators and congressmen from apple. Finally, apple finishes C and everyone
says "see,we told you to do C!"

Yet when apple originally thought up C, these same people had never even
considered the possibility of A.

