Think different, don´t think iPod

Let me start with a little story, and a basic question:
Say you purchased gas for your car, and realized that this specific oil company sells a specific gas that works only with one specific car. Would you be pissed off?

Sure you would. Well, that´s exactly the pattern Apple iPod´s business model is implementing. When you download music on Apple Music Store onto your iTunes software, the only electronic music player that enables you to listen to the music you´ve purchased is your iPod. Does it sound familiar?

iPod´s lack of interoperability confirms the underlying strategic move Apple´s CEO Steve Jobs has made. Apple is exiting step-by-step the software industry in which Microsoft Windows KO-ed Mac OS a long time ago - to do what it does best (design and marketing), & become a consumer hardware devices pure-player, reproducing Microsoft´s monopolistic economics.

The French government, for once, understood what was going on in the entertainment industry. A motion potentially forcing Apple to either open its rather unfair FairPlay technology or exit the historical French market (France is an all-times first-mover into Apple´s new releases and hosts the biggest Apple conference outside the US - named Apple Expo) was recently accepted by both the Parliament and the Senate. Unfortunately, French lawmakers ruled out the possibility to constrain Apple´s upcoming dominant competitive position. There is however still room for fining Apple, and the story made such a media hype that other governments might follow France´s clever move. Let´s hope the world realizes where culture is heading to before it´s too late.

To recapitulate, all what consumers want is to be able to purchase the music they like from the downloading website they want, and play it on the device they had previously bought.