Adobe quits Apple pursuit

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try to preserve a relationship, you reach a point where it becomes clear the two of you have simply grown too far apart and it's time to cut your losses. After a long and unsuccessful campaign to persuade Apple to embrace the Flash multimedia platform on the iPhone, Adobe has finally found itself at that point, and it's goodbye Apple for Adobe now.

According to Mike Chambers, the principal product manager for developer relations for Flash, the final straw was Apple's recent ban on apps built with unapproved tools and converted into an iPhone-compatible format.

IDC analyst Al Hilwa offered a big-picture view of Apple's developer restrictions: "From a developer perspective, the new legal language is bad news. The application development field is very diverse and many platforms are inherently layered with API's often stacked on top of one another as application platforms evolve. Apple's legal language seems to preclude even Apple evolving its own platform down the road when new languages or interfaces become more popular as computer science evolves. ... While this restriction can be seen in the prism of the Apple and Adobe relationship around Flash, this is not just about Adobe, but potentially a problem for every developer runtime or language that wants to hold on to developers and maintain its longevity. It is about programmers maintaining their livelihood. Probably even more importantly, it is about the flexibility to evolve computer science and software development."

Amen.

DRM ain't cool

Along with overlooking huge credit card debt and indulging in impulsive shopping, ticking off Steve Jobs is generally included on the Big List of Things Not to Do. That holds true for anyone from programmers to parking attendants, but especially for companies in the business of distributing digital entertainment, seeing as Apple Inc owns iTunes and iTunes owns the market. But suddenly these days, in a display of either intestinal fortitude or foolhardy bravado, people are starting to say no to Steve Jobs.

First it was UMG that pried loose from iTune stable. Today, it's NBC Universal bolting the barn, apparently feeling frisky about the prospects for Hulu, the video service it has in the works with News Corp.

Given that iPhone was set free recently from AT&T stranglehold by a 17 year old hacker, wonder why the breed is missing out on an opportunity to break into Apple’s DRM blocks that prevent iTune downloads in and out of devices other than iPods.

Hello hackers, where the hell are you? Hurry up, you’ve got a good thing going !

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A costly bargain !

Cheapskates of the world, wait ! Not yet time to buy that iPhone.

Apple, always secretive and tight-lipped about its supply-chain and manufacturing arrangements, almost never says anything in public about its suppliers, not even to disclose names. So it's left to teardown firms such as Austin-based Portelligent, to sleuth out not only who supplies all the parts but what it costs to make a device.

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Early strippers that took the iPhone apart found out it just costs $265.83 to make the high-end model priced at $599 – a juicy margin of more than 55% for Apple [apparently net of tax and SGA adjustments]. Let Apple enjoy while it lasts. Soon some rundown Chinese firm will figure out how to make it at 1/10th cost and start sucking those margins out.

Talking of Chinese handsets, the bargain doesn’t just stop at cheap rates. You also get more `functionalities’ thrown in than you had asked for. Shopping around for Chinese bargains can get serious, like this Motorola customer who had to pay with his dear life - courtesy, a pyrotechnic fatality offered by a cheap battery. Lucky if the scar's just nipple deep.

Sad, really sad…

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