“Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime.”
Potter Stewart
We try to keep this blog as objective as possible, but recent moves by Apple has unfortunately brought out very subjective opinions from people here – including myself. The latest issue revolves around Apple removing the iChatr App from the iPhone. If you’re unfamiliar with iChatr it is basically a video chat app that uses the front facing camera for random video chats – think mobile Chatroulette. According to the developers, the app was pulled “due to reports of a number of users exposing themselves during the random video chat sessions.” You can read more here.
Now that the explanation is out of the way, let me start with the rant. When is Steve Jobs going to stop forcing random censorship on iPhone owners and trying to tell us what we can and can’t install/have/view on the iPhone???? What’s next, removing other chat apps for people swearing at each other? This goes beyond a software/app issue as it’s the way people are using it that is the cause for censorship via removal. iChatr functions exactly like Face Time though the connections on iChatr are random and anybody using the app knows that. If people start exposing themselves on Face Time is Apple suddenly going to pull their own Face Time chat app from the iPhone platform? This not only reeks of self indulgent censorship on Apple’s part but also exposes Apple’s increasingly anti-competitive nature.
Recent video chat apps such as iChatr and Fring have suddenly been coming under fire after being initially approved by Apple and posted to the App Store. What my gut thinks is that these apps were approved but then someone at Apple realized that these were in fact competitors to Face Time and iChatr was promptly removed, with Fring presumably close behind. I tried to explain how mobile video chat would take off in this previous post, but only through software that was multi-platform and allowed users to talk to each other on different handsets – like Fring but not like Face Time.
This latest move by Apple is another serious misstep and I’m really at a point of ridding myself of Apple and the iPhone once and for all. I want a device that I can put what I want on it and not have somebody else telling me what is appropriate or not on the device I purchased. Apple’s views and policies are increasingly going against the very basic principles this country was founded on.
At least the Gizmodo community thinks this is ridiculous too. If you feel differently, feel free to comment below or hit me up on Twitter @kobrakai.
Walt Mossberg’s iPhone 4 Review is up (embedded below) and it confirms what many people thought – iPhone 4 seems to be a great device but video chat is destined to fail given Apple’s recent moves in the marketplace. You can get a full rundown of iPhone OS 4 features here.
For starters, in order to use Video Chat on iPhone 4 you need to have someone else with the exact same device. Not 3GS, not 3G. Only iPhone 4 people can video chat with other iPhone 4 people.
You need Wi-Fi to run “Facetime”. This will rule out people video chatting on the go. In a fixed location most people would have a laptop with a webcam so why use a mobile device in this instance? You would need to hold it the entire time and the iPhone isn’t the easiest device to prop up for stationary chat.
No cross platform compatibility. In the review, Mossberg claims Apple is “going to open video chat software to other companies”. Bull. Shit.
Apple’s recent moves in the marketplace against Adobe and other companies shows that it definitely is not keen to play nice in the sandbox with others. In fact, I would not be surprised if Apple blocks other video chat software from running on iPhone 4 as to not compete with “Facetime”. The only way video chat will become big on mobile like it has on the PC is if there’s cross platform compatibility or unifying software (like Skype) that works across all systems and in this case handsets and mobile OS’es. This is frustrating for the consumer and it’s starting to feel like the 90′s again where Apple decisions nearly sunk the company. Replace Microsoft with Google and it’s the same scenario all over again.
On a final note, I’m starting to get the sense that Apple’s “Go at it alone” strategy is ultimately going to sink it since video chat won’t be exclusive to mobile devices and will need to be compatible across a connected TV in the living room, the PC and mobile. Skype is already making great strides here from software being available on all formats. There’s no denying Apple has clout in the mobile sector but do they really have the political capital elsewhere? I for one definitely think they do not. Would love to hear your comments or hit me up on twitter @kobrakai.
Disclaimer: I have an iPhone and I love it. It’s the best mobile device I’ve ever used. But, like others, I’m getting tired of the restrictions on my device and the device’s inability to play nice with others.
We Are Organized Chaos (WAOC) is Zugara’s (www.zugara.com) interactive marketing and advertising blog where we’ll be featuring some great projects and discussing upcoming trends in the digital world. Work — good and bad — will be critiqued. Hope you’ll enjoy reading our insights and thoughts on interactive.
