When a customer buys a product they own the product. When they lease it they must give it back and care for it as if they are borrowing it.

I learned this logic somewhere between diapers and kindergarten. Steve Jobs, whether forced by AT&T or due to simply a bad idea, has become confused on this point.

The iPhone is owned by a million people and counting. It is theirs to break if they wish, but Apple does not reserve the right to break it for them. The firmware release that riled so many and spawned lawsuits  was an attack on those who chose to modify their device. If the product were upgraded and unintentionally harmed their iPhone that would have been one thing, but this decision was deliberate and planned.

Do No Harm

Steve, one should not expect to retain customers and encourage future purchases when your intent was to brick these devices. A notice on the screen that reported the device had been modified and continuing would reset the device would have been appropriate, but simply doing so was harmful.

Set – Match

The Jailbreak announcement today illustrates that customers will not sit idly by and will trump any effort a company makes to curtail their efforts to make a product better – or at least personally their. Have the decades of virus taught companies nothing? Your customer holds your license to operate within their hands, beware as the wolves are indeed nipping at your heals Steve.

~ an Apple fan – for now.