[LINK] Steve Jobs: Great unwashed don't need PCs

[Brendan Scott]

On 06/03/2010 01:51 PM, Richard Chirgwin wrote:
> Brendan Scott wrote:
>> On 06/03/2010 01:19 PM, Richard Chirgwin wrote:
>>>
>>> Without wanting to sound like Senator Steve, what makes Apple a more fit 
>>> and accountable gatekeeper than a government?
>>>     
>>
>> This is a good question. 
>> The thing is Apple's accountability comes from a different source (ie profit motive) and different constituency.  Not that I want to support Apple as a gatekeeper in any way, but I think the risks to access are different for corporate vs State censorship.  Corporates for example, shouldn't care if there's a back channel to what they're censoring.
>>   
> ...unless the censorship is put in place to create an artificial 
> scarcity and enforce a price; in which case the "back channel" is a 
> great threat to the corporation, and will be pursued. The News Limited 
> is a good example: if the iPad were to become the "world's default 
> reader", and if some other publisher were to show decent success on the 
> device, would you suppose that Apple could avoid the temptation to flog 
> exclusivity to the highest bidder?

Yes, but as regards a category of content, either they will carry it and charge for it, or they'll choose not to carry it and won't be concerned that others are charging for it.  Or at least that's what I would have thought...