
Edible Apple has a good piece about those apparently ditching their iPhones because of the Google Voice app issue.
The posts from Michael Arrington and Steven Frank smack (in my opinion) of a “grass is greener” mentality. Even more-so, they smack of a case where it’s sometimes human nature to not miss an opportunity to feel morally superior to something.
For Arrington’s piece there’s also a great refutation here. I believe it’s safe for anyone to predict he’ll be back with the iPhone eventually. And his reason for returning will be as easily found as his reason for leaving, which of course will make another sensationalist blog post. Wanna bet?
Mr. Frank’s piece is more thoughtful and, unlike Arrington, one can’t help think he believes in what he’s doing. Unfortunately, I don’t think that makes it any less misguided. What I especially can’t understand is why Frank states that by moving to Palm’s Pre his conscience will be clear. How?
Frank is moving to support a company hacking its way into Apple’s iTunes by deliberately misusing the USB Vendor ID. This is a cheap tactic, and while I don’t expect Pre owners to leave Palm in droves as a result, I fail to see how jumping on board after leaving Apple for ethical reasons makes any sense at all. Indeed, as a developer I would expect Frank to find Palm’s unauthorized use of someone else’s software particularly vile.
Further, I believe that taking actions committed by a company personally is way too much anthropomorphizing. When a company kicks butt, I don’t walk around like I had a hand in it, or am somehow responsible. Well, guess what? The same also goes for any mistakes they might make. I’m no more “embarrassed” at alleged transgressions than I am “proud” of any successes.
To me, the bottom line is we’ll never find that one, shining company in all of this. Not just because such a company does not exist, but also because we could never all agree on what constitutes a “shining company” in the first place. When I look at Apple’s App Store, I see an overwhelming amount of “good” that, for now at least, easily beats any “bad”.