Liberal Times

When exactly did Apple go from cool to just creepy? I think it was sometime at the beginning of April when Apple released their cool new iPad device. The world media had gone bonkers for the announcement a few months earlier, and now the device was out. Along with the device came new applications in the Apple App Store for the iPad. Along with those approved applications came many many rejected applications.

While some apps were rejected for proper reasons (failing to adhere to Apple’s user interface standards, memory leaks, broken apps, etc…) there were apps that were rejected for what appeared to be Apple’s dislike for the content in the apps. In one case Apple rejected the cartoon app of Mark Fiore who had just won a Pulitzer for his cartoons. It seems that Apple has decided that on a full fledged computing device they are the sole decision maker about what is or isn’t appropriate for display on your or my device. That’s not cool, that’s just creepy.

Next comes the case of the 4th Generation iPhone lost in a peninsula bar by one of Apple’s software engineers. Another patron finds the phone but is unable to locate it, and a few days/weeks later he sells the phone to Gizmodo. And here is where the real creepiness begins:

“California police have served a search warrant and seized computers from Jason Chen, the Gizmodo editor who unveiled the 4th-generation iPhone to the world. Gawker Media’s COO has replied claiming that the warrant was served illegally due to Mr. Chen’s status as a journalist. The plot thickens…” — Read More @Slashdot.

And a revelation later in the day shows that Apple sent their security team to the finder of the phone’s home to search it. Demanding they be allowed to do so:

People identifying themselves as representing Apple last week visited and sought permission to search the Silicon Valley address of the college-age man who came into possession of a next-generation iPhone prototype, according to a person involved with the find. — Read More @Wired
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Then news comes from Steve Wozniak, a founding member of Apple, Employee #1 and major share holder:

During last week’s iPhone leak saga, Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, reached out to us with a story: The morning of the iPad launch, an engineer showed Woz an iPad for two minutes. For this he was fired. — Read More @Gizmodo.

My love affair with Apple is rapidly coming to an end. Apple has become a PR disaster going from Coolest Brand On Earth to Creepiest Company Ever in just a months time.