Psystar sues Apple for Snow Leopard; "exploding" iPhones

[AppleInsider]

Clone Mac maker Psystar filed a new lawsuit this week to sell systems with Snow Leopard; Apple reveals the real cause of "exploding" iPhones; and AT&T will require all smartphone customers to have data plans.

Psystar wants to sell Snow Leopard

Florida-based Psystar is hoping to bring Apple's latest operating system to its line of knock-off Macs. In a complaint filed in a Florida court Thursday, Psystar seeks an injunction and damages due to Apple's "anticompetitive attempts to tie Mac OS X Snow Leopard to its Macintosh line of computers."

The filing claims that Psystar is entitled to be able to buy copies of Snow Leopard on the market and install them onto its own computers that it re-sells. The suit alleges that the company is already capable of installing the new operating system on its hardware.

"The Psystar computers that run Mac OS X Snow Leopard are able to do so by running software, written by Psystar, that interfaces with the open-source portion of Mac OS X Snow Leopard," the filing reads. "The manner in which Psystar computers run Mac OS X Snow Leopard is entirely different from the manner in which Psystar computers run Mac OS X Leopard."

The company asks for a court to grant an injunction requiring Apple to cease tying Snow Leopard only to official Mac computers. It also asserts that the company is entitled to a court injunction preventing Apple from blocking Psystar from selling computers with Snow Leopard.

Recently, the Florida company deposed Apple executive Phil Schiller, only to suggest he was unprepared during attorney questioning. Psystar's deposition of numerous Apple executives was part of a lawsuit filed by the official Mac maker. That trial is set to begin in California in January of 2010.

Apple: iPhones cracked from outside pressure

Denying reports from Europe that faulty batteries caused "explosive" iPhones, Apple Friday said that cracked devices turned in by French customers had damage done from an outside force.

Bloomberg reports that an Apple spokesperson said that pressure was applied to the phones to make them crack in all cases investigated. Battery overheating reportedly did not cause any of the issues.

Earlier this month, Apple began an investigation into the allegations of explosive iPhones. That review began after the European Union's consumer safety division took notice of various complaints and media reports.

The incidents gained notoriety after a British family sought a refund for an iPod touch that they claimed exploded after it was dropped. Apple reportedly responded by asking the company to keep the terms of any agreement confidential.

Required data plan to extend to all AT&T smartphones

Starting Sept. 6, all customers who buy a smartphone from AT&T will be required to have an accompanying data plan -- a demand that U.S. Apple iPhone users have always had.

While the requirement will stand for new customers, those who already own a smartphone without a data plan will not be required to make the upgrade. However, the new rule will apply to those who wish to extend or make changes to their contract.

"Smartphone users tend to consume a higher amount of data services, like advanced e-mail, mobile Web, applications and more," an AT&T press release stated. "Being able to take full advantage of these features without having to worry about a fluctuating or unusually high bill generally leads to greater customer satisfaction, so effective Sept. 6, smartphone customers will need to subscribe to a data plan, as the vast majority of customers already do."

All U.S. iPhone subscribers must have a $30 data plan. The one-sized-fits-all subscription is a mandatory part of customers' two-year contract opened with AT&T when an iPhone is purchased.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[libertyforall]

It's ALL data anyhow, so just make smart phones DATA ONLY PLANS. Voice is JUST DATA.

This would open the floodgates to SIP VoIP and more consumer choices. Of course AT&T the dinosaur that it is, would fight this tooth and nail since they don't know how to adapt to the new reality...

[ChargedNeuron]

I wonder if September 6th is when AT&T will be online with MMS...

[Nathan33663]

I was hoping they would announce MMS at the Sept 9th event, but I guess the 6th makes just as much sense. Either way I hope it's soon.

[zenwaves]

Fake Steve needs to send in 'Moishe' to take out these Psystar nuisances!

[Logisticaldron]

Originally Posted by libertyforall

It's ALL data anyhow, so just make smart phones DATA ONLY PLANS. Voice is JUST DATA.

This would open the floodgates to SIP VoIP and more consumer choices. Of course AT&T the dinosaur that it is, would fight this tooth and nail since they don't know how to adapt to the new reality...

It’s all packets of data, but it’s more complex than that. Voice requires a different infrastructure than just simple internet data, different protocols and QoS.

[Owl]

Psystar's claim is so stupid I don't even want to read it.

[floccus]

Dealt with in reverse order...

I like how ATT is trying to make it seem like this is a benefit to the consumer. "Hey, instead of only charging you for the data you actually use, which may be 0 but you never know.. we're going to charge you a steep flat fee just in case.. for your benefit of course". This is the type of crap that the FCC should be looking into. If I don't want to use my smartphone over the carriers data network and stick with WiFi when its available, that should be my choice.

The initial request for the family in Britain to keep the agreement confidential was most likely so that Apple could have time to figure out if there was a potential problem and initiate the appropriate response without having their brand unnecessarily harmed in the mean time. Sometimes units are defective, sometimes they're exposed to extreme forces, and sometimes they have a design/component flaw. Those things take time to figure out and I think Apple has so far been decent about how it's probably handling the whole situation.

So, Psystar already knows how to install Snow Leopard on their clones, even though it just came out? Either they're really good programmers, or they've been using potentially illegal pre-release copies or at best developer betas, which I believe still carry the same restrictions for what you can and cannot install it on. Either way, the injunctions sought in this recent filing probably won't be allowed until its seen whether or not their current business model/Apple's EULA are legal.

[NasserAE]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

"The Psystar computers that run Mac OS X Snow Leopard are able to do so by running software, written by Psystar, that interfaces with the open-source portion of Mac OS X Snow Leopard," the filing reads. "The manner in which Psystar computers run Mac OS X Snow Leopard is entirely different from the manner in which Psystar computers run Mac OS X Leopard."

The company asks for a court to grant an injunction requiring Apple to cease tying Snow Leopard only to official Mac computers. It also asserts that the company is entitled to a court injunction preventing Apple from blocking Psystar from selling computers with Snow Leopard.

Like Mac OS EULA stopped them from selling their Mac clones before

[mstone]

Originally Posted by libertyforall

It's ALL data anyhow, so just make smart phones DATA ONLY PLANS. Voice is JUST DATA.

Voice takes priority when bandwidth is compromised.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by libertyforall

It's ALL data anyhow, so just make smart phones DATA ONLY PLANS. Voice is JUST DATA.

This would open the floodgates to SIP VoIP and more consumer choices. Of course AT&T the dinosaur that it is, would fight this tooth and nail since they don't know how to adapt to the new reality...

There are back end issues, and I think economic issues (cost of infrastructure and share holders wanting a certain profit margin) would mean that I doubt that calling it all data is going to change things. You're probably not going to get a $30 3G everything plan, it would become a $80 data plan.

[Wiggin]

Originally Posted by floccus

I like how ATT is trying to make it seem like this is a benefit to the consumer. "Hey, instead of only charging you for the data you actually use, which may be 0 but you never know.. we're going to charge you a steep flat fee just in case.. for your benefit of course".

That was my first thought, too. I'm sure glad we have ATT looking out for our best interests. The very fact that someone at ATT actually thought that was a way to justify it disturbs me. They would have been better off just not saying anything at all.

[mstone]

Originally Posted by Wiggin

That was my first thought, too. I'm sure glad we have ATT looking out for our best interests. The very fact that someone at ATT actually thought that was a way to justify it disturbs me. They would have been better off just not saying anything at all.

At least it lets iPhone owners feel that the rules are fair, now that everyone has to have a data plan. I mean what is the reason to have a smart phone without a data plan anyway?

[bwik]

At least Psystar is being very clear about their claim. They have every right to raise the issue in court. We will see what the judge says. The judge may not actually be an Apple fanboi or shareholder, which only goes to suggest he might look at the legal precedents in the computer industry with significant skepticism... of both sides. While it is true that a fanboi would reject these claims, I have heard Judge TP Jackson give a speech after the big Microsoft case. There was a lot of legal substance going on during those years. Some of it may still be unresolved.

[floccus]

Originally Posted by mstone

At least it lets iPhone owners feel that the rules are fair, now that everyone has to have a data plan. I mean what is the reason to have a smart phone without a data plan anyway?

WiFi connectivity? The ability to store and play media such as videos? Rich games and applications? The ability to carry documents for work? None of those features require cellular data connections.

[mstone]

Originally Posted by floccus

WiFi connectivity? The ability to store and play media such as videos? Rich games and applications? The ability to carry documents for work? None of those features require cellular data connections.

I guess some people may only play games and watch movies but I tend to use email, maps, web, weather, stocks, etc. I don't even own 1 game. But that's just me. Which phone did you say you had?

[Ronbo]

How many of you are old enough to remember claims of "SUAIs" (sudden unintended acceleration incidents) in Audis? Many years ago (in the 80s, I think) 60 Minutes did a very slanted piece about it, and Audis began going crazy everywhere, running spouses through garage walls, going off into pools... dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!

It was such an epidemic, everybody KNEW it had to be real, and the only questions being asked where (1) what causes this dreadful thing where the car suddenly accelerates, usually while the person is stamping on the brake as hard as possible? (2) why is Audi hiding it? and (3) Why can't (or won't) the Department of Transportation get to the bottom of it?

After a $2 million study (1 or 2 million, I can't remember anymore), it was determined that "pedal misapplication" was the cause. Yep, the dumb buggers had stepped on the gas after all.

Why does this exploding iPhone thing reek of that?

[cmf2]

Originally Posted by bwik

At least Psystar is being very clear about their claim. They have every right to raise the issue in court. We will see what the judge says. The judge may not actually be an Apple fanboi or shareholder, which only goes to suggest he might look at the legal precedents in the computer industry with significant skepticism... of both sides. While it is true that a fanboi would reject these claims, I have heard Judge TP Jackson give a speech after the big Microsoft case. There was a lot of legal substance going on during those years. Some of it may still be unresolved.

I can't see how he could rule in favor of Psystar. If Apple didn't offer updates to their operating system, there would be no problem here. It would be simple, if you want a new operating system, buy a new mac. This is basically true for the world of small electronics. There are lots of propriatary operating systems out there that you cannot buy, just look at cell phones. I don't see how Apple should be forced to lose exclusivity because they offer operating system upgrades for their customers, or how they would be more "in the right" if they didn't offer upgrades at all.

[Logisticaldron]

Originally Posted by mstone

I guess some people may only play games and watch movies but I tend to use email, maps, web, weather, stocks, etc. I don't even own 1 game. But that's just me. Which phone did you say you had?

That is beside the point. You can do all those things without a cellular data connection. There are plenty of people that want an iPhone because they can combine their iPhone and phone and/or because they have plenty of WiFi in the areas they work in or at home and around town but AT&T doesn’t cover that area and so they don’t want to spend $30/month for 2 years for a service that they aren’t getting in their area.

[Gandalf the Semi-Coherent]

Just what IS the problem with this Psystar company? And who the hell is funding them?

Curious if the path leads back to someone at Microsoft...

GTSC

[rbonner]

You can't by the kind of entertainment Psystar is delivering!

[mstone]

Originally Posted by cmf2

I don't see how Apple should be forced to lose exclusivity because they offer operating system upgrades for their customers, or how they would be more "in the right" if they didn't offer upgrades at all.

Apple can afford to lose the sale of the few computers that Psystar sells and with all the publicity it makes, it's good advertising. The average user thinks that OS X must be one heck desirable system for anyone to fight so hard to obtain it. So Apple may in fact be hyping up the news to their own advantage. But if they think there could be a chance that they might lose, then we'll see Apple 'Genuine Advantage' and all software will be delivered over the internet only to qualified machines.

I find it interesting how pretty much every update from Apple requires a restart and the supposed restart initiates before the product even starts downloading effectively preventing some custom program from reading the data or installer script due to the fact that no other application can run during the install process.

[floccus]

Originally Posted by mstone

Which phone did you say you had?

16GB 3GS, and I now purposefully keep WiFi turned off most of the time to make sure I use up as much "unlimited" data as I can. But the point is that consumers should have the choice of how they want to be billed/use data connectivity. If I only check an occasional email over the data network, that's what, 1MB max/month. Why should I be forced to pay $30 a month for that as opposed to $.10/KB?

[MadIvan]

Originally Posted by Gandalf the Semi-Coherent

Just what IS the problem with this Psystar company? And who the hell is funding them?

Curious if the path leads back to someone at Microsoft...

GTSC

Here is what I think is amusing (or proof of conspiracy if you like to think that way.) If Psytar were to win in court and force Apple to allow clones, companies like HP and Dell would crush Psytar into oblivion with their own Mac clones.

[bdkennedy1]

Could someone please point me to a law somewhere that states when a company writes an operating system that it has to run on any computer?

[mstone]

Originally Posted by Logisticaldron

That is beside the point. You can do all those things without a cellular data connection. There are plenty of people that want an iPhone because they can combine their iPhone and phone and/or because they have plenty of WiFi in the areas they work in or at home and around town but AT&T doesn’t cover that area and so they don’t want to spend $30/month for 2 years for a service that they aren’t getting in their area.

Sure wifi is great but most people don't sit around indoors all day next to the wifi.

But if you have an iPhone you already have a required data plan. How does the new At&T policy requiring data on other smart phone affect you?

[Gazoobee]

Originally Posted by Apple

To date, there are no confirmed battery overheating incidents for iPhone 3GS and the number of reports we are investigating is in the single digits ...

The iPhones with broken glass that we have analysed to date show that in all cases the glass cracked due to an external force that was applied to the iPhone, ...

I doubt these facts will get anything like the circulation that the smear originally did.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by mstone

At least it lets iPhone owners feel that the rules are fair, now that everyone has to have a data plan. I mean what is the reason to have a smart phone without a data plan anyway?

Originally Posted by mstone

I guess some people may only play games and watch movies but I tend to use email, maps, web, weather, stocks, etc. I don't even own 1 game. But that's just me. Which phone did you say you had?

I'm not sure if no unlimited data plan necessarily means no data though. After all, not everyone buys unlimited talk time plans either. Weather forecasts, stock information, email probably doesn't take much data. I'm not convinced that maps are necessarily best done over the internet. Web is the biggest data hog.

The only things I really cared about are my todo/shopping list, calendar and contacts, which is all basic PDA functionality. The other stuff is a bonus, though it's because I might as well use it if I'm paying for it.

[bdkennedy1]

Originally Posted by MadIvan

Here is what I think is amusing (or proof of conspiracy if you like to think that way.) If Psytar were to win in court and force Apple to allow clones, companies like HP and Dell would crush Psytar into oblivion with their own Mac clones.

HP and Dell may very well be part of Pystar's investors. My theory is that pissed off billionaire Michael Dell, invested in or even created Pystar because Apple refused to license him OS X for his Dell machines. That's the only thing I can think of since Pystar seems to be able to magically keep pulling money out of its company ass.

[alansky]

F**k Psystar in the ear!!!

[Ireland]

Psystar is going to sue until Apple pays them something. It's clear that was their initial plan now.

[surferfromuk]

Whichever set of idiots is backing Psystar are playing a very dangerous game because if Apple does lose the lawsuit they will have no alternative but to instantly and immediately license OSX to all PC hardware vendors at $29 a copy. It is precisely this move that could end Microsoft's dominance of the middle market desktop OS forever. Apple's high end hardware sales would likely be unaffected since they are so different and superior to anything offered by any other hardware vendor, and the iPod/iPhone sales will keep them massively liquid.

This could well be the event that causes Apple to go 'all out' to win...

If this is a little bit of Redmond subterfuge they are very likely to end up regretting it.

[Wiggin]

Originally Posted by mstone

At least it lets iPhone owners feel that the rules are fair, now that everyone has to have a data plan. I mean what is the reason to have a smart phone without a data plan anyway?

Last time I checked the iPod touch was selling pretty well.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by bdkennedy1

HP and Dell may very well be part of Pystar's investors. My theory is that pissed off billionaire Michael Dell, invested in or even created Pystar because Apple refused to license him OS X for his Dell machines. That's the only thing I can think of since Pystar seems to be able to magically keep pulling money out of its company ass.

I doubt it. If that was true, Psystar would have been able to pay their first set of lawyers.

[Gazoobee]

Originally Posted by Ronbo

How many of you are old enough to remember claims of "SUAIs" (sudden unintended acceleration incidents) in Audis? Many years ago (in the 80s, I think) 60 Minutes did a very slanted piece about it, and Audis began going crazy everywhere, running spouses through garage walls, going off into pools... dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!

It was such an epidemic, everybody KNEW it had to be real, and the only questions being asked where (1) what causes this dreadful thing where the car suddenly accelerates, usually while the person is stamping on the brake as hard as possible? (2) why is Audi hiding it? and (3) Why can't (or won't) the Department of Transportation get to the bottom of it?

After a $2 million study (1 or 2 million, I can't remember anymore), it was determined that "pedal misapplication" was the cause. Yep, the dumb buggers had stepped on the gas after all.

Why does this exploding iPhone thing reek of that?

I remember this very clearly.

These kinds of things happen all the time and if you want someone to blame it's really the media that does it. It's the publishing of what would normally be seen as outlandish claims and the re-publishing of them to the point that they gain some kind of currency that is the root cause.

For instance, even if you believe the reports of the French consumers verbatim, the iPhones never, ever "exploded" in any sense of the word. However this very forum, along with almost all the others published story after story about "exploding iPhones." I heard someone in a restaurant just yesterday asking their friend if they had "heard about the exploding iPhones" when in fact no iPhone has ever exploded or even been reported as such.

The accusation is that the glass spontaneously cracked on somewhere between two and eleven French iPhones. But this is reported as "exploding iPhones" with a lot of dire language that makes it seem like a problem when it clearly isn't. Even if it's 100% true that this happened, that would give a failure rate somewhere south of 0.00001% (or less) on a product that's made and sold in the millions.

People are actually killed or maimed by tech products all the time, but those stories aren't covered. A few French consumers claim the iPhone screen cracked though and there is a big hullaballoo about it. It's because the tech media like to crank up the public over this kind of thing and apple is top dog right now. That's all.

[pridon]

Originally Posted by mstone

Sure wifi is great but most people don't sit around indoors all day next to the wifi.

But if you have an iPhone you already have a required data plan. How does the new At&T policy requiring data on other smart phone affect you?

This ploy will likely just move non iPhone non data smartphone users to Verizon or T0Mobile unless they also has a "data mandatory" rule. It could also encourage customers that have been buying web enabled phones for their other features, to just buy an iPhone, if they have to buy data to have anything other than a basic phone.

[mstone]

Originally Posted by floccus

16GB 3GS, and I now purposefully keep WiFi turned off most of the time...

When I am at home or at work I use wifi but on the road I never try to find unlocked wifi because you can't trust them. It could be hacked to discover passwords etc. I always use the cell network. And I do love my 32 gig 3G S. I bought the 32 but I doubt I'll ever use that much storage.

[Logisticaldron]

Originally Posted by mstone

Sure wifi is great but most people don't sit around indoors all day next to the wifi.

But if you have an iPhone you already have a required data plan. How does the new At&T policy requiring data on other smart phone affect you?

Just as everyone who wants and iPhone needs constant data or is in an area that AT&T supplies constant data. We understand that you want and/or need constant unlimited data from your carrier. I do, too, but that doesn’t mean I also think that everyone has the same interests and usage habits as me. I know plenty of people that would love an iPhone if they weren’t required to pay the data fee.

[Xian Zhu Xuande]

Originally Posted by mstone

I find it interesting how pretty much every update from Apple requires a restart and the supposed restart initiates before the product even starts downloading effectively preventing some custom program from reading the data or installer script due to the fact that no other application can run during the install process.

Huh? Most updates I've installed *do not* require a restart. It is the system-altering stuff that requires it, or programs which require elements to be loaded on startup, that require a restart. And I'll assume you mean the restart is initiating in that user interface processes are exited before the download and installation begin. I think it is far more likely that this process is handled in such a way to provide a controlled environment for the installation--one which I, the user, am less likely to interfere with out of stupidity or impatience--than for any sort of shady reason. I doubt anything in this process would hide the more important details from a software firm (or company with a good software team) that wanted to analyze it.

[iGod 2.0]

Ha ha. These Psystar people cannot be serious. This is a joke that is being taken to the limits. I really have to get one of these Psystar Open computers and see if they are really that friggin' good. We need to tie these people up, put 'em in a boat, ship out to ocean and sink it half way.