Toyota’s advertising jaunt on Cydia didn’t even last a full day. Apple has officially asked Toyota to remove the Scion-branded theme from ModMyi. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out where Apple would fall on the map on this one. Less than 24-hours after we initially reported that the theme was available, Toyota’s taken steps to have the theme removed.
We’re sure there weren’t any tears shed over the theme disappearing, but it’s more principle at this point anyway, isn’t it?
Where’s it begin, and where’s it end?
Where does ownership of your product begin, and where does the reach of a corporation end? It seems like we’re entering an age where a company not only has the right to determine how their products are used after purchase, but also who’s filtering money into homebrew projects.
That’s really what this comes down to at this point. Apple doesn’t like the jailbreak community, despite it recently being deemed legal. So, not only are they doing what they can to make sure the jailbreak community fails, they’re also doing everything they can to make sure that money isn’t being filtered into the project in any way.
Clout—Apple might have it, but at some point we need to stop and ask ourselves how we feel about that kind of control in our lives. It makes sense that Apple’s tired of having to deal with broken phones because someone managed to break it while jailbreaking, but that shouldn’t mean that we should lose the right to do what we want with our phones either.
If Toyota wants to spend money reaching out to a community they should have that right. I’m not sure why this bugs me so much; it just feels like a line was crossed today. It’s really hard to not draw the conclusion that Apple’s upset because Toyota didn’t filter their advertising dollars through the iAds program.
There’s a dangerous precedent being set here, and we need to ask ourselves if we mind our iPhones being that tightly controlled. Would we feel the same way if this was happening with our TVs or Playstations? In the latter case, Sony has gone to pretty extreme lengths to close up their own personal “jailbreak” community. Sony’s filed lawsuit after lawsuit trying to tie-off the homebrew community that has sprung up over the last year. It hasn’t gotten nearly the same press as Apple’s anti-jailbreak moves, but these cases remain linked. It’s pretty clear how consumer electronics companies think when it comes to homebrew jailbreaking—consumers have no right to go meddling inside of the devices they buy.
As you can see, this isn’t just Apple. It’s a problem that exists across the entire consumer electronics industry.
So we ask you, how do you feel about that? Do you think a company has the right to determine what you do with your products in your home? Heck, do you prefer it? We’d love to know in the comments.
Article Via The Apple Blog
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I think it is overreaching. In fact it is to Apple's detriment to not allow this kind of innovation.
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LikeIt's my device I'll with it what I like. Maybe apple should just lease their phones then I wouldn't have a problem with their actions. Anyway I wont own apple products for just this reason.
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LikeI feel that if you buy it you should be able to do with it what you want, you know the risks if the product is still under warranty. So if you do something to void the warranty, you knew what you did so you should have no regrets. Or you could wait until the warranty is over and then do whatever :)
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LikeIt didnt last one day, but it earned more publicity in one day that it would have in 3 months if left unspoken about. I thought jailbreak was legal now anyway?
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LikeSometimes, its better to lighten up a bit.
Goodwill seems to be at the bottom of the priorities list sometimes.
Apple seems to strike a delicate balance in many instances, I'm hoping they will ease their grasp in time.
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LikeNot cool by Apple. Hope it does not become a trend.
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LikeIt's just a company trying to control what the end user does on their device. I wish Toyota had told them to go pound sand and left the theme up on Cydia!
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LikeYou can do whatever you want with it, Apple is not stopping you, of course they have no obligation to help you or consider you in any way when making software changes.
But there is a big difference between an individual doing something and a corporation encouraging users to void their warranty.
How would Toyota feel if Apple launched software that allowed users to hack their cars?
Again, you need to separate what your rights as a user (which I support) with what corporations do and encourage.
They didn't threaten to sue Toyota to my knowledge, it was simply a stern but friendly request for common courtesy between two corporations.
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LikeThis really speaks to the power of Apple. I believe that legally this was an ok thing for Toyota to do and let's face it... it took some balls. The problem is that Toyota already has an advertisement agreement with Apple. If they didn't Apple would have a lot less clout to compel Toyota to remove the theme. The power and use or abuse of that power by Apple is interesting. I thought the company was founded on the idea of thinking out of the box... see Think Different campaign. That is exactly what Toyota did. I think the execs at Apple may even be privately commending Toyo for the move. Bottom line: Toyo should have never released it as an actual sponsored theme. They should have just had an independent person release it. There are tons of similar themes on cydia but none are officially sponsored by the company. Of course, this would have not lead to the publicity that has surrounded this and maybe that was the goal in the first place.
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LikeIt is a completely legal area to advertise in. Just because Apple dont share the opinions of the people who jailbreak should not let them dictate who can advertise there.
How many extra phones have Apple sold due to the possibility of jailbreaking?
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LikeI don't see why Apple dislike jailbreaking so much seeming as though it's pretty much a free research tool for software ideas..
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LikeObviously these are good points. But this wouldn't be the first time an advertiser was threatened for doing something the "show" didn't like. Toyota shouldn't have caved. And, yes, I'm an Apple fangrl.
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Likeseems par for the course on what apple would do anyway
I'm surprised it lasted 24hrs.
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LikeI feel once you buy a product its yours to do with what you want. Just my opinion.
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LikeThat pretty much sums up my thoughts. :)
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LikeI agree but that is not what this is about.
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LikeI think that it's cool that big companies are going the way of the jailbreak, i believe they should be able to reach out to any market they feel like and apple should back-off it's Toyota's right to do what they please!!! p.s. i like the look of the theme it's pretty cool! It would be sweet to see Ford come out with a Ford Model-T theme! ;p
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LikeTo me it comes down to the fact that Toyota is encouraging people to void their iPhone warranty.
Any brand would be wise to try to prevent that.
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Likeif your like me and have no warranty anymore who cares ;)
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