Ranbir wrote:For consumer choice? In the case of the exclusive networks on the iPhone; In France, for example, it is illegal to prevent consumers to change networks if they wish after 6 months. I think US and UK were the only markets to be so permissive to such exclusivity with the latter require phones to be subsidized if on contract.
Oh, I agree that there are cases proprietary systems and constructs are certainly a bad things. From those I've seen in the EU, most of their battles seem legitimate. Unfortunately, they also sometimes take up fights which are anything but, and either from the wrong perspective, or a deliberately incorrect perspective in hopes of influencing the right parties (e.g. iTunes). There are also, often, consequences for their actions. Say you do not allow carriers to forge long-term contracts with the iPhone customer. Some models of the iPhone cost more than $600, and in countries where those contracts are illegal, customers pick up those costs. They don't have the option to pay, say, $200 when they know they'll be using the service anyway. Conversely, you're screwed with AT&T in the United States, and it works out only if you like the iPhone more.
What I would like to see here is a middle ground where those contracts are legal, but phones have to be unlocked once those contracts expire. A few things along those lines are in the works in the United States. Another option would be to require companies to offer unlocked phones with no contract while at the same time allowing them to offer contracts. (The contracts, by the way, are pretty important—the ETF helps to cover the company's losses in paying hundreds of dollars toward the price of your phone). It is possible to go month-to-month in the US, but a little complicated, and the methods of doing so aren't always apparent to the consumer, nor are they available to all phones.
Anyway, back to the main point. The shortsighted end of this battle is that certain agreements and closed systems actually pass savings or special features to the consumer. Opening those platforms up can strip those benefits. It is important to honor a fine line between correcting a true injustice, and trampling businesses and customers when nothing terrible is really taking place, simply out of some kind of ideology.