I think Apple has, for the most part, always behaved the same way. Just with the market share they had/have, it really isn't an issue for monopolistic type laws.

Old is a relative term. It's not so long ago like the Baby Bell splits and it's certainly recent enough that their practices still left a heavy impact on the industry. As for Apple, I have no love for that company at all. They've pretty much proven the same thing Toyota did, that no matter how "friendly" a business is towards it's customers, no matter how much of an underdog you start as and certainly no matter how popular the management team might be, in the end all businesses pretty much steer towards the same direction, trying to get a monopoly position and once they get it, acting just like the large companies they railed against during their early years. I mean if it was up to Apple, via iTunes, we'd see our music downloads and handicapped as our games are.

Well that's just bullshit. They're getting what they deserve, and it has nothing to do with the companies origin. There is a huge, huge list of companies thave have taken their lumps for fking up badly in the consumer eyes. Firestone, Ford, Jack N Box, Toyota... nothing special about any of them. You mess up, you're going to get it hard and then you can try to recover. Whining about it to the rest of the world is just pathetic.

You're not even in the USA, you have no clue as to what GM and Ford have gone through in the USA. GM and Ford have had many, many issues and that is why they didn't sell very many cars. Toyota was at the top, largely because of PR issues with Ford and GM. I think it's pathetic that Toyota whines that they are being picked on for something they knowingly did. But hey, I forgot the new motto is guilty if America, innocent if you are not. Cheers

Then maybe you were too young to watch the exact same thing happen to Firestone and Ford, or the Pinto incident, or the other dozens of exampls. This is not new. Toyota is hot a whipping boy that the rest of the world needs to feel sorry for. This is part of being in the US market. They are welcome to leave it. No one forces them here.

Do you know what I am talking about when I say Firestone and Ford? You keep giving these half-ass generic remarks like you think you know something but you aren't actually willing to show it.

Oh how true these words really are.
Long before I joined the techno-crowd, IBM were the big boys and Microsoft were the ones people rallied behind for change and innovation.  Then Microsoft became the PC company, and established a monopoly and managed to hold on to it for quite a while.  This earnt them a place of hatred amongst many users, gamers and developers.  People rallied behind companies like Apple for innovation and change.  Apple's adoption rate has increased of late, and with the iPod and iPhone, they've really become a force unto themselves.  Now look what's happening: they want the market to themselves and are taking steps to ensure that they achieve a monopoly, and they're releasing things like the iPad who's design limitations actually seemed designed to ensure a dependancy on Apple accessories and service partners *cough*AT&T*cough*.  It makes me wonder if a company like Stardock achieve market dominance against Steam, would they too surcome to the lure of the sound of cash registers?

[quote who="ZehDon" reply="63" id="2606603"]


It makes me wonder if a company like Stardock achieve market dominance against Steam, would they too surcome to the lure of the sound of cash registers?

[/quote]

I like Stardock just fine. I really do for the most part but there isn't a single company that started out as the giant hated monopoly they are today. EA, Ubisoft, Activision... they didn't really start so differently than Stardock did. Hell, just look at Valve/Steam... they only have a small market share (including the BM sales) and are already showing tendencies to trying to solidify a monopoly position they don't actually have yet. They are clearly the leader in digi sales at the moment, but it's not as if its guaranteed that can't change.

No one comes out when they are small saying they intend to get customers through innovation, solid products and value only to turn around and screw them over later and use their fat coffers to pay lawyers to make sure any competitors have to spend more time figuring out how similar their fruit looks to Apple's logo than whether or not they have something solid to offer as alternative to what's top in the market now.

I thought you said you were here when Toyota had it's issue? If you are actually informed as you say you are, then you are aware that Toyota is having a massive recall involving gas pedeals (its still ongoing actually more models keep coming up since they used this design in multiple models) complete with coverups and inside memos that indicate they knew about the problem before deaths were caused by it, this is complete with an actual numeric total that says how much they would save if they convince regulators not to actually not do their jobs. Yeah, when you have a flaw in your design, lie about it, try to convince your customers that its their floor matts and then your memos are leaked that reveal you knew all along there was a problem your company and your ass will wind up in trouble and in the media. It doesn't matter if your name is Toyota, GM, or Ford. When any of these companies have a big recall, they wind up in the news. Toyota's gets a little extra heat because when the news broke, their response was pretty much... nothing. Yep a big fat zero as info is rolling out. Apparently they decided it was more important to whine to countries outside the US.

Having lived in Japan, I am not at all surprised that Toyota is getting a lot of sympathy from the Japanese. There is a cultural link to that sort of think, especially with big companies Japan is really, really proud of.

As to why is Toyota sometimes still in the news, they are still working on the problem, still offering fixes, still recalling models. It's not exactly headline news anymore but they have a new issue to play with since they pulled one their SUV's after getting a terrible, terrible rating from Consumer Reports. Since you are so informed about the USA, I am sure you know all about Consumer Reports right? And, of course, you are also aware that it is a private company and no one forced Toyota to pull that model, they did it themselves. And since it is not an every day event that a any car company yanks hits model from the floor because its labeled a pos of shit, they're in the news again for that reason.

Oh and they get to be in the news a lot now because when a Toyota is involved in a crash, they get to investigate if there was an auto acceleration involved.

So let's recap shall we? Toyota had a love affair with consumers, the media, and reviewers for years while Ford and GM and company struggled. Toyota messed up big time with a design flaw that hits a lot of models but hides it, tries to cover it up, is caught and instead of apologizing and going into damage control, they offer no real response at all and whines to the rest of the world that they are being treated unfairly, probably leaving out the part that some of information on this issues is still being held back and designed in a way that regulators in the market they choose to sell in, no one forces them here remember, can't get to it. Then you have someone on a Stardock forum saying hey, what's the deal here, Ford and GM aren't getting any spankings, well that's just not fair! Totally blowing this out proporation right, have to overlook the actual deaths involved to say that I guess. To that I say, you know what, it's Toyota's turn today. If they're smart, they'll fix their issue, regain some trust again, not all that will take time, and move on. Next time it could be Ford or GM or god forbid VW or some European brand because then you'll back throwing a fit right, claiming things aren't fair again... right? Get real.

 

You must have missed the cover up part and the fact they lied about the problem. You don't have to let me convince you, the insurance companies going after Toyota for their bs is proof enough.

Also, you seem really stuck on the word recall, try dropping that from your vocab for a minute, if you can. They are not in hot water because of the recall... its the issues around these recalls that is the issue.