Apple moves into the sights of FTC & Justice Department

5th Avenue Apple Store - New York (Photo AP)

For years now, Apple has been considered the underdog of the computer world, having a market share that is a small fraction of what PC sales are, server markets are dominated by Linux and they seemed somewhat late getting into the smartphone game – granted that didn’t mean much since they have become a dominant force now in portable devices.  Steve Jobs is possibly going to feel what Bill Gates, and other business giants have as the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission begin looking into their business practices with regards to developers needing to use Apple’s own development tools to create applications for devices like the iPhone, iPad and iPod.

There’s no major secret or surprise that 3rd party developers tools aren’t “welcome” for Apple mobile devices, I’m sure most people read about the hooplah about flash missing from the iPad when it was released (However HTML5 is something nifty and I’ve always hated flash more than anything imaginable) – some part of me is hoping the ruling will at least force Apple to release toolkits aimed at other operating systems such as *nix or Windows – I’m definitely looking to switch to Macs anyway but I shouldn’t be penalized from application development simply because I have a Windows based PC instead of something like a Mac Pro.  I’m sure once I’m fully converted this time next year after I’m done training, I couldn’t care in the least – I do have to admit loving the form and function of their computers from the high end iMacs, to MacBook Pros. I guess my next endeavor will be converting my family (The wife has no choice, since I buy the electronics LOL).