But all is not as it appears, this is not about giving there customers a new way to interact with the player. This is about making a grab for the after sales headphone market. I think Apple are setting a dangerous precedent, and should not be allowed to muscle in on a market where there obvious intention is to drive up prices and exclude competitors they don’t happen to like.

How it works

The first part of the scam is to remove all the controls from the device. So now you have a player that you can’t do anything with unless you plug in the supplied headphones. On the cable is the controller to let you skip and play your songs. Now this is not a new idea, most music player have these, making it nice and easy for you to control your music. But most suppliers allow you to plug your headphones into the controller so you can choose if you want to use their supplied head phones, or your own (which are probably much more expensive).

This is where Apple have seen their market. They know most people buy a nice pair of headphones and they want a slice of that cake as well. But the only way they can do that is by making sure you have to use their headphones with the device. Creating a huge demand for new head phones that have this new controller piece attached.

But what is to stop who ever making that controller and sticking it onto their line of head phones? Apple have included a chip into the design of the controller that while at the moment does very little, it can be used to legally attack any company that tries to produce their over version of the controller. Reverse engineering the chip is a breach of the DMCA and means Apple can sue (at least in the US). So companies have to play nice and pay Apple a licence fee to be able to make their head phones compatible.

Because Apple are now in control of this relationship I think its unlikely you will see a generic controller appear. One that plugs in and allows you to plug in your own headphones. This would cut into the sales of the other headphones and reduce profitability so Apple will simply not let it be done.

I won’t be surprised if you now start to see this controller appear on the other apple products as they spread the base of devices that need it until they cover the who range.

Dangerous Precedent

This sets a dangerous precedent for Apple. They are in a monopoly situation with the iPod and they are now starting to leaver that position into other, mostly unrelated areas of manufacture.

It is something they have done many times, and always seem to aim for with their computers. Trying to lock you into to only using their equipment. But never quiet so blatant as selling you a product that just won’t work without their help.

I can only hope this is a fad that does not catch on.