The iPhone 4 has proved a hit with consumers but there is growing resentment about the 'Mac monopoly' by which Apple controls access to music and apps. Photograph: Toru Yamanaka/AFP/Getty Images
Despite the opening of their flagship store in London's Covent Garden yesterday, Apple has been having a tricky time. The company is celebrated for its sleek design and hassle-free software, but there is growing resistance to the "closed shop" nature of its products, the "Mac monopoly" that means users must buy their music through iTunes and that all "apps" must come pre-approved from the Apple store. Such tight – and profitable – security is grudgingly accepted by Mac, iPhone and iPad users because the machines themselves are so good.
Now, however, Apple's untouchable brand has been tarnished. First came the grumbles from technophiles, underwhelmed by the iPad, although this didn't stop the gadget selling at record levels. Then came the iPhone 4's handling issue. The "loses signal if you hold it" hiccup compromised what is, ultimately, a mobile phone.
Apple then managed to compound the fault: first offering little more than a bandage for the affected area and then revealing another mistake entirely. The admission that its method for measuring what phone signal was available had been wrong all along. In all its phones.
And to cap it all, this week the German government pointed out a security failure that renders some iPhones, iPads and iPods vulnerable to hackers, a threat considered so dangerous that the German Federal Office for Information Security officially warned citizens of "two critical weak points for which no patch exists". A statement that leaves Apple's all-important reputation for perfection looking bruised.
Despite the opening of their flagship store in London's Covent Garden yesterday, Apple has been having a tricky time. The company is celebrated for its sleek design and hassle-free software, but there is growing resistance to the "closed shop" nature of its products, the "Mac monopoly" that means users must buy their music through iTunes and that all "apps" must come pre-approved from the Apple store. Such tight – and profitable – security is grudgingly accepted by Mac, iPhone and iPad users because the machines themselves are so good.
Now, however, Apple's untouchable brand has been tarnished. First came the grumbles from technophiles, underwhelmed by the iPad, although this didn't stop the gadget selling at record levels. Then came the iPhone 4's handling issue. The "loses signal if you hold it" hiccup compromised what is, ultimately, a mobile phone.
Apple then managed to compound the fault: first offering little more than a bandage for the affected area and then revealing another mistake entirely. The admission that its method for measuring what phone signal was available had been wrong all along. In all its phones.
And to cap it all, this week the German government pointed out a security failure that renders some iPhones, iPads and iPods vulnerable to hackers, a threat considered so dangerous that the German Federal Office for Information Security officially warned citizens of "two critical weak points for which no patch exists". A statement that leaves Apple's all-important reputation for perfection looking bruised.
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