Apple Needs To Change Its iTune

Apple is much beloved by its devotees and despised by most of the rest of the world, and that seems to working for now. But the times they are a’ changing, as Steve Jobs can verify in his own iTunes library, and a greater number of people than ever expect to be treated like grown-ups by the vendors who sell to them.

Apple is currently making news for its adamant opposition to so-called “jailbreaking,” which is when users download applications to their iPhones which Apple hasn’t approved. Most of those are made by small software developers like Rock Your Phone, and typically provide applications that aren’t available through the iTunes App Store. Mario Ciabarra, who runs Rock Your Phone, told the New York Times that, “We just feel users should be able to decide for themselves if they want to deal with [problems that could arise from malware or software malfunctions].”

But no, Apple doesn’t want users to do that. Any more than it wants users to download video over AT&T’s 3G network, or to use carriers other than AT&T in the United States. Now, to be fair, those policies are driven by its contractual relationship with AT&T, but the fact remains that Apple not only doesn’t want to cede control to users, even once customers have acquired the device, it doesn’t even want to discuss the matter.

This might seem like reporter bias creeping in, but most stories about Apple — even ones in high-profile outfits like the Washington Post — contain words like “Apple would not comment,” or a press release that precludes follow-up questions. Apple wants to control the story — and this is where it affects more than just reporters. Apple has always presented customers with a black box, whether it’s the iPhone or a Mac or any other device it makes, on the theory that you wouldn’t want to mess with perfection.

But that perfection — the idea that Macs never crash and don’t get viruses — is a myth. iTunes is as buggy a piece of software as you can find for any computer, Mac or PC. The thing is, customers don’t demand perfection; what they want is openness.

Customers, potential customers, partners and other vendors deserve better than hermetic devices and canned responses to important questions.

Today, if you want the best handheld device, you’re stuck with the iPhone. But no one can maintain a technological edge for very long. Research in Motion’s initial touch-screen iPhone imitation was lame, and HTC’s Android-powered G1 is tied to the lamentable T-Mobile network, but both Android and Symbian (the operating system dominated by worldwide smartphone leader Nokia) are the beneficiaries of a rabid open source community that will soon match if not outdo the iPhone, and will deliver products customers can modify at will.

So what is Apple left with? Customer loyalty. Apple has earned customer loyalty by creating features  that help users find new music and create playlists, and it’s done a masterful job of poking fun at Microsoft. Apple has also had the benefit of being the underdog in the PC market — a status it has parlayed into near-top-dog status in the phone market. But there’s the rub; it won’t have Microsoft to kick around in the phone market (although Microsoft would have pretensions). Instead, Apple is running up against Google, Nokia and a host of other players that also understand how to generate customer loyalty.

And then it will come down to who communicates best with customers. Apple is pretty rusty at talking to its customers, so unless it intends let executives at TBWA\Chiat\Day run its company, it had better start talking to — and more importantly — listening to its customers.