Apple Has Done the Right Thing
Dieter Bohn wrote a ridiculous article at The Verge trying to make the case that it would be moral for Apple to bring iMessage to Android.
For starters, Dieter has misunderstood what the moral thing is. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word moral as pertaining to the principles of right and wrong or conforming to the standard of right behavior. In other words, doing the right thing.
The “moral” thing for Apple to do is to honor their obligations and commitments. This includes the obligations and commitments to the people who own the company.
For instance, it would be immoral for me to use my employers capital assets to enrich myself. Those assets belong to my employer, not me. The right thing for me to do is to get my own equipment if I want to start my own side business.
It would be immoral for Dieter Bohn to ghost write articles for a competitor to The Verge. The right thing is for Dieter Bohn to write articles for the people who write his pay check and not help a competitor. That’s the right thing.
Apple is owned by the shareholders. The moral thing for Apple to do is to honor their commitment to the people who own all of the capital assets. That would be the shareholders and not Android users. It would be immoral for Apple to disregard the interests of the shareholders. A large segment of these shareholders are retirement funds full of people counting on stock price appreciation.
Would it be moral for a bank teller to skim money from the bank to give to the homeless? No, the right thing is for her to honor her employer and do the right thing. And yet, this is essentially what Dieter Bohn is advocating for.
In any event, iMessage is readily available to everyone in the world. It’s not like Apple has said that people from certain races or ethnicities are barred from buying iOS products. So Apple has met their moral obligations to the world by honoring their commitments to the shareholders and making iOS available to the entire world.
This brings me to my annual posting of Walter William's excellent talk about capitalism.
The “moral” thing for Apple to do is to honor their obligations and commitments. This includes the obligations and commitments to the people who own the company.
For instance, it would be immoral for me to use my employers capital assets to enrich myself. Those assets belong to my employer, not me. The right thing for me to do is to get my own equipment if I want to start my own side business.
It would be immoral for Dieter Bohn to ghost write articles for a competitor to The Verge. The right thing is for Dieter Bohn to write articles for the people who write his pay check and not help a competitor. That’s the right thing.
Apple is owned by the shareholders. The moral thing for Apple to do is to honor their commitment to the people who own all of the capital assets. That would be the shareholders and not Android users. It would be immoral for Apple to disregard the interests of the shareholders. A large segment of these shareholders are retirement funds full of people counting on stock price appreciation.
Would it be moral for a bank teller to skim money from the bank to give to the homeless? No, the right thing is for her to honor her employer and do the right thing. And yet, this is essentially what Dieter Bohn is advocating for.
In any event, iMessage is readily available to everyone in the world. It’s not like Apple has said that people from certain races or ethnicities are barred from buying iOS products. So Apple has met their moral obligations to the world by honoring their commitments to the shareholders and making iOS available to the entire world.
This brings me to my annual posting of Walter William's excellent talk about capitalism.
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