Could Apple eventually gain monopoly status in one or more businesses, and become as “evil” (or worse) as Microsoft was when regulators went after them in the 1990s? Windows pundit Paul Thurrott thinks so, and thinks it’s time to act now before it’s too late.

Now, Thurrott is an interesting dichotomy, well-balanced on his Windows Weekly podcast yet Dvorak‘ian in link-baiting on his blog. He’s pro Microsoft all the way, but has still been unable to find anything as compelling as the iPhone or iPod in their respective spaces. So, assuming we’re dealing with the more even handed podcasting and iPhone-using Thurrott, and we’re not just biting his baited link, his argument here is this:

until very recently, Apple was the underdog, and they’ve been the underdog for almost their entire existence. This creates a certain mindset, and under Steve Jobs especially, it’s created a very aggressive competitive spirit. This aggressiveness is fine when you are literally the underdog, just as was the case with Microsoft early in its career and it was trying to wrest the PC industry from IBM, Lotus, WordPerfect, and other tech dinosaurs. But once you have a dominant market position, that aggressive behavior–so important for an up-and-comer–isn’t just bad, it’s illegal. It’s just hard to turn it off when it’s been part of the corporate psyche for so long.

His answer?

With this obvious comparison of two very similarly belligerent companies–Microsoft of the mid-1990s and Apple of today–in mind, I think the time has come to rein Apple in. To examine Apple’s exclusive relationships with wireless carriers. To force it to open up iTunes to competing players, and its iPhone and iPod devices to competing software and services. If we don’t do this now, it will only be more difficult in the future. All you have to do is look at Microsoft’s never-ending antitrust saga–which has now stretched on for 15 years, involved regulatory bodies on three continents, and gone on far longer than its actual bad behavior–to see why it’s time.

The problem?

Apple is not yet a monopoly in any real business. They may own the Mac and the iPhone outright, but those are tiny blips in the big PC space and the increasingly vast smartphone space. Apple likely will never be a smartphone monopoly, and artificially defining a “consumer smartphone” is like defining a “Redmond MP3 player” space and pondering Zune regulation.

Speaking of MP3 players, in that space Apple could arguably be approaching monopoly status, though the market according to Apple themselves is now fading (hence their development of the iPhone). Even if Apple does mathematically hold an effective MP3 monopoly at some point, that’s not illegal. Abusing such a monopoly would be, for example forcing Best Buy not to carry Zune’s if they want iPods.

Otherwise, much as I (and Thurrott himself) find the notion of the EU’s constant browser bashing of Microsoft ridiculous given the advances of Firefox and WebKit (Safari and Chrome), the idea of forcing open what’s essentially content management software like iTunes is equally silly. (Note: Not letting iTunes run on Windows is a specious parallel, iTunes is an app, not a platform). What’s next, PS3 isn’t getting a fair shake so we have to force Nintendo to allow PS3 games and license Mario? Sigh.

As to movies and TV shows, if Big Media would drop their consumer-hostile DRM schemes, then just like MP3 both Apple and Microsoft (and others) could sell unlocked movies and TV Shows that users could play on or move between any device. That’s not an Apple problem, it’s a Hollywood problem, and consumers should channel that rage appropriately (especially towards legislators who are heavily funded and lobbied by Hollywood to “protect” their content from us evil customers).

Personally, I never left Microsoft because I thought they were “evil” (IE6 aside, of course), I left because I found better device(s) to suit my needs from another company (while Microsoft was being punished by the DOJ and EU, fancy that). If that happens again with Apple, I’ll likely move again.

Maybe to Android. Oh, wait, Google is a monopoly in search and online advertising, and is slowly ensconcing themselves on every device and harvesting my data for… what? Maybe they’re evil and should be stopped right now as well?

Slope, meet slippery.

What are the top 5, must-have board games currently available on the iPhone? Many of you have taken a liking to our Top 5 Must-Have Jailbreak Apps features, so TiPb figured why not expand the series and cover some of the better apps directly from Apple’s own iTunes App Store as well? So that is exactly what we did. Today we have compiled what we feel are the current top 5 must-have board game apps available. For the full run down, follow us after the break!

UNO

Gameloft’s rendition of the classic card game has come a long way since it was first introduced into the App Store back in November. With a slick layout, nice graphics and a very fluent control scheme a card game like this is a perfect fit for the iPhone platform.

The feature that makes this a great iPhone board game is Gameloft’s new community based-social network – “Gameloft Live”. This new feature adds friends lists, trophies, chat and personal messaging for players.

• Action Cards are here: Wild, Reverse, Draw 2, and more
• Customize your game with 9 different rules to play your way, including 7-0 and Jump-in
• Play online or with your friends through a Wi-Fi connection.
• Collect prizes by winning increasingly difficult games in Tournament Mode.
• Game invites via push notifications

UNO is available for $4.99. [iTunes Link]

Scrabble

EA Mobile has done a excellent job on it’s latest board game release, Hasbro’s Scrabble, especially for those of you looking for a great multiplayer experience via WiFi. For those of you who may not be familiar with this particular game, the object is to create words from a rack of seven letters that is randomly assigned to each player. You use those seven letters that were assigned to you to build words on the game board. Certain letters have more points associated with them and certain game board squares enable higher scoring. Winning the game is simple, you must create words that give you a higher score than your opponent.

• Now you can play SCRABBLE™ with your friends on Facebook
• Start a match from any platform to play-invite friends the same way
• Play in real time-stats and chats appear instantly
• SHAKE your iPhone to shuffle letters, ZOOM to view the playing board, and DRAG-n-DROP to place tiles
• Tap into your iTunes® libray and listen to your favorite songs

Scrabble is available for $4.99. [iTunes Link]

Monopoly Here and Now: World Edition

Monopoly, what more can you really say but we are willing to bet most, if not all, of our readers has a fairly good idea what this game is all about. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this classic – Monopoly is a board game that can be played two to four players. Each player is represented by a token of their choice: a shoe, a top-hat, a dog, or a car. Each player takes a turn, rolls two six-sided dice and moves his/her token across the board. Each space on the board is either a property you can purchase or it initiates some other transaction – fines, rewards, etc… The goal of Monopoly is to make the most money and bankrupt your opponents.

• Wi-Fi Mode Allows 4 players to connect via the same router on a Local Area Network (Disappointing, we know…)
• 3D view of the board and movers
• Play solo against the computer or Pass n’ play for 4
• Use your touch screen to flick and drag property cards and simulate real-life game experiences

Monopoly Here and Now: World Edition is available for $4.99. [iTunes Link]

The Game of Life: Classic Edition

Just like all of the other EA Mobile board games, The Game of Life translates very nicely over to iPhone. In The Game of Life players travel around the game board landing on spaces that act out various events that you may experience throughout ones life – schooling, work, retirement, etc… During your journey of life you will come be offered jobs, slapped with lawsuits, have children, purchase property, and get life tiles. Life tiles represent major life events that are revealed at the end of the game, each of them will reward players with different amounts of money that will be added to the players retirement totals. The player with the most amount of money at the end of the game, is the winner.

• High replayability – endless choices allow you to recreate your life every time you play!
• Animated tokens bring the game to LIFE!
• Innovative controls for effortless navigation around a colorful gameboard
• Stunning, 3D playing environment with winding roads and plush landscapes

One of most obvious omissions of this game is the lack of Wi-Fi play. Hopefully that will come in a future update.

The Game of Life Classic Edition is available for $4.99. [iTunes Link]

Trivial Pursuit

This last game we have for you today comes from EA Mobile yet again, Trivial Pursuit. This game offers you Classic mode, where the game board has the looks just like the classic board game. The game play is still the same as well. You still collect wedges by answering multiple choice questions for six categories – Entertainment, Geography, History, Sports & Leisure, Science & Nature, and Arts & Literature. The player who is able to answer the most questions correctly and gathers the most wedges – wins.

• Play with up to 4 players using Pass’N Play and local Wi-Fi multiplayer.
• Choose the right amount of wedges to win, set your own time limits, and create personalized difficulty levels.
• Innovative, easy-to-use touch controls allow you to roll the dice with a tilt and a shake. Page through questions with the swipe of your hand and tap to select answers!

Trivial Pursuit is available for $4.99. [iTunes Link]

Conclusion

Well that’s it, TiPb’s Top 5 Must-Have iPhone board games. Did we miss any of your favorites? Overlook any killer features? Drop us a comment and let us know your list!

Monopoly – Here and Now Edition Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!

Monopoly is a classic game, and it was just a matter of time until it appeared on the iPhone. I remember playing this in the summers with my sister when we were out of school. We would get games that lasted months as we would finally run out of money in the bank!

So finally Monopoly comes to the iPhone! The game is visually appealing, and is based on the Monopoly: Here and Now version with updated locations, dollars amount, and random cards. There is a lot of animation in the game, including rolling the dice, moving the pieces, and various cut scenes while running the app. That graphics are nicely done, and there was only a little stutter now and then with the animation sequences.

The game can be played over wifi, but internet play is not yet available. You can, however, play with multiplayer on the same iPhone. When creating a new game, you can set various game options, including some standard variations on the rules like landing on Go gives you a double paycheck, or all tax money goes to free parking. You choose a token for yourself (new, updated tokens), the difficulty level, and the number of players, and go ahead and start.

The in-game controls are fairly easy to use, but they can get a little cumbersome. I prefer that the controls are easily laid out, however, instead of being hidden or confusing. It is relatively easy to scan the board, scroll through the various title deeds to see who owns what. You are presented with action “tiles” at the bottom of the screen that enable all your actions – including purchase property, manage properties, buy houses, and trade.

I was pleased to see that setting up a trade is pretty straighforward, as is building houses and hotels. You can also change the house rules during the game if you like.

The AI seemed pretty good, I was mostly testing it at the medium difficulty setting. When you start a game, there is a nice help section that leads you through the game the first few times you try something. I couldn’t find any way to turn off the help, so I got the help tutorial each time I played a game. This got a little annoying. It would also be nice to be able to turn off animations in order to speed the game up a little bit.

One thing I wish they had was the ability to choose your game board. With all the variations of Monopoly out there (Simpsons, Star Wars, Classic, etc) it would be nice to have various “skins” that you could apply.

Also, the “auction” rules seem a little odd. You are presented with a turn by turn auction, with each player taking turns to place bids. I don’t know why they didn’t implement a real auction for unpurchased properties (or even better, have an potential in-house rule to disable the auction).

Pros:

• Nice customization options with the “house rules”,
• easy to play

Cons:

-Only one “skin”, - no ability to turn off help or animation

Conclusion

All in all, this is a nicely designed game, that is pretty straightforward and easy to play. The various options and settings are nice. It’s fun to play as well, and is currently on sale for $4.99.

Forum Review Rating

[Monopoly is available from the iTunes App Store.]

Today TiPb presents to you a special gaming edition of Apps for Less. The following games could go well with the custom TiPb Element Liquid Cases that we are giving away!

This first game is for all of the first person shooter fans out there, Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes has just dropped a few bucks to $5.99. [iTunes Link] If you missed msbaylor’s forum review, be sure to take a minute and see what this game is all about.

This next one sparked a little bit of comment controversy over its price not to long ago in its preview, UNO. [iTunes Link] Well for all of those who said the price of $7.99 was a bit to steep, how is $4.99? Is that enough to make to take the plunge?

These last two games we want to bring to your attention are brought to us by Electronic Arts. YAHTZEE Adventures and MONOPOLY Here and Now: The World Edition have both gone on sale for a limited time. YAHTZEE Adventures being priced at $2.99 and MONOPOLY priced at $4.99.

Have we missed a good deal that you know about and want to share with everyone? Feel free to send us a email and let us know!

It’s morning; the dull Canadian sun seeps in through the blinds and the alarm sounds on my iPhone. I flip over, swipe to silence, grab the phone from off the side table, and quickly check my email for anything urgent. The weather widget shows clear skies, Twitter is abuzz with the latest SDK updates, and PhoneDifferent.com tells me Apple made a bit of money this year. Closing the browser, I flip on a podcast for some easy-learning and try to decide whether the day needs facing.

Sounds pretty normal, right? Actually, it’s still pretty revolutionary, really. One device to rule them all, as the meme goes. The iPhone. Apple’s gift to the mobile world. And something that, as a Canadian, I can’t legitimately own or use.

Biggest NAFTA- and Free Trade-powered partner, friendliest borders in the world, and seemingly endless source of hot singers and gifted comedians, and while we Canadians can buy every other bit of gear Apple produces, we get absolutely no iPhone love.

Why is that exactly? Read on.

Every cell phone needs a network to function. Voice, data, sms, etc. all requires an existing infrastructure, and the iPhone in particular needs the most prevalent global cellular infrastructure, GSM. Like the United States, Canada has both GSM and CDMA cell providers. Unlike the US, however, where there’s GSM competition between AT&T and T-Mobile, following a merger a few years ago, Canada has only one (1) GSM provider: Rogers.

Reason 1: GSM Monopoly

Way back in 1925, Ted Rogers Sr. invented the first radio tube to work off alternating current (AC), revolutionizing the industry and helping make the radio ubiquitous. Before his untimely death, he was even granted a television license which was still in the experimental stages at the time.

Ted Rogers jr. followed in his father’s footsteps, pioneering stereo broadcasting in 1962 with CHFI-FM. Come 1967, after helping popularize the FM system, Rogers moved into cable television, and by 1985 he entered the cell market with Rogers Cantel Inc.

Rogers began its cellular service with an AMPS network and later transitioned through IS-136 before adopting the de facto global standard of GSM in the 90s. (Currently Rogers is deploying their 3G/3.5G UMTS/HSDPA network to major cities with future plans to expand from there.)

During the early 2000s, Rogers faced GSM competition in the form of Fido. Originally known as Microcell, it was funded in part by T-Mobile and made its bones through (then) innovative and customer-friendly practices like per-second billing and, at one time, unlimited internet access. Due to the competition from Fido and similar upstart, Clearnet, Rogers and the two other large Canadian cell providers, CDMA monoliths Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility, began trying to match per-second billing or start their own boutique operations, like Bell’s Solo brand.

Then, in 2004, Rogers bought Fido. Per-second-billing had already been dropped by the 3 major telcos following Telus’ purchase of Clearnet in 2000, and with Rogers’ purchase of Fido, unlimited internet also disappeared for users not locked into a grand-fathered contract. Rogers wasted no time in integrating Fido into their own network, even while keeping it as a distinct brand and giving “Fido” customers the option of paying an additional $5 a month the “roam” on the Rogers network proper, or pay-per-minute at $0.30.

And with that, the Rogers’ GSM monopoly began.

How does this effect the iPhone in Canada? In the US and EU, carriers competed to get the iPhone, and agreed to revenue-sharing models with Apple in order to lure valuable data-centric customers to their networks. As a the GSM monopoly in Canada, there is no other carrier that could deploy the GSM-bound iPhone, and hence no one for them to compete with.

Perhaps the iPhone could help Rogers lure customers away from their CDMA-based competition, Bell and Telus, but not only is this a partial consideration, it is more than a little muted by the existence of gray-market unlocked iPhones already on the Rogers network. (In other regions, regions without a monopoly, GSM providers would still have to compete even for unlocked iPhones.)

Even if Apple chose to sell unlocked iPhones themselves, directly through Apple Online and retail or, as past rumors have gone so far as to suggest, through ultra-high end retailer Holt Renfrew at a steep $799 a pop, it would still have to run on Rogers’ network.

It’s widely speculated that Apple used the iPhone to get many carriers to agree to unprecedented unlimited data plans at reasonable rates as a condition of their agreements. Lacking competition, Rogers has no incentive to cut its own data rates, which are highly limited and anything but reasonable.

Reason 2: Of Data Rates and Third World Countries

AT&T offers unlimited iPhone data plans for $20 a month. As recently as 2007, before Rogers’ made such information much harder to find on their site, their top-tier data option was $200 a month for 100MB. That’s literally 10x as much for an infinitely smaller amount of data. Leading Canadian newspaper, the Financial Post, has guesstimated that, given Canadian data rates, an iPhone plan would cost $295 a month and still include fewer minutes and less data.

This has led to companies such as RIM, Canada’s homegrown pride and joy and makers of the market-leading Blackberry line, along with the likes of Google, to publicly blast the Canadian telcos for their data rates.

Recently, due to pressure from Bell and Telus, rates are coming down, but in only the most confusing manner possible. You can now find $7 – $15 data plans, but only for certain phones (e.g. only Blackberry Pearl or only HTC Touch), or only for certain services (e.g. only for email or only for wall-gardened browsers).

On February 5th, 2008, Rogers joined the fray with an “unlimited” mobile browsing plan for $7. The restrictions? Only Rogers- and Fido-branded phones qualify. No smart phones. No Blackberries. No Windows Mobiles. And certainly no iPhone. Further, access will only be permitted on Rogers’ branded WAP browser. No Pocket IE. No Opera Mini or Mobile. (Reportedly, Rogers will check IMEI numbers to enforce the plans, and bill non-qualifying phones and non-Rogers’ WAP usage at the usually steep rate of $0.05/KB (do the math).

Notwithstanding the near-impenetrable specials, standard monthly plans for Windows Mobile-based smart phones on Rogers remain from $15 for 2MB ($10 per MB overage) to $80 for 500MB ($3 per MB overage).

The embarrassing state of Canadian cellular data has led some to use the phrase “worse than a third world country“. Indeed, the now-classic graph illustrating the phrase shows costs for 500MB of data transfer starting at $41 in New Zealand, climbing to $74 in Rowanda, stepping up to $102 in the UK, and then soaring the $375 on Telus in Canada, before exploding upwards of $1600 on Rogers.

As mentioned previously, Apple has widely been seen as pushing for fairly priced data plans to go along with their data-centric iPhone. Rather than applying the leadership they showed in radio, or even show basic grasp of economies of scale and volume pricing models (one wealthy/desperate business user @ $200 is dwarfed by $1000 casual users @$20), Rogers has resisted anything approaching fair (by international standards) data plans.

If Apple can not get fair pricing, it’s difficult to see an iPhone launch in Canada. And even if Apple is willing to bend on the fair pricing (as it has has already by accepting data caps in some EU countries), it’s almost impossible to believe they would launch in a country where any reasonable use would result in $1000 monthly data bills. Would you pay that much for an iPhone? Or, rather, an “Apple” Phone…?

Reason 3: Oh, That Other iPhone, Eh?

Almost immediately after the iPhone was introduced by Steve Jobs, high atop the Macworld 2007 stage, ads began to appear for the iPhone in Canada. What’s that you say? Ads in Canada for the iPhone? Yup, just not Apple’s iPhone. It turns out a Canadian company named Comwave had been selling their own VoIP device, called the iPhone, since 2004. And boy did they jump on the newfound, Apple-powered buzz.

Some, including Canadian public broadcaster, CBC, have commented that a trademark dispute between Apple and Comwave over the iPhone name is a roadblock that could take up to 2 years to resolve.

Of course, this isn’t the only iPhone related trademark dispute Apple has had to face. The moment Steve Jobs pulled his revolutionary new device from his pocket and called it the iPhone, no doubt other phones started going off — at the Cisco legal offices in the United States. At the time of the iPhone introduction, Cisco — not Apple — held the registered trademark on iPhone in the US. And almost immediately Cisco made an announcement of their own: lawsuit.

Apple and Cisco settled their dispute just over a month later. That Apple didn’t own the iPhone trademark in the US and went ahead with its introduction there, however, could cast some doubt on how much of a factor Comwave’s claim is when it comes to delaying the iPhone launch in Canada.

On the flip side, settling a lawsuit after announcement but prior to launch, and settling one post-launch are different situations, and different intellectual property rights laws between Canada and the US could also be a consideration for Apple.

But let’s face it, when you say iPhone in Canada, people don’t think of Comwave — they think of Apple.

The Great Gray North

Regardless of whether it’s Rogers’ GSM monopoly, ludicrously high data rates, Comwave’s iPhone patent, or simply Apple’s lack of urgency in the Canadian market (ranked 15th, after Mexico and before South Africa), as it stands right now there’s no iPhone in Canada.

Or is there?

Rumor has it there are tens of thousands, bought in the US and unlocked in Canada. The same rumor holds that they are one of the more popular single devices on the Rogers network already — so popular they are unofficially sanctioned by Rogers tech and customer support. Numerous forum posts comment on getting help choosing iPhone plans (exorbitant as they may be) from Rogers reps.

As far back as firmware versions 1.1.1 and 1.1.2, when unlocking iPhones was still a fairly tricky proposition, I routinely saw them being sold to Canadians via the web, and in person at mall kiosks. I also saw them at big box retailers being used by employees and customers alike. Now with virtually one-click, automated jailbreaking, activating, and unlocking tools available for firmware 1.1.4, gray market iPhone use in Canada can only be on the rise. And that’s not even counting the inevitable increase in buzz come June and the iPhone 2.0 and SDK release, and the almost certain arrival of the second generation, 3G data-capable iPhone.

(No guesses yet on what size data bill a 3G iPhone would generate on Rogers…)

To Be Continued…

So this is where we are with the iPhone officially coming to Canada.

Nowhere.

Gossip lingers on, month after month. Every time another country mentions the possibility of an iPhone launch, a “Canada too!” rumor pops up.

Some of us write to Apple and to Rogers to show them the demand. Some of us complain to the Canadian Radio-Televison and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC – similar to the US FCC) and the Minister of Industry, desperate for some government intervention on the monopolistic abuse with regards to data rates.

Meanwhile, Canadians make do with the iPod Touch and a second device for voice and data, or go to a gray market, unlocked iPhone to save the pocket-space.

I’m in the second category, of course. And every night, I check my news feeds, watch a video, and put on a podcast (set on a 15 min. auto-timer) as I drift off to sleep, hoping and dreaming for an iPhone announcement come morning…

(Want to see the iPhone in Canada? Contact Apple, Rogers, the CRTC, and Ministry of Trade via the links above, and Digg this story to help spread the word!)