Former Apple Engineer Testifies He Helped Block Non-iTunes Clients

A little over a week ago, we reported that Apple was facing a lawsuit in which they admitted that they deleted non-iTunes purchased music from iPods. According to Apple during their testimony, this was done for security purposes meant to protect both the user and the device. If you thought that seemed like a bunch of baloney, another testimony by a former Apple engineer confirms that.

According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, former Apple engineer Rod Schultz took to the stand and testified that he was part of the team that worked on that particular feature. Schultz claims that he worked on a project whose goal was to block 100% of non-iTunes clients as well as to keep our third-party players that could compete with the iPod.

Schultz also agreed with Apple’s argument that the reason for the blocking of non-iTunes purchases was done for security reasons. Apple had argued that their system ensured a uniform experience across the board for all iPod/iTunes users, especially when you consider that there are many different formats of audio out there (MP3, OGG, FLAC, WAV, etc.).

As it stands, Apple is facing a $350 million lawsuit for alleged anti-competitiveness. However under US antitrust laws, those damages could be tripled to as much as $1 billion should Apple be found guilty of wrongdoing.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Audio
Tags: iPod, Legal