Engadget and the Curious SIM Unlock Question

It’s not often that I disagree with Ryan Block or John Gruber — these guys are always on top of their game — but I have to disagree when it comes to the recent SIM-Unlock question.

Don’t know it? It was when, during the Q&A portion of the recent Apple announcement regarding the iPhone SDK and the roadmap for the deployment of third-party apps, that Ryan Block asked Steve Jobs:

Will SIM unlock software be considered software not allowed in the app store?

As the live blogging reported, the answer was “(pause)…Yes. (Laughter)”.

Block blogged this later:

But even knowing the answer would be a resounding no, asking whether SIM unlock software would be allowed can be construed as a statement — as well as and an opportunity for Apple to address the millions of potential customers who’d like to be able to use an iPhone on a non-prescribed carrier. (source)

Gruber said this in support:

Just because the answer is obvious doesn’t mean it wasn’t a fair question. I don’t have a problem with Apple serving as a gatekeeper with approval over all apps, but if that’s the role they want, their policies should be explicit. (source)

Here’s the problem, guys: These weren’t the questions asked. What got asked was “will you circulate SIM unlock apps?” and the answer was an obvious “No.” The failure here is that Question 1 was somehow meant to imply Question 2 but only Question 1 can be answered, ergo, it was a waste of time.

Or as Kramer might say, why don’t you just tell me the question you want answered?

Here’s two alternatives:

• “Who is defining which apps are allowable and which are not for the app store?”
• “What is Apple’s policy on third-party applications that compete with AT&T services?”

In film school, one of the first rules of interviewing I ever got was to remove questions that can be answered with a simple Yes or No. Jobs was lobbed an easy “No” — which is exactly how he fielded it — that really no one would argue with, and the purpose of the question was so opaque that we now have two blog entries clarifying it. “Because” is not an acceptable answer, so if the answer must be a reason or an explanation, then you’ve got a winner.

Instead, we got the equivalent of “will you allow software that voids the user’s warranty?” Excellent work there, Professor Layton.