So much media attention has been focused on the China-Google squabble over online censorship and hacking. Almost always, China’s government has been portrayed as a control-obsessed, sinister Big Brother, fearful of losing its power over over the mind of its people.

But oppression is a trade never monopolized. Everybody, every vendor, every sector has a share of the market. Given a chance, everyone would readily take advantage of anybody else. This truism is also quite real in the IT world.

Look at Microsoft, and how compulsively controlling is it in the software business. Its software licensing agreements are not exactly declarations of independence; they are more like (on the part of the end user) terms of unconditional surrender. All the other software and IT companies are in varying degrees similarly guilty, even those so-called open source proponents.

But nothing beats Apple when it comes to controlling an ecosystem. Starting with its Mac computers, to the iPod media players, and the iPhone, Steve Jobs have always had it his way. Consumers and app developers always have had to do it the Apple way, or are told to take a hike.

260-Buck iPad

It costs about $260 to build an iPad, according to market research firm iSuppli. While that price includes parts and components costs, as well as manufacturing expenses, it does not take into consideration product development and marketing costs. Still, it shows how much Jobs and company are making with every iPad they sell.

Also, iSuppli’s research-cum-iPad-destruction demonstrates just what consumers who purchase the iPad are paying for. You just got to hand it to Apple, more than 40% of the total production cost went to the user interface, reflecting how much Jobs values the user experience.

300,000 iPads

Apple said it sold more than 300,000 units of iPad in the U.S. on April 3, the first day of availability of the company’s much-anticipated tablet PC. This figure, which included preordered shipments, met some analysts’ forecasts, but was lower than expected by some observers.

Also, during the first day, about a million applications were downloaded from the App Store, and more than 250,000 ebooks were purchased from the iBookstore.

It seems that enough consumers are happy with how Apple runs a tight ship as far as its ecosystem is concerned. Non-Apple fans could harp as much as they want, the thing is there is a considerable portion of the IT user population that does not want to tinker under the hood, or have access to non-beatified, non-authorized applications and options.

Some users seem more than willing to give up their “freedom” for the Apple user experience. Applications developers, meanwhile, would rather have access to a reliable market than hold on to their “creative freedom.” Well, seems for everyone, giving up rights is easy when the price is right.
That’s all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.