Good comment on Apple and the total-control-of-the-iPhone-apps issue here: Why Is Apple Scared of the Free Market with iPhone 3G?.
Quotes:
"My complaint is that the App Store is the only sanctioned method to get apps on the iPhone, that only “blessed” apps get in the door, and all of those apps are essentially crippled apps, as compared to the full functionality of the “jailbreaked” apps..." I totally agree.
Alex goes on: "The point of this post is to ask why Apple seems to be afraid of competition? It has produced a revolutionary new device, putting computing power and Internet access in the palm of anyone’s hand, but then holds it (and the applications on it) back from competing in the full market place. Apple’s rhetoric is that the iPhone is the über-phone, and evangelists like me are spreading the word, and the millions of iPhones sold so far are evidence of that. Apple says it has the best solution for creating and distributing applications for the iPhone. If those statements are true, why not instead of locking the iPhone and its apps down, let them stand on their own merit and compete against other offerings in the open market? The pricing subsidy, the crippling of official SDK applications, and the limitations of who can sell what in the official App Store each hold the iPhone back from reaching its potential. It’s already amazing, but the competition would make wireless carriers’ services better, it would make the applications better, and it would competitively lower the iPhone’s price instead of artificially relying on this subsidy-model shell game. Why not open up a little, Apple?"
He makes a very good point here. My question is this: are we willing to forgive Apple's relentless control desire for what some of us think is the best possible walled garden of mobile goodies we can get at this time? How does one weigh against the other? Where does the legitimate compromise end, and where does the wall-building start? Is this for the good of Apple or the good of the people formerly known as consumers? Please comment below.
And don't forget to visit my other blog over at Mediafuturist.com (where I post a lot more regularly - for now!)
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