I used to think the same thing, but i'm not so sure anymore.
I think the closedness of the iPhone is actually beneficial (to that particular phone). Skipping past the "average consumer doesn't care about the iPhone being a closed platform" and the "closed platform doesn't let developers innovate as quick" arguments, the iPhone excells at what it does and now -relies- on its closedness to maintain its market position.
The main point of the iPhone was integration with apples line of products, thus the iPhone is just another addition to the apple product line. The system behind that is there to make that product what it is and nothing more. Because, you are dealing with the mobile space with the iPhone, the best way to control how much innovation is taking place on your device is to keep it closed. After all, can't have apps that introduce new functionality that could potentially be folded into future devices, that could hurt the iPhone revenue stream.
One could argue that the iPhone is bad at 'openness', but that seems to be a non-factor or at least a negligible factor to at least some very large percentage of consumers.
The iPhone is really open and functional compared to the phones that preceded it. Just downloading a ringtone for most prior phones was more expensive than full-fledged games on the iPhone. The app store is far from perfect, but it's a very open market compared to anything I've seen out of Nokia or any of the Japanese handset makers.
Can you really count the iPhones? They are not open in any sense of the word and you would have to do some significant contortions to run anything but Apple's OS on them.
The control that Apple has over the iPhone and the application distribution channel does contribute greatly to the iPhone's success. It makes the platform easily accessible to people who aren't inclined to search the internet for apps and are, in fact, afraid of doing it for all the malware experiences they have on their PCs. They know the App Store has everything, and that they can reasonably expect that the apps won't harm their device.
But, the iPhone is still just a phone. Most people don't hit the walls of the room Apple has them locked in. Heck, most people don't even do much with their iPhones... They rarely browse the web or use it to do serious email (one line replies in a pinch are not "serious email") because they find the screen too small and the experience too cumbersome when compared to a real computer. They install some apps, but never really use them besides the first few minutes, unless they're games, which also says much about the typical iPhone user: phone calls and games.
The people that complain about lack of openness are the exception.
Now, the iPad is not an iPhone. Nobody will buy it to make phone calls, although they will certainly play games in it. The iPad is more of a computer, and more people will hit the walls of Apple's control. _This_ is what's going to define the iPad's success.
It is a beautiful device, but if the average Joe expects it to behave more like a standard computer than an iPhone, and if Apple doesn't make it more open, it may very well end up a failure.
I like the iPhone, and if I weren't the kind of person that lives fine with just a basic phone, I would prefer one over the alternatives (android et al) even though it is much less open. On the other hand, I won't buy an iPad despite how beautiful it is because it is too expensive for something that's not a real computer.
I guess I was thinking more of non-smart mobile phones, since that was what most people used before the iPhone. But even so, it doesn't explain why other closed devices have been, and remain closed with no complaints.
Why do we not express the same discontent over a PS3? Or any other closed environment? I don't think it's because smartphones were "open" before the iPhone.
I was not reffering to this particular case. I was reffering to applications being shut down left and right by Apple, T-Mobile, Blackberry etc...
The mobile industry roadmap is fundamentally hard to comprehend and if you play it in long enough you will not be surprised when Apple shuts down app A or app B because you knew from the get go that this illusion of the Iphone being open is just that.
Where can I download the source code for the iPhone's UI?
Does iPhone have anything like Android's intents that allows me to plug my own stuff in?
Can I install my own applications on my own damn phone without paying Apple?
There may be some metric where iPhone is more open than Android, but I can't think of it.
There are plenty of nice things to be said about the iPhone: it really changed the phone game, it's beautiful, well designed, and so on. But 'open' and 'free' aren't really words I'd associate with it.
Great parallel drawn between the iPhone and appliances — it really is the microwave of the smartphone world.
What people always miss when making the "open" argument with regard to the iPhone is this: What functionality is "missing"?
There are a billion things that the iPhone can't do, and much of this "missing" functionality would be achievable if iOS was open source (and is achievable if you jailbreak). But Apple builds products for the mass market, and all of this amazing functionality the iPhone is "missing" is functionality the mass market can live with or without.
As new apps bring cool new functionality, great. As new features come along in future versions of iOS, even better. If some cool stuff is left out though, so be it. 90% of iPhone owners probably won't know or care.
Personally, I do know and I do care, so I use an Android phone.
You're not thinking about how limited your iphone is.
I know It doesn't seem limited, but Apple abide by the premise of the title by having a closed app store, a really tight SDK and only a few handsets and platforms.
Contrast to Android which runs on everything and doesn't suck but it looks generally generic.
In the long run, Apple found that they could get away with "just enough" openness in favor of a highly polished end-user experience. They could just as easily do that with the iPhone and make it the "high-end" choice.
That's a great point, and you've made me resent the closed nature of the iPhone for the first time. I'm not sure where I'd even start. The good news is I have her up on RPG Maker on the PC.
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