It’s becoming increasingly clear that Apple wants to run a tight ship when it comes to the openness of the iPod/Phone/Pad platform.
This Slate article by Tim Wu provides an excellent historical context, arguing that Woz’s penchant for openness has been all but lost since he left the company, only to be replaced by Jobs’ desire for control over the user experience. It seems to me that the yin/yang between these two might have laid a good foundation for the company in its early days.
Steve’s closed-mindedness was all but confirmed on Thursday with the release of a new developers agreement. Perhaps the most important change: apps cannot be developed for multiple platforms. This appears to be a direct shot at Adobe’s beta product that allows apps developed for Flash to be ported to the iPhone.
That unifying creed is this: Open platforms promote innovation and diversity more effectively than proprietary ones.
In the words of one of the Web’s brightest theorists, Jonathan Zittrain of Harvard, the Web displays the “generative†power of a platform where you don’t have to ask permission to create and share new ideas.
I personally agree with these statements (from a recent Times article). By constraining their platform to such a large degree, Apple is effectively 1. scaring away developers, 2. constraining the ability to innovate based on open standards, and 3. further walling off the iPhone into it’s own network (thus decreasing network effects). It’s possible that Apple has enough momentum that these factors won’t matter, but it is definitely a move that involves some risk.
I remember the days when the question of whether an application was “for Windows or Mac” was a dealbreaker. These days, it’s still a valid question, but open platforms like Java and the web have made it less of an issue. Apple seems to be taking a big step backwards.