The last few months Apple has releaed quite a few new gadgets. Most notably is the iPhone and now the iPod Touch. These two devices are very similar in the function of the screen is the main control and both ran on a slimmed down version of OS X.
The problem lies in the fact that they’ve limited the functionality of each of these devices. At this point in time you are unable to create third party applications without hacking the device. People state that Apple does not want to allow third party due to a deal with AT&T. The question is then; why does every other smart phone on the market allow third party applications?
The top smart phones today are mainly ran on one of these platforms: Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Blackberry. Each allows for third party software. Not only that, they have a full API to help developers create the applications.
So, why might Apple have this restriction? The answer is simple, they can. The company was in such a rush to push the product out the door they forgot to check for major bugs in the underlying system. They want to be able to push out updates and not have to worry about breaking third party applications. In the current hacked application setup if Apple pushes out an update that breaks their software it is the fault of the application’s developer to fix it. Apple does not have to even think about anyone else, just them self.
Apple also loves to restrict their products, just take a look at OS X. The one thing that comes to mind is the GUI. Without installing a hack you can not change the look of the operating system. All of the programs look the same, the menu, everything. Some people love this, personally I find it annoying. I keep wishing that I could just go in and change the setting. The odds of this ever being added is slim to none, which is the same odds of Apple totally opening up the iPhone.
Last week the iPod touch was announced to the public. Basically this device is a iPhone without the phone, but with even more setbacks. The device lacks the ability yo add items to a calendar, no google maps, no bluetooth. It does have wireless (802.11b/g), but about the only thing you can do is surf the web and buy songs off iTunes. They hyped up the ability to get “free wifi” at Starbucks, there is just one problem, its only for buying songs off iTunes. You can not use that wifi to do anything, you still have to pay t-mobile to do that.
Do I sound bitter at Apple (pun intended)? Maybe. I just hate to see this company miss out on a possible huge opportunity by locking down their devices. If the iPhone was open for application development I would have bought that instead of the n95.
