Apple's cult of secrecy begins to bug its developers
blogs.guardian.co.uk
blogs.guardian.co.uk
That's not to say that I think Android will be bad - just that the iPhone will be better. And as a result, despite programmers' gripes, it will have more potential and - much more importantly - far more users. People won't switch operating systems just because it's more open than something else, only if it provides something more. It's not like the Apple II, which lost to Microsoft's products because Microsoft appealed to a different market. That different market is already led by Blackberry and Windows Mobile, and Apple's aware of that.
It's possible that Android becomes wide-spread, if all the cell phone operators decide to pick it up. But that's a lower market than the one Apple appeals to. Their market, the "multiphone" for lack of a better word, is one that they created and they are leading. And I'd guess their goal is to make that market the dominant cell phone market. Whether or not it succeeds has nothing to do with Android. It has to do with whether or not the market shifts with Apple.
This is only true if you ignore the entire gaming industry, where I can think of not a single successful platform that allows public discussion.
I hope that Apple eventually realizes that a healthy developer community is actually in their best interest.
Although I don't think anybody should think for a moment that Apple would keep this restriction if it ever seemed it might cost them something.
I'm betting the iPhone SDK NDA will be lifted someday, just right now it makes zero sense.
"now, ya say ya stood in line fer 22 hours to buy a phone? that ain't right"
"ya know other operatin' systems do have web browsers"