As you ’ve read by now , Apple publish iPhone update 1.1.1 last week . This update adds some compelling new feature , most notably the iTunes Wi - Fi Music Store , easily - accessible iPod gambling controls , louder speakerphone and receiver volume , and support for video out .
However , as you ’ve also take by now , the update did a few other things . First , as Apple had warned , it turned unlocked iPhones into expensive paperweights , give them useless . ( A Macworld staffer who unlock his telephone so that we could document this procedure , had this happen to his iPhones . ) Second , if you had a modified iPhone that ran third - company applications , like I had , the update removed those apps . So much for my plea to Apple . Finally , if you used Ambrosia’siToner , or any other such ringtone utility , you discovered that all your custom ringtones were also expire .
Unlike most Apple software updates , I held off on running this one until there were some subject field reports about on the dot what happened . Once those reports started trickling in , I came to a painful but obvious conclusion : I will never set up the 1.1.1 update on my iPhone .
I ’ve choose not to elevate because I evaluate the productivity , entertainment , and customization power offered by the third - company software I ’ve tot to my iPhone . I do n’t desire those abilities to go away just to earn the “ right ” to send Apple more money via the new Wi - Fi Music Store . No thanks ; my iPhone will remain at version 1.0.2 for quite a while , it seems .
Now , if some brilliant individual or team of individuals figures out how to work around the locks that Apple has put in place on the iPhone and again enable third - party apps , I will then upgrade my phone — I want the new features , but not gravely enough to give up what I ’ve already got .
Now , before I go any further , I conceive Apple was well within its right to do precisely what it did . I understand that I ( well , my employer ) buy a telephone that was n’t project to run third - company applications ; that it ’s Apple ’s right to upgrade the iPhone however it sees primed ; and that if tough thing happen to my modify iPhone as a result of any Apple upgrade , it ’s not Apple ’s error .
I also understand that the new encrypted communications between the iPhone and iTunes may very well have been necessary to forbid SIM unlock programs , which directly affect Apple and AT&T revenue , from being created . I fully believe that Apple has the right to do what it needs to do to protect its revenue , and that of its partners .
Still , with that savvy , I have to ask … what was Apple intellection ?
Third-party apps and the iPhone
What I do n’t understand is that Apple on the face of it does n’t see any upside to allowing third political party software on the iPhone . This confuses me , because an combat-ready third - company development community can only help , not hurt , Apple ’s bottom line . If there ’s a large and various syndicate of iPhone applications useable , then there ’s a large grouping of potential customers ( think eccentric and tekki , at the least ) that would put the iPhone on their shopping tilt . If they then take to buy the gimmick , Apple would welcome both the initial $ 399 in hardware sales as well as the portion of the monthly service charge it ’ll encounter from AT&T.
These public opinion poll resultsseem to show that there is such a market of potential consumers out there : fully 15 percent of the respondent signal they are no longer project on purchase an iPhone , thanks to the unfitness to run third - political party software with the 1.1.1 update . ( And an amazing 42 percentage of the voters are take the same approach as I , and plainly not upgrading their iPhones . ) allot , this is n’t a scientific poll , but the number of answerer in the “ will not corrupt now ” category designate that there are quite a few user who value the power to consort third - party applications on their sound .
So how does Apple fall back at all by enabling ( and hopefully help to promote ) third - party program on the iPhone ? The company gain more hardware sales , and more revenue from monthly service fees from AT&T. It seems like a no - brainer decision to me , but apparently I ’m mistaken .
Is the iPhone an iPod or a Mac
The iPod has been tremendously successful , and yet has never been spread out for third - company applications . The only exception is a minuscule number of Apple - approve games , written by only a few companies . Everything else on the iPod is 100 - percent Malus pumila - allow and engage down . The Macintosh , on the other mitt , would not be what it is today if it were n’t for third - party program — the act of third - company apps on my Macs is much large than the number of Apple - supply applications . Apple put out an excellent software development software system ( Xcode ) that enables anyone who has the desire and technical knowledge to create an OS X software . And there ’s no terminal point to what those programs can do — anyone who want to is devoid to compete with Apple ’s app , even those like iWork and iLife that drive Apple ’s revenue .
So along comes the iPhone . Is it an iPod ? Is it a Mac ? Well , the job is , it ’s both — it acts like an iPod , but it run OS X. From the beginning , it seems Apple ’s intent has been to treat the iPhone like an iPod , and not like a Mac . ( Even at that , though , the iPhone has some limitations that an iPod doesn’t — no disc way , for example . ) Hence the shut up - down nature of the chopine . The lack of any reliable computer software development outfit . An update which contain third - party app program from working , and progress to it much more difficult ( if not unimaginable ) for them to be brought back in the time to come . The grounds indicates to me that Apple thinks the iPhone is an iPod with some cool telephony and net skill , basically .
I think this is completely the improper approach : The iPhone is a Mac , and it should be treated as such . When you combine the iPhone ’s group O X core with the gravid , gorgeous and forward-looking multi - touch screen , there ’s an astonishingly vast amount of computer software that could be developed for the iPhone . In just a few months , we ’ve seen more than 60 program developed for the iPhone — and all of them were create without any sort of corroboration or an official growing outfit from Apple ! There are developer eager to help plow the iPhone into a most awesome gimmick , if only Apple would recognise the voltage of the political platform and the contributions that third party could make to its achiever .
And why would we need third - party applications on this “ revolutionary and magical Cartesian product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone , ” asSteve Jobs describe it ? Well , this revolutionary gadget miss a full Internet messaging ( chat ) computer program , something you’re able to find on the giveaway phones found in any cellular store . This revolutionary gimmick lacks the power to site itself on a mapping , something find in quite a few phones via a GPS splintering . This revolutionary gadget lacks any way to tailor-make its look , beyond the curtain raising screen wallpaper — again , you ’ll find this ability survive on nearly every other cell earpiece out there . This revolutionary twist ca n’t customize sounds for various events , such as the new ring armour audio , the sent content speech sound , and the unlock strait . This revolutionary twist ca n’t playanygames , unless they ’re hosted on a WWW Sir Frederick Handley Page . This revolutionary twist ca n’t use any MP3 as a ringtone , unlike many giveaway cellular phone .
But amazingly enough , myiPhone can do all of those things , and much more . All thanks to the third party , who have done all of this without Apple ’s help , and without any sort of prescribed documentation . Just imagine what would be potential if they had both support and documentation : The iPhone really could be a revolutionary equipment .
I think Apple go down on it here , and blew it in a gravid elbow room . or else of embracing and stretch the development of third - party program , it seems they ’ve belong in the opposite instruction : to make it as severely as possible for third - party program to exist . From a consumer ’s linear perspective , this is dire , as it ’s remove choice from the consumer — not everyone is rifle to desire the same apps and the same look on their iPhone , yet that ’s what Apple ’s secern us we must have ( “ bask your young iPhone . Everything you could ever desire is right there , and we ’re sure you ’ll love the theme we ’ve instal for you . ” )
Of course , consumers still do have a alternative , but that option is to buy a contend brand ’s smart phone . Is that what Apple really wants us to do ?
The iPhone Store?
My colleague Jason Snell , believes there ’s a theory of an Apple schoolmaster plan at work here — the iPhone Store , which would manoeuver much like the iTunes Store , allowing you to purchase sanction third - party applications for your iPhone instantly from Apple . Apple would , of course , take a cutting from each developer ( and perhaps charge for the iPhone development outfit ) , and it would have the final say over what applications wind up in the store .
However , even if this comes to pass , it wo n’t be anything like the vibrant development environment that exists today . If there is a charge for the development outfit , that would rule out quite a few of the currently - active developer — very few of them are even asking for donations for their efforts , so they ’re clearly not doing this for the money ( at least , not at this stage ) . It ’s doubtful they ’d be willing to send Apple any money for the right hand to get applications they ’re give away .
And if the program is innocent , would Apple even be unforced to conduct it in the storage , given it would n’t get a cut of revenue off of it ? eventually , what if a developer want to write something that compete with something Apple already offer , or thought it might pop the question someday ? Would it be approved for the iPhone Store ? Or what if it were something that directly impact Apple or AT&T ’s tax revenue today , like a voice over IP applications programme ? Would such a program be sanction ?
What should Apple do?
No , an Apple - run depot for iPhone apps is n’t the solution , I do n’t think . I think the resolution is nothing more complex than an prescribed Apple iPhone software development outfit that ’s given away for free , and include all the necessary tools to build compelling iPhone software program . In my opinion , the long - terminal figure achiever of the iPhone is strung-out on it becoming more mack - like and less iPod - like congenator to its support for third party practical software .
Until that bechance , though , I ’ll keep using my non - update iPhone with its assortment of third - political party applications , and go for that Apple eventually sees the top of spread iPhone maturation to those who are eager to extend and enhance this amazing gimmick .
