Crastinate

I just ran into one of my wife’s cousins at the supermarket. He told me he’s running for local state assemblyman this coming election. I asked him whether he thought he had a chance of winning. He told me it’s not so much about winning but about showing the current assemblyman that their is competition out there.

This comment resonated with me this morning as I came home and read about how Apple is not allowing Opera, a web browser, into the iPhone Application Store. Reasons being, it’s a competitor to Safari, Apple’s browser already included on each iPhone.

I can’t blame Apple for this decision…or can I? The iPhone is a locked operating system and anything that might potentially hurt Apple’s bottom line or existing relationships with partners is not allowed into the iPhone. But I think it’s a bad move on their part. The appeal of Android, Google’s mobile operating system, is that Google’s interest closely reflects the consumers. The consumer wants the entire web on their phone. Google wants the same. Apple wants to give you enough internet to make you happy so you’ll buy their product. At least that’s my opinion. And it seems, I’m right.

What should Apple do? They should manage the iPhone OS like they do their desktop OS. Anything that isn’t a virus or malicious program should be let in. No one can compete with the Apple’s UI design. They’re the best at it. But I could see myself, and many others, jumping the iPhone boat in a couple years if Apple doesn’t open up their system. Android will keep on  innovating based on the achievements of external programmers. How can Apple keep up if they don’t open the floodgates as well?

[polldaddy poll=1062349]

UPDATE: It seems that the initial story about Opera in the App store may be incorrect. John Gruber has a more in-depth look at the initial rumors. Thanks for the update Ricki.

Ely Rosenstock