I think its very true that the iPhone was ONLY unique in that it was popular when it comes to issues like this. That's why I think the whole notion of suing them for source code is STUPID. Absolutely brain dead.

Moreover, I never understood the compulsion people had to SCREW-UP their firmware, and then cross their fingers that something they did wouldn't "brick" their phones if they tried a vanilla upgrade. Schiller even said at the time... hey, we can't test for conditions we don't support. If you go changing the software on the device, and when it gets upgraded... bad things happen... we're not responsible. In fact, if we see you've altered the device firmware, we can't even offer you support, and we'll likely blacklist your serial number if we see you in the store.

This type of crippling problem is only made more problematic due to the nature of baseband firmware, etc. Critics say Apple should go out of its way to install jailbreaks and unlocks, and do complete restores of the baseband firmware, etc. It's possible they do now, but when this first start? Come on. Mac users have had similar problems using "hacks" to the Mac OS and then trying to upgrade and having their computer go bonkers. We then have the easier option of booting on CD and reinstalling the OS. On the iPhone... not really that simple once you've started editing things you shouldn't be editing.

I will be amused to see how "rooting" on the Android and "jailbreaking" on the Palm Web OS will be like over time. It looks like Palm is so forlorn, they may not want to upset any apple carts by tightening their security (closing exploits) over time as Apple has done... or at least, don't have the resources to do much in that arena (they've seemingly even given up iTunes sync). At the end of the day, iPhone jailbreakers have managed to expose thousands of iPhone owners (not schooled in the ways of geekdom) to the platform's first Worm (focusing as many do on "features" and not security precautions). This is the same level of responsibility Android Market entrusts with its users by giving customers the option to vote yay or nay to "almost" any API request (as if the average consumer won't just brush past these notices).

Ultimately, I think people who color outside the lines for a platform like the iPhone will suffer for it, and it will be more about Murphy's Law or Karma, than something you can readily blame Apple for. I'm sure Apple has been sued for negligence on security far more often at this point... but those stories aren't as sexy. Actually, I guess they are... we just saw that "game stole my data" suit recently. Same thing Apple accused Google Voice of doing ironically.

I think anyone who sees Apple as having done ANYTHING untoward here, is more than a bit brainwashed. There was a time when what Palm did would be called a "hack"... except that its being perpetrated by a corporation that is in turn implicating millions of users into a relationship with Apple that Apple never intended to support. While one could argue that Apple did not have to explicitly close the "hole" Palm was slipping through (as described by DVD Jon), were I Apple, I certainly would have seen NO reason to leave it open. The tech support calls alone by users insisting Apple should be supporting them, polluting its support forums with glitch reports... its an added expense that they don't need.

For instance, there are a number of tools that interface with iTunes in ways Apple fully supports. Blackberry will be releasing one such tool for its users in September, and Amazon.com already has an Mp3 Store tool for Windows and Mac users that simply downloads music and adds it to iTunes in a supported method. For Palm to merely "pretend to be an iPod", is an unreasonable attempt by Palm to leverage Apple's platform, without actually having Apple's cooperation or support.

NO ONE is preventing Palm from releasing a syncing tool that works with iTunes. They're simply prioritizing their resources by spending their time and money elsewhere. Support Mac and PC media syncing? Nah, just pretend you're an iPod and tell our users to download iTunes. I can't count the number of times I've felt disenfranchised by Palm's choice not to make subsequent versions of Palm Desktop compatible with my current Palm device. If someone... like Sony, hacked their Cle firmware to allow it to support new desktop versions without Palm's consent, I'm sure they wouldn't be seen as "clever". They would be forcing Palm to support a larger hardware base.

It's a real trick to make anyone thing Palm is being "hurt" by being knocked off like the leech it was acting like.

Well, here's an interesting problem. On the dismissive side, one could say that anyone who agrees with most of Apple's decisions are naive, foolish, or sycophants. In many cases, this is entirely true. However that doesn't automatically mean that Apple's own arguments hold no water or hidden promise, even IF you disagree with that logic.

Personally, I tend to think differently about Apple's strategy than many of the loud folk on Slashdot. The way I see it, Apple created a platform, and its actively attempting to have it function in a way they see leads to a long-term success. What that has come to mean, is that they are introducing things MUCH slower than the digerati wants them to. Erica Sadun was the first to point out that it seemed Apple's API was coming along very well, long before they exposed it to developers. You can either say: a.) Apple NEVER intended to allow 3rd party native apps. b.) Apple has always intended to allow 3rd party native apps, but needed to commit to a staged release.

The first time I got a peek behind the curtain was at a local "iPhone Tech Talk" here in Massachusetts. Apple showed a big wall of suggestions on the iPhone's direction, and welcomed any other suggestions. On the projector slide was a large "cloud" of virtually everything people had been clamoring for. But, its all being worked on piece by piece.

Its interesting how they prioritized enterprise support, even though they still claimed iPhone to be a consumer product. All the incremental steps I've seen have shown a lot of consideration and internal struggle, and I think... and this is just my personal view, that its needed.

Should Apple simply open the doors to every unintended consequence and hope that the consumer experience isn't ruined? Right now, Apple has the highest satisfaction rating across all smartphones. I think that's their ultimate goal. If something doesn't pass muster, it simply doesn't make it in... no matter what the consequences.

We saw Apple's disasterous Mobile Me launch. This frightened them away from notifications until they "got it right". From what I see, Apple will eventually allow "background" processes. But, I suspect that it may be done after Apple has gotten developers into utilizing the notification system... so that people do not create a "background" app if they do not need to.

I think the same is true for native applications. I think its great that Apple worked (and IS working) on its web app experience. That web app support came before native support I think, was brilliant, and it really set an excellent trend in websites upgrading their mobile sites to acknowledge more powerful mobile devices.

My criticism of Apple comes MORE from the question of WHY they don't open Apple TV up to 3rd party apps, USB device support, and cloud notification. That needs to come soon, because its clear they've been working on this as well.

This image of Apple putting "business interests" before "customer interests", is frankly self-serving at best and quite ignorant at worst. If Apple's consumer rankings and customer experience were being affected by a missing feature, you can be sure this feature would be at the top of Apple's priority. Instead, the only "missing" features are the ones that are desired, but less important than others that eventually made the grade.

I'm torn on background processes. The iPhone has encouraged people to burn through battery power faster than any other cellphone out there, even while employing an improving energy conservation system. Anyone remember when their Macs needed to be restarted with the shift key to leave background extensions off, because the system had become unstable or it wasn't clear what was making the machine slow?

WinMo, Android, and Blackberry can KEEP their BG app implementations. If theirs impresses me... I'll switch. It really HASN'T so far (although Android's and Pre's come close)... so, I'm not sure why some people act like its the bees knees. I just want to hand the iPhone to my mom or my wife and not have to explain anything so esoteric.

WRONG. Punishing early adopters would be if Apple started adding these apps to NEW Touches, and NOT offering an upgrade to existing Touch owners at all.

What happens when you buy a computer with Windows XP and then Vista comes out and you want the computer to have that instead? You have to pay to upgrade it, that's what. Even if its the same hardware... costing the SAME price (or less).

Yes, it'd be very cool if manufacturers just doled out free software/feature updates for everyone in perpetuity... but that's not realistic. Apple simply doesn't treat the Touch as a product that gets free feature upgrades. You can get the latest firmware, you just won't get the new APPS. Pay close attention to how this works. In about one month, or so... you'll look at 5 high-calibre apps for $20 as a nice deal. Apple DOES treat the iPhone and Apple TV as products that will receive free updates and features. WHY? Because they structured their accounting that way, and specifically because they represent two NEW fields for Apple (cellphone/video) that Apple wants to remain competitive in. Those 5 apps have NOTHING to do with being competitive in the PMP/Mp3 market. They're already KING BANANA their, and NO ONE else offers features that these 5 apps do on your mp3 player. NO ONE. --So, $20. Big whoop. Does it make iPod Touch a PDA now? Yes, basically. They've now changed the product from an PMP to a PDA... and you get to stay current by paying $20. If only all manufacturer upgrades were that easy to jump on-board with.