iPhone SDK Will Happen

This is cool. Apple is tired of the battle against hackers. They are opening up the iPhone (and hopefully the iPod Touch) to third party developers. I hope this leads to Java J2SE support on the iPhone. That would seriously rock.

nytimes.com:

After engendering frustration from some customers and software makers, Apple has changed its policy to encourage independent developers to build programs for use on the iPhone.

Apple said that in February it would make available a developer’s kit, which would allow independent software makers to more easily create mobile games, navigation systems, screen-shot capture programs and other tools.

Comments

[in8sworld]

This *might* change my mind about the iPhone/iTouch, but Apple likes to announce things a long time before you ever see them to build excitement. *And*, more exciting things are afoot - rumors are that Google may be developing a gPhone! They have been fighting with the big phone companies and lobbying the FCC over the terms of the upcoming sale of spectrum (which will be opened as TV is shifted out of the 700MHz bands). Google has stated that they want the spectrum to be "open" such that devices that work on that spectrum, as well as the programs used to connect to it should be "open". They have said that they will only participate in a bid for the spectrum if the FCC agrees to mandate that the access to and use of the spectrum by the public by open. This is NOT what exists now where cell phones and broadband access cards only work on one provider's network and must be 'hacked' to use it on another one, sometimes destroying the device in the process.

This is yet another form of the DRM which I feel stifles entrepreneurial innovation and protects the behemoth mega-corporations, while actually removing rights from the people. On a related note, lest you think me a raving anti-patent nut, I do favor short term patents and copyright to protect small investors in the market place, but what we have now is a self-perpetuating monstrosity of copyright law that protects huge corporations for lifetime+95 years for no good reason other than the protection of established businesses. Who actually OWNS the radio spectrum? Shouldn't it be the people? Doesn't the FCC manage the spectrum for OUR benefit? The FCC has agreed with Google, and we may see the birth of a new internet provider this coming January. More than just an open phone, this may mean an open wireless network!

[Curious Stranger]

The FCC only ended up including two of Google's "Open" provisions - Open Applications and Open Devices - and ignored Open Services and Open Networks.

While it's progress, it wasn't enough for Google to commit to the auction (yet). Their reasoning was laid out before the decision in a post on their Public Policy blog explaining their perception of the barriers to entry facing new FCC auction participants. Since July and August, when the FCC published the limited open access rules, Verizon has been busy trying to eke out as much wiggle room as possible around the open access provisions, and Google has been complaining about it.

[Curious Stranger]

BTW, the FCC rules for the auction are available here. Check out the discussion of the Open provisions starting at paragraph 189.

[Curious Stranger]

Oh, and one last interesting point. When Google proposed these Open principles for the auction, some of their critics asked why Google didn't just bid on the spectrum, and if they won, implement the Open principles. Google's response was that the barriers to entry (mentioned above) to a new auction participant were high enough that they thought it was reasonable to require it as a condition of the auction. Since the FCC rejected Open Networks and Open Services, Google has mysteriously stopped talking about them as well. Would Google, should it win the auction, implement Open Networks and Open Services? Or was that just their hedge against someone else winning the auction?

"We are still carefully analyzing whether and how we might participate in the upcoming auction. However, if we do end up bidding and ultimately win the spectrum in question, we would ensure that consumers have the right to decide which devices and applications they want to use on our network. We would also encourage third party software applications -- even those that compete directly with our own services -- on the theory that users deserve the right to pick and choose the programs they want to use online."

Emphasis added by me - where's the Open Services and Networks? A Google 700mhz network might be different, but they're not operating it out of the goodness of their heart.