* Soon-to-ship device makes headway in restrictive U.S. mobile environment
The Apple iPhone is coming soon to an AT&T/Cingular store near you.
The iPhone, due to ship June 29, combines a cell phone, Web browser, and music and video player with a revolutionary touchscreen interface. Anyone who has seen it demonstrated or watched its compelling TV ads probably uses adjectives like “sleek” and “cool” to describe the gizmo.
Oh, let’s face it: The iPhone is just plain irresistible.
In recent months, though, the issue of the iPhone being a closed, or locked, system has reared its head with critics. Until last week, it seemed a foregone conclusion that the device would not be open to any third-party development.
The good news: Apple CEO Steve Jobs told third-party software developers last week at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference 2007 in San Francisco that they can create Web 2.0 applications for the much-anticipated device without a special software developer kit. The move makes some headway in the U.S. mobile landscape’s typically locked environment, which precludes users from loading third-party application software on their mobile smart phones and from using their phones on different carriers’ networks.
Word on the street, for example, is that Apple first approached Verizon Wireless as its iPhone distributor, but couldn’t come to terms with the mobile giant’s many usage restrictions. Customers, software developers (like Skype), and observers have long criticized the U.S. mobile market for creating closed mobile networks that restrict customers’ mobile capabilities.
For example, if you want the iPhone’s networking capabilities, you have to be an AT&T/Cingular customer.
In the carriers’ defense, U.S. mobile operators paid hefty fees for their licensed spectrum. They also subsidize the cost of devices so, theoretically, more users can afford to get connected. In their minds, these conditions buy them some rights to control the use of the spectrum as they see fit, such as disallowing third-party application traffic on their networks.
But critics say this crimps the U.S.’s global competitiveness, serving as a disincentive to mobile innovation.
One possible solution is that carriers sell unlocked, unsubsidized phones alongside the subsidized phones they bundle with their services. That way, subscribers could decide whether they prefer a controlled environment with a break on device prices or whether they’d rather foot the bill for full-priced devices to get the accompanying freedoms.
