…that’s according to comments made by Apple CEO Steve Jobs at yesterday’s shareholders meeting at the company’s Cupertino HQ. Macworld quotes Jobs as saying Apple “is still wrestling with” the idea of allowing other companies to develop applications for the iPhone.
This doesn’t mean that past news about EA and Namco working iPhone games won’t come to pass: those apps will be likely controlled by Apple through either being pre-installed or available for download through iTunes.
What it does mean is that you may not be able to go off to ‘website x’, buy an iPhone app and install it yourself. The clincher will be how good Apple’s own iPhone apps turn out to be; for most people, most of the time, the free stuff on the phone may be all that we need.
So Apple attempts to catch up with Windows Mobile that already offers the same features, and fails by arbitrarily restricting their own platform? Good job Apple! I think a few people will buy these phones for the “cool factor”, but at $600 not many will. In fact, if you realize that a $200 phone will do the exact same thing I think people will come to there senses (via their wallet).
Apple has benefitted plenty from third-party manufacturers with the Mac. I’d be surprised if it were so short-sighted in the medium term.