The iPhone is in exactly the same position today as the Mac was in 1990. It’s enjoyed massive success in its 2.75 years of existence, with more than 30M units sold worldwide. Despite that success, the iPhone is at a crossroads today, with more open competitors closing the gap. The problem with the iPhone is that it isn’t open—developers and users are extremely limited by the rules that Apple sets on its platform. Unlike the PC, which anyone can expand upon, developers can’t even publish applications for the iPhone without Apple’s permission, and those applications must follow very rigid rules. The iPhone is a walled garden, where Apple keeps the prettiest flowers—the apps that ship with the phone and that people use most—locked up for itself. This severely gimps the iPhone, especially when compared to a fully open platform, like Android.
