First a little preface, because credit is due. Steve Jobs and Apple did a tremendous job of selling people over the last few years. Be it the iPod, MacBook, or iPhone, somehow they always seemed to get people to buy into their ideas and products no matter what. Even though the MacBook Air had nowhere near the power or capability of other models in its price range, it was still selling like hotcakes.
Adopting their own business model, Apple pretty much did whatever they wanted. And for those partnered or associated with them? They either played ball or lost out. Much like Walmart, if you don’t do what Apple asks, you’re skipped over and left behind. Ask yourself if you’d let them take the iPhone to the next carrier if you were AT&T. The problem arising from all of this is that Apple was getting a little too bossy. Take the situation with getting Flash on the iPhone and why it’s not likely to happen anytime soon.
The Goldilocks allegory is the best way to describe what was going on. The version of Flash available at the time was allegedly too weak to run well on the iPhone, while the full version commonly used on PCs and laptops supposedly used too many resources. Steve Jobs and Apple were essentially demanding that Adobe create a middle-ground version built specifically for their device.
With the release of the iPhone SDK, it was unlikely we’d see any Flash apps or utilities coming soon. This raised another point: Apple had choked off development before it was even available to other companies. If you created an application for the iPhone, Apple got to decide whether or not it would ever make it to iPhones or iPod Touches. And assuming they gave your program the okay, the only place for people to access it was through iTunes. You couldn’t pick your price or method of distribution. They’d become the rude bouncer at your favorite night club. “You wanna get in? You’ll have to come through me.” Of course, if you were part of a larger company, you’d stand a better chance.
And that is exactly where the freely available open-source developer kit for Google Android shone. The club was open all night long, and the drinks were free.
