>I've heard about and seen experiences with other mobile platforms that are equally as bad, but it's really disappointing when Apple comes out with this phone that changes the smartphone market but then just keeps this backwards and nonsensical attitude towards developers.
One thing that I think we all have to take into account is the fact that the rules for Cell Network access are a lot different than what we're used to for general purpose computing networks. The fact remains that these networks are extremely, rigorously, monopolized and maintained by groups that are not going to give them up without a fight.
Its an underlooked fact that cell networks are considered a military asset. Every single cell tower, its location, and its operational condition are monitored by the Pentagon on a realtime basis. You do not get access to these towers without permission.
It should come as no surprise that stringent control is being applied to the terminals used to gain access to these networks. For sure, we have a consumer mentality about it - freedom of choice, freedom to buy, freedom not to use, etc.
But the raw hardware on the backend: it does not belong to you. You are being granted permission to access it by the military-industrial complex which controls the means and resources by which the asset is maintained, stringently.
This is bleeding through, all the way through, and Apple are doing a pretty good job of picking up the attitude. Seriously.
Seriously? While Blackberries, PalmOS, Symbian, Android and Windows Mobile devices have all let you load whatever the heck you want onto their phones over the past 5+ years, we are now going to claim that it's not that Apple doesn't have its shit together, but that the Pentagon is getting in their way?
There is no such control being applied to most of the other smartphone platforms. They all have their issues, either with the end user experience not being very good, with overcomplicated development processes, with low uptake, with poor or nonexistent app stores, etc, but only Apple behaves so strangely towards its developers.
Apple has come the closest to nailing the big picture: technology, uptake, user experience. Instead, the part they are failing on is treating developers like they care. It should be the easiest thing to fix -- and that's also what makes it so annoying for so many people.
One thing that I think we all have to take into account is the fact that the rules for Cell Network access are a lot different than what we're used to for general purpose computing networks. The fact remains that these networks are extremely, rigorously, monopolized and maintained by groups that are not going to give them up without a fight.
Its an underlooked fact that cell networks are considered a military asset. Every single cell tower, its location, and its operational condition are monitored by the Pentagon on a realtime basis. You do not get access to these towers without permission.
It should come as no surprise that stringent control is being applied to the terminals used to gain access to these networks. For sure, we have a consumer mentality about it - freedom of choice, freedom to buy, freedom not to use, etc.
But the raw hardware on the backend: it does not belong to you. You are being granted permission to access it by the military-industrial complex which controls the means and resources by which the asset is maintained, stringently.
This is bleeding through, all the way through, and Apple are doing a pretty good job of picking up the attitude. Seriously.