I believe it’s been said many times before; while there are many other tech companies out there – Apple is the only one worth complaining about.
If Apple was actually interested in short-term value and a simple, highly-constrained, highly-polished experience, the iPhone wouldn’t do 2/3 of this things it’s purported to (still being vaporware and all) and it’d be 1/2 the price. But wait – OS X has BSD underneath it, responds to AppleScript, Automator, I can create all sorts of custom software on it, and is quickly turning into the choice development platform for developers – because of the integration of elegance and underlying access. Apple can do both – their pedigree is in making it easier for regular people to make things – while encouraging consistency.
On top of that, the iPhone is being positioned as the replacement for the Treo and the Blackberry (if only in price point). A new closed system will dramatically slow adoption. Adoption by a highly vocal, discriminating, influential, and well off group of people.
Did I mention, the majority of my developer friends have switched to the Mac? They expect to have access to their devices. I know I do. Lots of organizations sell controlled experiences. From Disney to our state penal system. While lock-in may have been a feature 10 years ago (AOL, Prodigy, CompuServe), today it’s a bug. Walled gardens – no matter how pretty – are simply less fulfilling on the second visit.
Oh, and Scott, by the way, all my clients are welcome to post to the Work Better Weblog. And if you want to change the layout, feel free to parse the RSS feed into something that works better for you.
Lastly, where will Apple get their next great interaction idea from – if not their own developer community?