Inquirer – Friday 12 January 2007:

WHILE APPLE’S proposed iPhone might have OSX onboard, Steve Jobs is adamant that there will be no third party applications allowed.

Mind you, the network probably wants to ban third-party applications more because it would mean iPhone users would connect to Skype and not use its wonderful service.

Meanwhile Jobs admits that he wants to control every cough and spit that ends up on the iPhone. This includes things like ringtones.

While many outfits like to pretend that they emphasis user freedom, Jobs tells the Times categorically that he will define everything that is on the phone and not those pesky customers. He told users that Apple did not want the phone to be like a PC and that the last thing it wants is to have loaded software on the phone and find the phone does not work.

Jobs seems to be clearing the iway to make a killing on applications that only Steve wants on ‘his’ machine that ‘you’ buy.

Found by GregA.



  1. ethanol says:

    This is looking worse every day. I was excited to have a cool, new, multifunction phone, but I am slowly changing my mind about the iPhone. I apparently will never have another PDA phone…

  2. Jim says:

    how long will it take before it’s hacked and people are putting whatever they want on there?

  3. Chris Gregg says:

    Interesting. I guess I was wrong to think that by saying it “runs OS X,” it will be able to run (albeit specialized) OS X 3rd party apps.

    -Tofer

  4. JSFORBES says:

    #2, I bet it takes a week.

  5. Mike Voice says:

    As mentioned in earlier comments, the recent Library of Congress ruling that lets people move “locked” phones to other carriers has got to be pissing Steve off, big time…

    At least I hope it is! 🙂

  6. Named says:

    2,

    You need an API before you can hack your programs. There is no API. This is classic Apple. They tell you what you want. If you don’t like it, you’re probably not in their league then and they wouldn’t lose sleep over it.

    Let’s see what Mossberg says… After all, he’s the guy who raved about his iPod fidelity in his Mercedes convertible, top down doing 70mph.

  7. bill says:

    #1 good, give me yours!
    #2 It looks like a great platform for all kinds of things! Apple should sell a version that leaves out the cell phone! call it the MiniMac! or the iMacPod. I can’t wait to get my hands on one and take it apart..
    sorry Steve!

    Can you imagine what you can do with something like this?
    wow!

  8. SN says:

    7. “Can you imagine what you can do with something like this?”

    Emptying your wallet comes to mind.

  9. bill says:

    I mean, Steve let us have some ‘fun’ with this and let’s see where it goes!

  10. SN says:

    9. You asked, I answered. The content of your wallet has no bearing on my life.

  11. travelsTooMuch says:

    Try openmoko.com and see the real future in mobiles: open phones, using understandable APIs and FOSS development components. 1G today, 3G tomorrow, GSM today, CDMA this year.

    And fie on closed platforms. Fie.

  12. Uncle Dave says:

    Cringely has an interesting take on the Apple/Cingular networking thing.

    What makes this doubly interesting is that AT&T is phasing out the Cingular name next week. What else will change with the reintegration of AT&T into all this? Jobs, always looking toward the future, probably made this deal based on the AT&T plans he got to see while negotiating the contract.

  13. GregA says:

    So now we have to wonder about wifi on this thing. It certainly sounds like this is going to be the ‘squirting’ varity of wifi, then an actual network access point. It seems clear to me now the network for this is going to be a cell network. Wifi is going to be limited to ‘squirting’ data from iPhone to iPhone. Heh, Welcome to the social!

  14. SN says:

    13. Oh come on! I gave you a perfect opportunity to rant and you turn all reasonable on me?! 😉

  15. drnormal says:

    As a long-time AT&T>Cingular>AT&T customer, I predict in June that Cingular(by then, AT&T) will gum up the “iPhone” release with a minimum required EDGE “data plan” and “minutes” at point of sale (with 2 year commitment). Job’s WiFi & Skype flirtations will be a non-issue as Cingular(AT&T) will get their mandatory monthly data revenue. Hell, Cingular(AT&T) may even encourage WiFi use, to limit usage spikes on their EDGE! Message to customer: ‘use it or lose it’.

  16. Reality says:

    It’s not so much the pricing on the phone itself. The cell phone industry has gone crazy on pricing across the board. It’s not just Apple.

    What everyone should be concerned about is the pricing of the service provider (in this case, Cingular) in order to run all the features of the phone. That is what is going to be priced out of most people’s range…the high monthly fee to use it. They need to curb that shit real quick.

    A cell phone bill is more than internet service plus home local and long distance fees combined. What is wrong with this picture? Most people only use their cell phones 10 min. a day at the most.

    Let all the rich CEOs buy the iPhone. Maybe some year Cingular will make it affordable for middle class America to use. That’s where they will rake in the money.

  17. moss says:

    Does anyone here ever look anything up — or just quote Bubba at the water cooler?

    EVDO is faster than EDGE — and available in about 6 cities. EDGE covers over 40,000 miles of federal highways. Ask any trucker. Cingular’s price for EDGE is about 25% less than EVDO.

    Moving otherwise “locked” phones means greater potential for sales, Mike V. — like to T-Mobile customers.

  18. ethanol says:

    Reiterating my first post… I really want a highly functional phone, PDA, and internet access device. And I want all 3 functions to work well. I had high hopes and this looks really cool, but AT&T as the network, IMAP with Yahoo as the email, etc… Maybe version 2 of this device will make the cut.

  19. Improbus says:

    The iPhone may be cool but what you guys want is the OpenMoko. Here is an article discussing the iPhone vs. OpenMoko.

  20. tallwookie says:

    haha the iphone (btw shouldnt we refer to it as something else? ie pending cisco legistlation) is looking like a crappier and crappier product as the days go by – and I still predict it will fail (even though the Cingular brand name is going bye-bye)

    Suck iit snobby apple fanboi’s!!

    ha ha ha

  21. Joe says:

    I actually had a Samsung Windows mobile device that connected to the internet via EVDO. I downloaded Skype for the device and the call quality stunk. I have since used EVDO with my laptop and Vosky’s device, and it has worked great. The Samsung also has a slot for an SD card, so I already have every feature the revolutionary iphone has and have had it for over a year. And if you go to allofmp3.com, you can pay a lot less for music than the Itunes store.

    I have a video Ipod so I have not seen the need to put video on my phone although it is supposed to work for it. To me, the video on the phone may be the killer app. Everything is else is like been there, done that.

  22. V says:

    The thing is, I always heard Mac users claiming that OS X didn’t get all crapped up the way PC’s do when you load random garbage on them.

    Strange how he wants to have it both ways…

  23. tallwookie says:

    #18 – where the hell do you get your information? Gradeskool kids?

    EVDO is available in a LOT more than 6 cities – (this is more prevalent in the eastern part of the country, but is slowly spreading west) – try like most cities over 100.000 people now have towers broadcasting the evdo signal – and what truckers do means little to anyone in the telecommunications industry – we basically dont give a rats ass

    edge may be cheaper right now but its a HELL of a lot slower.
    Heres some “info” for ya

    EDGE – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_Data_Rates_for_GSM_Evolution

    EVDO –
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evdo

    Some info for those of ya not in the field – theoretical max speeds will never be attainable, but look at the #’s and you can clearly see the distinct difference

  24. bill says:

    I don’t get all of this sniping. What do you people want? It’s pretty disturbing to read. If you don’t want the ‘thing’ don’t buy one.

    If you don’t like EDGE don’t buy one. If you don’t like AT&T don’t buy one.

    If you don’t like Apple or Steve, don’t buy one.
    This BLOG is getting wierd… I think I’ll just delete the bookmark.

  25. KB says:

    This BLOG is getting wierd… I think I’ll just delete the bookmark.

    Notice is not required.

  26. SN says:

    25. “This BLOG is getting wierd… I think I’ll just delete the bookmark.”

    26. “Notice is not required.”

    But a card is always a nice touch.

  27. tallwookie says:

    #25 – dont left the door hit your ass on the way out 😉

  28. Todd says:

    in light of the lawsuit over the iphone name, perhaps it might be in Apple’s best interest to rename the device. Also, this whole apple thing is getting kinda old anyway, so I suggest a whole new branding for the compay and this new delicious device…

    BANANAPHONE!!!!

  29. DarkPilot says:

    In my oppinion the iPhone is Apples Zune.

    Nice hardware, bad implementaion

  30. tallwookie says:

    in light of the bananaphone link posted above i’m including this apple-phone link
    http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/tag/apple-phone-lol-228393.php


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