If you are mildly interested in the whole tech world, you may have noticed there’s a pretty huge outcry from many voices that took place this past week over the latest update for the iPhone. Basically the latest firmware update Apple issued, to fix bugs and add new features to the iPhone, also blocked attempts to unlock the phone from the AT&T cell network and also blocked access for third-party developer solutions that have been available for some weeks now (adding new functionality to the phone).
As a fairly happy customer of AT&T I switched when the phone came out and have no bone to pick with that company (nor do I need to hack my phone to use another ncellular network). Heck, I WORKED for AT&T (then Cingular) for quite a while (and have friends who still do). So the outage regarding Apple not supporting the “haxxor” community regarding using the iPhone on any GSM network – can’t share that, sorry.
BUT the disabling of the open-source apps… well, sorry, no. I bought the damn phone (for a pretty penny) and am getting quite abit of additional utility from it thanks to these new apps. I think that Apple is trying to control this, a NEW COMPUTER PLATFORM, too much. As a user experience professional, I understand where they are coming from. You want to provide an integrated complete and easy-to-understand experience and the UX guys at Apple may not think that these open source apps support that (or maybe it’s just Steve). Or maybe they are just afraid someone will create a free Skype client and reduce the need to rely on any cell network… But I always yield to the old User Control and Freedom axiom of design myself. Sometimes, you let the users, oh, I don’t know, DECIDE FOR THEMSELVES.
Whatever is driving Apple’s attitude on this issue, THIS video is fantastic:
[youtube]a40BQ8ThsTc&eurl[/youtube]
It uses the audio for their “Think Different” Apple ad campaign to reinforce the opportunities and quality the open source iPhone apps provide. Well played. Let’s hope this becomes an Internet meme that gets some attention