I love my iPod touch, love using Skype on it, love playing games on it, checking my Yahoo! and Gmail, using all kinds of apps on it. But I’m upset that there’s so much potential for the iPod/iPhone devices that Apple’s stopping the users from getting.
Google voice has been rejected (and Eric Schmidt stepped down from the Apple board), Skype’s not available in all markets, some apps are being censored and Spotify’s app will not be allowed – although Apple does have a chance to prove me wrong on that last one. So as great as the Apple App store is, Apple’s worried about competition to it’s other services rather than working on making the device the best it could be. Spotify will get on the G-Phone, as will Google voice. They’ll probably get on the Pre as well. Maybe even on the Blackberry. So Apple’s missing a trick here.
Apple did a great job revolutionising the way the music industry participates in digital music, they make great hard ware and operating systems, I haven’t done the figures but my guess is the revenue Apple might lose on iTunes and with carriers and revenue shares would probably be made up in the hardware margins and revenues in that stream. Not only that but there’s nothing stopping Apple from building competitive apps, changing iTunes so that it can compete with Spotify on a subscription model. But alas Apple chooses to shut apps out. I know there are partners to consider, but it’s not like Apple hasn’t put their teeth into partners for the sake of user experience before.
Mike Arrington wasn’t the first to dump the iPhone and at this rate he won’t be the last. Closed doesn’t win. People want access and will move to something that is more open every time. Apple will get taken out by whatever competitor will be open enough to provide the best experience. It might take years but unless Apple doesn’t change gears it will happen.
