The iPhone is a dictatorship!
Now that’s a real headline type opening to a blog post!
But it is true, the iPhone is a dictatorship and for some this is a big problem. There is something to be said for freedom and openness in a platform, but the fact is that freedom comes at a cost, the cost is lack of efficiency.
Now let me get this straight I’m not saying that all dictatorships are good, that is not the case when it comes to systems of government, Democracy is the only government system worth a dam. However when you look at the way a Democracy works, it is very slow and inefficient. The fact that people do have say, make it’s that way. You have to take other peoples opinions in to account.
But the iPhone is not a government! Yes we, the users have not direct input to how it’s run, but then the same is true of other phone operating systems like Android. This system is open source so you could in theory have control, but in practice dose this mean anything? I’ not sure it does.
But there are other facets to openness and the apps that you can install is probably the biggest bone of contention on the iPhone. Here Apple rules with an iron fist, it might at times be a confused iron fist, but there rule is absolute! If Apple don’t want the app on the iPhone it won’t be there (well that’s not really true, see below).
Yes, this power can and has been abused (such as blocking apps which mention Android!), but for the most part it has worked, There is no malware or adware found on the iPhone.
But this is a lack of freedom and for some that is a problem, which is fine, since the iPhone is a dictatorship that you chose to join and (if you accept the fact that you have to pay up your contract) you can leave at any time. And lets not forget that if you really want the iPhone experience and still want freedom you can go through the jailbreak process.
This highlights my point nicely, you can have freedom, but there is a price, you have to jailbreak, you are at risk from malware and you might have some stability issues. Oh yes and you will probably have re-jailbreak the phone every time Apple updates!
For me that it to bigger price to pay, so I chose not to. In return for giving up those freedoms I get apps which at least have gone through some level of vetting (that might not be much!) and a very stable user experience. For a phone I think that is well worth buying at the cost of some freedom.
What I would say this that if these sorts of controls where put in place on something like a laptop I would not ‘buy in’ to that sort of dictatorship. I have a a different set of expectations from a laptop.
So does this mean I wouldn’t buy an iPad? Well no I wouldn’t but not for that reason. I wouldn’t by an iPad because it overlaps with both a laptop and an iPhone both of which I already have.
Feb
07
2010
