Why I Won't Buy an iPhone
Apple has abandoned its founding ethos of creativity and innovation by hanging up on third-party software developers — I don't own an iPhone, and I don't think I ever will. That may come as a surprise to anyone acquainted with my long history of owning and liking Apple (AAPL) products.
Context & Ripple Effects
The iPhone launched in June 2007 behind an exclusive AT&T deal, and the early coverage split along exactly the fault line this column exposes: Publishing 2.0 argued in July that Apple would use the device to take over the wireless industry by controlling the access layer, while GigaOM's iPhone confession documented how tightly the AT&T bundle constrained what buyers actually got.
By late September, Gizmodo's re-review flipped to a 'don't buy' verdict, and now a self-described longtime Apple owner writing in Business Week refuses the phone outright — his stated reason being Apple's decision to shut out third-party software developers rather than open the device to them.
First-order effects
- Apple is holding the iPhone's software platform closed at launch, forcing developers who built businesses on the Mac to target the web instead of native apps — and losing at least some loyalists like this columnist, who says he will sit the product out entirely.
Second-order effects
- If enthusiast defection spreads, pressure mounts on both sides of Apple's lock-in: AT&T's exclusive arrangement draws scrutiny for limiting buyer choice, while any rival handset maker that courts third-party developers gains a ready-made differentiator against the iPhone.
Third-order effects
- The episode frames the structural question of the smartphone era — whether the winning mobile platform is a controlled walled garden or an open developer ecosystem — with Apple betting that hardware-and-carrier control matters more than native third-party software.
The trend: Smartphone competition is shifting from hardware specs to platform governance, as Apple's choice to keep the iPhone closed to third-party developers turns openness into the next battleground.