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Why Apple needs to open up iOS

I understand the positive arguments for keeping so many things about iOS closed. Examples: It provides a more consistant user experience. It lets Apple control more of the over all quality. Etc.. I also understand some of the negative arguments for keeping it closed. Apple makes money on the app store and media sales so why would they let a different bookstore, music store or app store in.

But I think there’s a bigger picture argument. It goes something like this

Imagine it’s say 1982. Imagine all the popular computers at that time were as ridged and closed as iOS is now. Imagine it stayed closed for 30 years. You’re allowed to make apps but nothing that Apple says no to. How many innovations would we be living without?

Would mp3s and music services even exist? If I remember correctly the first mp3 player I ever used was Winamp in 1996-97. It came out long long before iTunes. If the lead computer companies never allowed anything other than the music apps that existed in 1982 would we have downloadable music now?

How about web browsers and the internet? Back in 1982 there were things like Compuserve. If the lead computer companies didn’t allow any generic net browsing would the internet have ever even happened? Would we still be using terminal emulators as the only way to access the internet?

Would we even have internet at all? iOS doesn’t allow external gadgets to connect directly to it that are usable by any apps. In 1982 personal computers didn’t have networking. Networking was added over the course of the next 10-15 years mostly by 3rd party hardware. If computers has been as closed as iOS would networking on computers ever have happened?

How about browsers? Browsers didn’t exist in 1982. Let’s assume Apple decided to implement a single browser. Would it be anywhere near as powerful as today’s browsers? Looking at the history of browsers it was the competition of IE, Netscape and then Firefox, Safari and Chrome that have brought us modern browsers. But arguably that would never have happened if, like iOS, all those computers banned making a browser.

How about all these languages. Perl, Python, C++, Java, Lua, Ruby. None of those languages existed in 1982. Yes, iOS allows you to use any language you want to make an app BUT….iOS does not allow you to make a programming environment. Imagine the computers for the last 30 years didn’t allow you to make a programming environment. How would any of these languages even have come into being if they were outright banned as iOS bans them?

That’s the problem with iOS’s closed eco-system. It stifles innovation and prevents competition. We’ve seen how well that’s worked in the past. Hint, it hasn’t worked well.

Now, I certainly don’t want an OS that’s buggy with a crappy user interface and a poor experience. But I don’t think that’s a trade off Apple needs to make. I believe they can be open AND have the best user experience.

Let’s hope they step up and embrace creativity. Even their co-founder thinks Apple needs to do this.

May 29th, 2012 | Category: opinions
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  • Jim Crawford

    The other tragedy: for about 10 years, just about every kid in America who wanted to learn to code had a computer to do it with. Now that the average family is checking Facebook on phones rather than a family PC, where do those kids go? You can’t learn to code on an iPhone; programming environments are against the terms of service.

  • Stephen Shankland

    I think your overall point has some merit, especially over the long view you’re taking here. But to assert that iOS “stifles innovation” is off base, in my opinion. There is a tremendous amount of innovation on iOS right now — just within its various confines. Think of it like iambic pentameter. Shakespeare did an awful lot within those constraints. I think Apple has provided an ecosystem that’s supporting an impressively large number of software developers right now.

    How things will look five or ten years from now, I’m not willing to bet. But I guess Android will provide a pretty good alternative to see how iOS compares to the more open approach (though still with a number of constraints, such as Google Play and the only-open-when-it’s-done source code).

  • http://greggman.com greggman

    I agree that innovative things are happening on iOS. Still, arguably, all of the things I mentioned above are stifled on iOS. I’m sure there are 1000s of others. Of course we’ll likely never know because there are open alternatives so this alternate reality where there are no open platforms doesn’t (currently) exist.

    That doesn’t mean Apple is therefore doing the right thing. Arguably if everyone acted like them tons of innovations would not happen. I think it’s worth pointing that out in the hope that they’ll find ways to achieve their positive goals and yet be open.

  • http://twitter.com/gypsyOtoko Matthew Walker

    I would argue that we have the best of both worlds now: many consumers have voted with their wallets for the more refined, organized and well designed software/hardware combinations of Apple products such as Macs and iPhones/iPads, and there are also those who choose to have more customize-able experiences or who would want to adventure into more open territories choose Windows/Linux/Android.

    In the event that Apple begins to lag behind due to some innovation being made possible on other platforms, inevitably they would find a way to bring that to their platforms by either changing their App Store guidelines to allow it, or create their own (hopefully) more streamlined implementation.

    Would you be willing to bring up any specific examples of innovation that has been stifled on Apple platforms but thrives elsewhere?

    Either way let me say this: I majored in Comp Sci in college, and at the time no one wanted an entry level programmer without any real world experience, yet it cost quite a bit of money to buy Visual Studio for Windows. Flash forward several years when I bought my first Mac, and XCode came free bundled in. I watched along with the Stanford iPhone programming course (before it was called iOS) and learned how to program using Cocoa Touch using the same paradigms as Apple’s engineers with a similar look and feel in a matter of weeks. The barrier of entry to learning how to program for Apple’s devices was incredibly low, something I was very thankful for at the time.

  • DhruvGupta12345

    I don’t think Apple really ‘needs’ to be open. It’s doing fine right now, the features are good, UI is excellent, app quality is maintained mostly. These are the three things which matter the most in my opinion. However we need an open alternative as well, and for that we have Android. iOS would never have been where it is today without Android constantly pushing it. One of the best things that Apple has done is that it tries to provide a lot of the functionality on Android, but in a very refined and easy to use manner. True, there are no real customizations, but thus far it hasn’t really bothered me. I see Windows phone as the one which will really try to blend the best of both iOS and Android, while leaving out the crap.

  • http://www.facebook.com/ryan.f0ster Ryan Foster

    you don’t think that iOS stifles innovation? are you retarded or do you just type one thing and mean another without thinking? I agree that apple has done a great job at having an innovative experience, but to say that iOS isn’t stifling innovation is fucking delirious.

  • http://twitter.com/ben_a_adams Ben Adams

    I do wonder if the Native vs HTML5 debate on mobiles comes more down to Apple’s fixed proprietary webview that has to be used; which doesn’t demand improvement as no competition is allowed. (Also people’s code, but that’s something else)

  • http://greggman.com greggman

    You realize it’s kind of disingenuous to say your $1100-$3000 Mac came with free XCode vs a comparable $300-$1000 PC right? That $800 to $2000 difference in part paid for XCode and all the other bundled software.

    As for specific examples, I’m talking about iOS specifically. Mac is still open. But look at it this way. iPads are super popular, so popular that many children will be given an iPad instead of a computer. Those children will not be exposed to programming because programming environments are not allowed on iOS. How many less programmers will there be because of this and how many of those possible programmers would have gone on to create amazing innovations? We’ll never know.

    The point of the OP is a thought experiment. If all systems were as closed as iOS there’d be a lot less innovation.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jacev Jason Varlet

    Hi Gregg, I’m a VERY long time follower, but first time comment. And I do apologise that it’s in disagreement with you here! But I deeply enjoy your blog.

    I mean, I agree with you 100% that if computers were a closed environment way back when then we would have experienced seriously crippled growth in tech. In fact, if all we had now was the closed off iOS we experience today then the same issue would rear its ugly head.

    However, to quote you on a reply to another comment:
    “if everyone acted like [Apple] tons of innovations would not happen”

    Correct. But everyone isn’t acting like them. The fact is, whilst iOS is closed, OTHER OS’ (ie. Android) are open. Because of this, I find no issue with Apple remaining closed. Androids openness has its pros and cons, as does Apples closed OS. But the fact that we live in a world where both paradigms (somewhat) co-exist, we continue to see innovation from both sources.

    I personally like the different “flavours” of growth and innovation we get from the suits behind closed doors, and by the open-sourced community.

  • http://greggman.com greggman

    I’m not arguing closed source vs open source. I don’t want Apple to be open source any more than I want Microsoft to be open source. I just want them to let people install what they want. I don’t even mind them requiring people go through the store so much so they can prevent viruses etc. But, As I said in another reply, 10s of thousands of kids are being given iPads instead of computers. Because of that none of those kids will even have the chance to be exposed to programming. That’s a step backward, not forward and IMO is not a good thing. That’s just one example of the bad side effects of their current restrictions.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jacev Jason Varlet

    That’s a very fair point, although I am genuinely curious as to how much of an issue that really is?

    I mean, if kids were to get an iPad… would that mean they never would have a computer? Or would it mean they are less exposed?

    Could it not also be the case that some of these kids see their favourite apps in the app store, decide they want to be a part of that, then go off and learn? Obviously impossible in a household where there is nothing but iDevices…

    I’m just playing devil’s advocate here, and am genuinely curious as to what effect this could be having.

    Anyway, great post! I know it’s kind of an older post, but still thought-provoking. :)

  • http://greggman.com greggman

    What I imagine is that for some subset of kids that get iPads…

    Kid: “Dad? Can I use the computer?”

    Dad: “No son, you have your own iPad”

    Even if Mom or Dad says the kid can use the computer when then kid is exploring on his own with his iPad most opportunities to do the very things that probably every single engineer that worked on that iPad did as a kid is not available to the kid using the iPad.