A simple solution

There's been a lot of coverage of Apple's "walled garden", or "curated computing" approach to the iPhone App Store. Most of it is negative, focusing on high profile rejections that appear to some to violate some fundamental freedom which Apple are denying their developers and users.

The three main issues are:

- Hobbyist programmers want to be able to write their own software and put it on their phone without Apple's blessing.

- Professional developers want to be able to sell their products to people without Apple's blessing.

- Professional developers want to be able to create their products in any platform, including Flash and other alternate frameworks.

There are several solutions which have been discussed ad infinitum: jailbreaking and web-app authoring, each of which allow you to run basically anything on your iPhone.

There are a few responses to the above which I haven't seen much discussion of:

- For hobbyists, the barrier to entry to becoming a "blessed" developer is just $99 and some paperwork. If you don't want to jailbreak your iPhone, then the cost of 10 albums on iTunes will permit you to do whatever you want on your own phone. And if you have a really great program, you can then publish it to the App Store and make your money back and more.

- Professional developers who want to be able to sell their programs without the App Store and without jailbreaking can do that today. They just need to sell it as source code/resource bundles that users could then compile themselves, and if they have a Mac and $99 to become a developer, they can put the programs on their own phones any time. You're afraid that people will redistribute your program and you'll lose sales? Well, then it sounds like you want the App Store's protection and you're free to go that route. But to say that there aren't options is disingenuous.

- Pros who want to build apps in a different framework should pressure the framework developers to build systems which output Objective-C code so that the developers can then build it with XCode and have an App Store-legal product on their hands. Of course, that's more work, but if it can be done, then it would be an invaluable tool for the end-product developers who could then get in and make modifications to enable features which are available on the iPhone but not supported in the framework.

I'm still working on my first iPhone app, and so I haven't submitted anything to the store, so take my words with whatever volumes of salt you feel are appropriate. But there are options for all involved parties. You're free to like or dislike Apple's policies. And you're free to vote with your dollars and publish your feelings in public fora.

But to make claims that Apple is somehow infringing on inalienable freedoms is disingenuous to say the least, and maybe even hyperbolic. You want freedom? Make some hard choices, do some extra work.

Remember, developers, Apple's main customers are the consumers who buy their products, not the developers who make a living off of them. They've opened up a huge market with the iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad; if you want to make a living off that market, either follow the rules or be clever and original. Don't become the technical equivalent of a Tea Party "activist".