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New Android teammate: iPhone a "Disney-fied walled garden"

updated 08:05 am EDT, Mon March 15, 2010

Web pioneer joins Google to prove Apple wrong


XML co-creator Tim Bray on Monday said he has joined Google as a Developer Advocate, primarily for Android. The former Sun worker made the pick both because Android embraces an open-source, web-heavy philosophy but also as a direct opposition to Apple's iPhone policies. Bray praised Apple's hardware but couldn't abide by the at times arbitrary filtering of the App Store, which he likened to censorship.

"The iPhone vision of the mobile Internet’s future omits controversy, sex, and freedom, but includes strict limits on who can know what and who can say what," Bray wrote. "It's a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers. The people who create the apps serve at the landlord’s pleasure and fear his anger."

He added that Apple is self-contradictory and claims to want the benefits of the Internet but wants to limit access to hardware and software, even limiting what information developers can share. Android lets developers access most phone components directly and even modify parts of the interface as well as write apps that improve on existing features. Apple has historically banned apps that "duplicate" core functionality but has been accused of trying to prevent competition.

Bray wasn't yet certain what would be involved but expects to write both his own Android app to get a "better feel for the issues" and to get familiarity with HTML5, which he feels may replace native apps in the future. [via CNET]


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By Electronista Staff

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iPhone, industry, Google, Android, App Store, mobile phones, Apple

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  1. iphonerulez

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2008

    +6
    03/15, 08:53am | report spam | reply

    We'll see which platform fragments first...

    iPhone or Android. If the iPhone platform is so heavily restricted, then why do developers sign up? I'm sure Apple's development rules are on the contract when they agree to the terms. I think Apple's restrictions will relax over time, but I guess people don't want to wait.


  1. cranfordio

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jan 2004

    +14
    03/15, 09:05am | report spam | (1 reply) | reply

    The iPhone's version of mobile internet

    I just don't get it, Apple releases the iPhone almost three years ago and tells everyone to write web based apps. There are no rules, no limitations on content, nothing. Everyone complains about this and wants native apps, so Apple releases an SDK and starts an App store. They limit the App store because they don't want Apps that will break the primary function of the phone and they don't want the liability if some kid downloads an inappropriate app and their parents get mad about it. But, Safari on the iPhone doesn't block content and it supports a lot of HTML 5, probably more on the next release. Now everyone is complaining about Apple's restrictions on the App store and are now saying that they will write web apps in HTML 5. Did they all forget that this is what Apple wanted in the first place?


  1. JulesLt

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jul 2005

    +3
    03/15, 09:11am | report spam | reply

    He's right

    He's right on a lot of levels - much as I like the implementation of Apple's products, I'm increasingly concerned about the way they're managing the platform.

    And on the other other hand, the whole 'end of native apps' brigade strike me as people with an agenda (so, on the one hand, you don't like someone saying what you can/can't install on your phone/computer, on the other you don't think anyone should be able to 'install' anything, only ever execute it, while the code is safely locked behind the server wall).

    To be fair, Bray isn't part of that crowd, and the existence of Android and ChromeOS suggest that Google know it's hype too.


  1. legacyb4

    Mac Elite

    Joined: May 2001

    +2
    03/15, 09:46am | report spam | reply

    Sounds like that developer guy from Facebook

    Anyone remember him? :-p


  1. JeffHarris

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Oct 1999

    +5
    03/15, 09:56am | report spam | reply

    Web App, Schmeb App

    Personally, I don't WANT web apps that force me to be online to use them. There are times when i can't be and have no desire to pay for 3G service and rates and possible (eventual?) data usage metering?

    Apple's nanny policies are irritating, but what's the alternative? For me, Android ain't it.

    In a year, the Android hardware and software landscape will be so fragmented, all the droidbots will be crying for strict hardware guidelines. This is the beauty of the iOS platform.


  1. joecab

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Apr 2004

    +6
    03/15, 09:56am | report spam | reply

    this is actually about quality

    No offense, but I don't trust all developers not to c*** up the iPhone with a lot of scheiss apps and sullying the whole platform in the bargain, which this is really about. And Apple can't cherrypick the good ones without someone screaming bloody murder. Android does have a point, but that's in a perfect world of mature, honest app developers, and that we ain't got. This issue just doesn't matter to most people, but if it does to you, by all means go to Android and don't give Apple a cent of your money.

    And as Cran said, last I checked Mobile Safari still lets you browse to wherever the h*** you want, so I don't think censorship is the real issue here.


    Comment buried. Show
  1. testudo

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2001

    -12
    03/15, 10:14am | report spam | reply

    Re: The iPhone's version of mobile internet


    I just don't get it, Apple releases the iPhone almost three years ago and tells everyone to write web based apps. There are no rules, no limitations on content, nothing. Everyone complains about this and wants native apps,

    Right, because native apps have one HUGE advantage over web-based apps. You can use the app without being connected to the internet! I know, it is an amazing thought that there might be a time someone wants to use an iPhone or iPod or iPad when there isn't an internet connection available, but it can happen.

    Plus, you can do a lot more with a native app than a web-based app, web-based apps are slow, esp. on a mobile device with slow internet and browser performance, and I really would like to know when the h*** HTML 5 became the panacea for every issue the internet has ever had?

    so Apple releases an SDK and starts an App store. They limit the App store because they don't want Apps that will break the primary function of the phone

    I'm sorry, dude, but you've got to stop just believing everything you hear Steve Jobs says. They didn't do this to protect the phone from breaking, they did this so they can have total control over what goes on the phone. Just like Nintendo and MS control what goes on the Wii and xBox. But at least they don't try to pretend they do it for some grandiose reason.

    Oh, and someone last week said right here that Apple never claims the primary purpose of the iPhone is to be a phone. You all need to get your stories straight.

    and they don't want the liability if some kid downloads an inappropriate app and their parents get mad about it.

    Excuse me, but the AppStore not only does not somehow stop their liability, it actually enforces it. If the AppStore is the only way to get an app, and little Jimmy downloads an inappropriate app, who do you blame? The developer? No, it's all Apple at that point.

    But, Safari on the iPhone doesn't block content and it supports a lot of HTML 5, probably more on the next release.

    Actually, it "blocks" all Flash content, by the mere fact that Apple refuses to allow Flash on the iPhone. And it also supports blocking other content via the parental controls.

    Now everyone is complaining about Apple's restrictions on the App store

    Now? No, this isn't a new thing. But what people are complaining about are restrictions that are apparently manages randomly. It has been two years, and Apple still doesn't seem to know how they want to run the AppStore.


  1. nat

    Junior Member

    Joined: Mar 2002

    +6
    03/15, 11:02am | report spam | reply

    here's the deal

    i just can't wait until the open source store has billions of p*** apps. and, unguarded, it will. that's what p*** does. same for windows store.
    you'll see these people start putting the same restrictions in place and then no one will say a word.
    why? because no one wants all those p*** apps and no one wants apps that will bring you a virus a day, which is the other concern that these people ignore.
    microsoft already has much stricter control on zune apps. they're going for "quality".


  1. driven

    Addicted to MacNN

    Joined: May 2001

    +3
    03/15, 11:29am | report spam | reply

    Well said ...

    cranfordio, well said. I agree.


  1. climacs

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Sep 2001

    +5
    03/15, 11:44am | report spam | reply

    usenet

    look what happens to usenet forums where there is no gatekeeper whatsoever... very high noise to signal ratio.

    "freedom" and "no censorship" sounds fine, in general, just like 'unrestricted laissez-faire capitalism'.

    What happens in practice is that it's not the best that wins out, but the bullies and unscrupulous.


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