Motley Fool writes:
Is Steve Jobs’ ongoing denial of Java a smart move to control the iPhone ecosystem? Or will he orphan the iPhone into a land of fringe applications, as competing devices lure away users?
For a time, PDAs were Palms, but Palm gave up their early, and seemingly insurmountable position, primarily by a strategically short-sided decision to not embrace a larger technological ecosystem. In so doing, they lost market share and, though are still surviving, are simply another “Me-Too” in the evolving handheld marketplace (now as Smart Phones).
With the appearance of significant threats to the iPhone, one would hope Apple would be very careful about what technologies they are stymieing with their more closed product. Design is not just about how aesthetically appealing a product is and is used, but how it interacts with the users’ world. In trying to push customers toward Apple products, Apple hopefully won’t continue to push their consumers away from their familiar and favored technologies.
