“What I’d value hearing you address in more detail is the open vs closed philosophy (which you mention only briefly). If content creation really has become democratized and a broad expectation (not just for developers), how does Apple play in that world?”

Purposely didn’t get in to that since I really wanted to bring forth the MS-DOS vs. Mac GUI point and the “closed vs. open” debate is huge. But that said, I’m really torn (and I mean *really* torn) on the closed vs. open aspects to all the mobile “i” things Apple produces, it’s control over the app store and the turning down of seemingly innocuous apps.

I’m a huge open source advocate but have worked for many commercial software companies. I see open as democratizing (e.g., why I love WordPress) and also recommend the commercial NetSuite to SMB clients (i.e., because of its integration, support, et al) instead of seeing my clients leveraging several disparate open source solutions that are then integrated by some service provider.

While I struggle with things like not having Google Voice capability or Skype use over 3G with my iPhone, I also observe several data points that make me see that (for the time being) the closed nature of the mobile “i” apps is a good strategy:

a) Mobile providers still have far too much power in the mobile space. Equipment providers have historically jumped through many hoops to get handsets approved (and I’m privy to just how much has to be done since I did some work for Palm in 2007)

b) Mobile networks are optimized with “X” number of connections, bandwidth and so on. We all know the horrendous problems AT&T had at SxSW and currently in San Francisco — both areas where there were obviously more humans with iPhones who maximize their use of them — and as such unfettered, completely open mobile devices would crush these networks so Apple has to ensure that the “load” on these networks is managed. I know that *I* would be doing alot more over 3G if I was able to and certainly sucking up significantly more bandwidth than I do currently

c) I’m seeing so many people using iPhones/iPod Touches and now iPads that are doing more on them than they ever would with any other mobile device. Probably why the iPhone (according to Morgan Stanley’s Mary Meeker) had the fastest rampup in sales of any consumer device….ever

d) Their buying of a chip fabrication company (PA Semi) means they can not only optimize the platform software — something Microsoft and Google’s Android do for handset makers — they can optimize the hardware AND the software. This means that every aspect of it is about as perfect as Apple can make it and why the experience with their devices is so awesome.

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What about the future? I think Apple will continue to enjoy phenomenal success with devices and “open” up as necessary. Will that be enough? Nope.

What they need to do is to leverage the cloud (which I think they do a pretty poor job of now) and is probably why they’re building out that $1B data center in North Carolina (http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2010/02/22/first-look-apples-massive-idatacenter/). I suspect that Google Chrome OS for netbooks and tablets, Android for mobile, Windows Mobile 7 and other products undoubtedly on the drawing board will enable “open” to prevail….

…if the networks keep pace and/or there is a continued acceleration of more ubiquitous wireless broadband.

What I’d value hearing you address in more detail is the open vs closed philosophy (which you mention only briefly). If content creation really has become democratized and a broad expectation (not just for developers), how does Apple play in that world?