OStatic

Consider the different approaches to openness taken by the two companies with (arguably) the greatest product differentiation, most thriving ecosystems and potent cash-flow generation engines in the [mobile arena]: Apple and Google, writes Mark Sigal on GigaOm.? Apple and Google are playing out a classic proprietary vs. open game of tug-of-war with the iPhone and the Android platforms. Sigal argues that the fly in the ointment with Google's Android strategy is that Google has to set limits on what will work with deployments of the Android platform. How much of a problem is that, and how truly open is Android? Check out Sigal's post for more thoughts.

As noted by The Register, Mozilla and Skype are lining up behind The Electronic Frontier Foundation's campaign to ease restrictions on iPhone jailbreaking. Both Skype and Mozilla have filings in to the U.S. Copyright Office arguing that the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) should be changed to allow mobile phone users to choose to modify their handsets, applications and carriers. It's an argument for openness, and I'm surprised that more people aren't chastising Apple for its closed policies regarding both jailbreaking and iPhone application development.