The definition of open.

Here’s @arubin missing the point:

the definition of open: “mkdir android ; cd android ; repo init -u git://android.git.kernel.org/platform/manifest.git ; repo sync ; make”

Open isn’t about phone manufacturers. It isn’t about carriers. And it isn’t about software developers. It’s about customers. You know, the people who actually buy Android devices. And then have to struggle for months to upgrade their phones because the carriers provide no support and, to that end, neither does the manufacturer. Or Google.

That’s the result of the fragmentation Jobs was speaking about yesterday. I’ve seen this process unfold with everyone I know who has an Android phone that isn’t a Nexus One. This is a disaster. And it’s happening precisely because Google’s treating the carrier as their customer instead of the person who’s purchasing the phone. 

This is Android’s greatest stumbling block. When a user finds out their carrier won’t provide an upgrade for their Android phone but they can upgrade an iPhone in 10 minutes, Android is going to lose that customer. And what will the customer be thinking at that point? Android: the definition of closed.

The iPhone sucks for developers.

I keep seeing this mantra repeated again and again, with the latest attack coming in Dave Winer’s “zealotry sucks” article where he concludes:

“I thought about returning my Droid and decided to keep it. Because while it is a piece of shit phone, at least it’s good for developers, and Verizon knows what it’s doing with its phone network. It sucks less than the iPhone. But it still sucks.”

So, people are switching from the iPhone to make a stand against it’s mistreatment of developers (and because of AT&T, but that’s another topic), but the only current serious issue Apple developers face is the patriarchal application review process. Which, based on a set of seemingly arbitrarily applied rules, has caused a very, very small number of uncool rejections and otherwise operated at a somewhat startlingly impressive pace given the volume of apps and updates Apple’s been pushing.

In the meantime, developers are cutting back development on other mobile platforms due to lack of sales or not bothering at all because the development platform is a fractured, bloated nightmare.

So, I wonder, is the multiple millions of dollars of heretofore unseen revenue for Apple developers really eclipsed by Apple’s management of the application approval process? (You know, other than the bullshit exclusionary policy.)