[hboon]

That's right. And jail-breaking is not officially supported (that's an understatement) but it works pretty well. So it's a minus for the iPhone.

But then, that's why I said for most consumers, the iPhone is much better. Because for them, the official distribution mechanism is what matters.

The reason why I mentioned the tethering app is that it is not totally open as advertised, although there's more than 1 valid way to work around it.

(You can still distribute apps to the iPhone via ad-hoc or enterprise distribution, but those don't matter here since we are talking about the mass market).

[biafra]

Yes, the Android Market is not open. But the Android OS nonetheless is. If you buy the Android Dev Phone 1, you can modify and compile the source as you wish and flash it onto that phone. No "hacking" necessary.

If you buy a locked-in version from t-mobile you kinda have to "hack" it to flash what you want.

But either way you can install apps without the Android Market.

You can get that tethering app here: http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/

[hboon]

Just thought I clarify:

I'm not saying the Android Market is not an open market. In fact I think it is. It is just not completely open as advertised, if there is such a phrase. And it is definitely more open than Apple App store.

What I am saying is that the App Store along with the iPhone as of now is much better for the majority of consumers. And by that definition, they exclude people who can modify and compile from source :) There are easier ways of course, to distribute/install apps for Android other than through Android Market. You can install from flash drive or even through the browser. But remember, majority of consumers.

I have this thought after developing for the iPhone and investigating Android (I have the Dev Phone and I decided not to) - if you look at the current mobile landscape, it is a new battle ground for Apple. It is like the OS wars again. Instead of Windows/OS X/Linux, we have WM/iPhone OS/Android/Palm Pre. The other platforms may have existing market share (Symbian and BlackBerry), but personally I think these are the ones that will dominate. But instead of how things worked out the last 2 decades which almost killed Apple (and I think on the desktop Macs will continue to be a minority), the iPhone platform has a fresh chance to fight again, and this time, being proprietary, in the sense of the OS not being licensed for other hardware, allows it to have a very distinct advantage over other platforms like WM and Android.

Having said that, while I believe the iPhone platform is the leader now, hopefully it will work out to be more or less evenly spread out, with WM/iPhone/Android/Palm all having significant market share, providing choices, competition and encouraging innovation.