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There has never been a mobile platform that allowed desktop level freedom to install whatever you wanted. That has more to do with mobile carriers demanding it

There has never been a mobile platform that allowed desktop level freedom to install whatever you wanted. That has more to do with mobile carriers demanding it than the platform companies. Android has been the most open, but even then, the more carriers they supported, the more locked down the device became. I have no sympathy for the ruthlessness of Apple and its dictatorship about no app can have its own App Store like functionality, but it's also disingenuous to put all the blame on them for where we are today.

andreibosco 7y ago
"There has never been a mobile platform that allowed desktop level freedom to install whatever you wanted." -- You mean like the old Palm and Nokia Symbian allowed us to do?
- jarjoura 7y ago
  If I remember correctly, 99% sure anything sold from Cingular & Bell Atlantic came super locked down and you had to go through their SMS service to download the PRC files. You could enable developer mode by installing some app called HotSync, but then you had to find the software online to sync and those weren't easy to do.
  - daxelrod 7y ago
    I had a Treo from Cingular, it had absolutely no restrictions on installing programs. The preferred way to do so was generally by HotSyncing them from a desktop, but that wasn't any sort of developer mode, it was just how things were designed to work in the ecosystem (you wouldn't want to wait for the download over the air anyway). There were a ton of aggregator sites for software with reviews, or you could just search the web for it, it was pretty easy.
  - TheKarateKid 7y ago
    All of Verizon’s phones were locked down with their BREW OS and proprietary VCAST App Store. Even doing something as simple as loading your own ringtones required heavy workarounds and sometimes third party software.
ch_sm 7y ago
Nitpick: both Symbian and Windows Mobile/CE allowed this in the pre-iPhone times.
- Multicomp 7y ago
  Indeed, I still have pseudo-fond memories of cutting my programming teeth on .NET Compact Framework and using the User Interface guidelines to design my UIs.
criddell 7y ago
What about the iPAQ and all the other Windows CE devices?
cmroanirgo 7y ago
> There has never been a mobile platform that allowed desktop level freedom to install whatever you wanted. Erm. I developed apps for Nokia and Blackberry without a hitch. The restricted walled garden became popular with apple. It took off because, although the developer requirements were very constrained (as they still are), there was a very large swathe of users. I was 'forced' to join because my clients were bankers and traders jumping ship from blackberry. Then came ms and goog with their 'ecosystem' of stores.
stallmanite 7y ago
Windows CE devices were not locked down. Loved my Dell Axim back in the day.
realusername 7y ago
> There has never been a mobile platform that allowed desktop level freedom to install whatever you wanted All the flip-phones where working like this, you could just install any .jar into the phone and it would not complain.

andreibosco 7y ago

"There has never been a mobile platform that allowed desktop level freedom to install whatever you wanted." -- You mean like the old Palm and Nokia Symbian allowed us to do?

jarjoura 7y ago
If I remember correctly, 99% sure anything sold from Cingular & Bell Atlantic came super locked down and you had to go through their SMS service to download the PRC files. You could enable developer mode by installing some app called HotSync, but then you had to find the software online to sync and those weren't easy to do.
- daxelrod 7y ago
  I had a Treo from Cingular, it had absolutely no restrictions on installing programs. The preferred way to do so was generally by HotSyncing them from a desktop, but that wasn't any sort of developer mode, it was just how things were designed to work in the ecosystem (you wouldn't want to wait for the download over the air anyway). There were a ton of aggregator sites for software with reviews, or you could just search the web for it, it was pretty easy.
- TheKarateKid 7y ago
  All of Verizon’s phones were locked down with their BREW OS and proprietary VCAST App Store. Even doing something as simple as loading your own ringtones required heavy workarounds and sometimes third party software.

ch_sm 7y ago

Nitpick: both Symbian and Windows Mobile/CE allowed this in the pre-iPhone times.

Multicomp 7y ago
Indeed, I still have pseudo-fond memories of cutting my programming teeth on .NET Compact Framework and using the User Interface guidelines to design my UIs.

criddell 7y ago

What about the iPAQ and all the other Windows CE devices?

cmroanirgo 7y ago

> There has never been a mobile platform that allowed desktop level freedom to install whatever you wanted. Erm. I developed apps for Nokia and Blackberry without a hitch. The restricted walled garden became popular with apple. It took off because, although the developer requirements were very constrained (as they still are), there was a very large swathe of users. I was 'forced' to join because my clients were bankers and traders jumping ship from blackberry. Then came ms and goog with their 'ecosystem' of stores.

stallmanite 7y ago

Windows CE devices were not locked down. Loved my Dell Axim back in the day.

realusername 7y ago

> There has never been a mobile platform that allowed desktop level freedom to install whatever you wanted All the flip-phones where working like this, you could just install any .jar into the phone and it would not complain.