Geek productivity-porn site 43Folders weighs in on the suckitude of the closed platform:

Yes I’d understand, but I’d feel like Apple was abandoning an opportunity to make this more than a phone, and more that an iPod, and even — let’s be frank about the elephant in the room — much more than a Palm or a Pocket PC. There’s the potential here for some serious George Jetson shit and it would be a pity not to capitalize on that as early as possible.

Exactly. The problem is: every Treo or Windows Mobile device can already do orders of magnitude more things than the iPhone precisely because they’re open platforms.

The last great hope for smartphone geeks was the Sidekick, which T-Mobile foolishly insisted on controlling completely. Like, there was no way to download your own apps, and T-Mobile could delete anything they liked from the phone at any time, over the cell network. It wasn’t and isn’t really yours with that kind of power imbalance. As a consequence, instead of the technorati carrying them, idiots like Paris Hilton carry them.

Apple and Cingular don’t seem to be fucking up quite that much — the iPhone will sync with your desktop, not remote servers, for example — but they’re close. Openness is paramount. It’s Freedom 0. Without it, the iPhone is useless to a significant and influential demographic.