The comment was made about an iOS device, which it is more applicable too. Apple has a monopoly on legit iOS App distribution, where Android tablets and phones can install apps from the wild.
It may sound like a small point, but the feeling that I didn't own my iPhone is a big reason I prefer Android.
I can agree with it in the case of an iOS-device, but in this case he said "Long time ago I had an ibook g4".
I am starting to get pretty tired of hearing that the products I use every day for professional work are toys, that I gave up my freedom to use them and worship Apple etc etc.
Long time ago I had an ibook g4. Supposedly it was very nice back then, and very pricey too. However, after playing with it sometime, it just looked cute. Overpriced and cute. Apple products are a jail that looks very nice, but its a jail anyway.
He comments first about the laptops. About laptops before the Mac App Store even...
> Apple has a monopoly on legit iOS App distribution,
I know why you think that, but you're missing that there is a completely legitimate app distribution mechanism outside the AppStore.
You can install (and distribute) whatever apps you want for iOS devices, and users can download them from the web and install them on the device. And I'm not talking about jailbreaking.
Since the first day the iPhone has shipped, you've been able to download and install apps built with javascript from anywhere on the web.
These are full apps, written in Javascript and running on the machine. They have access to the iOS design components such as the navigation controller and tab bar UI, etc, can read touches and orientation and even your current location.
You can turn off the network- put the device in airport mode- and they still run. These aren't links to web apps running on the web, they are full apps.
Apple only curates what goes on in the App Store. Apps distributed outside the App Store are not curated. Apple built this platform for apps specifically so it wouldn't have to curate them.
Its just that once the App Store came out, everyone switched to writing native apps (And at the time, writing native apps are what people were clamoring for) that that native app distirbution model won out.
But the javascript app platform is still there on the device and completely un-regulated by apple.
It's also still supported by Apple, and each year at WWDC they have a couple sessions talking about it.
I know it fits some people's ideology better to believe that Apple will only let you run apps approved by Apple on your device, but it simply isn't true.
Further, if you want native apps of arbitrary origin, you can join the developer program and run whatever native apps you want.
But Apple has always allowed this other distribution mechanism. These apps can't spread malware and so there is no need to regulate them. Since native apps can, they need to be curated, hence the AppStore.
It is disingenuous for people to pretend like Apple only wants you to buy apps from the AppStore-- because the javascript app platform has existed since a year before the AppStore and they continue to maintain it.
I've done some mobile javascript development and do commend Apple for pushing the limits of what can be done in-browser. The accelerometer support comes to mind, which came sooner and better than the same support on Android.
That said, I wasn't aware that the two environments could be considered equivalent. Can you call the camera API from javascript? Write a music player?
It would be one thing (though still unfortunate) if the App store monopoly were used only for quality control, but instances where politics were at play really left a bad taste in my mouth. Grooveshark, Google Voice, and Opera mobile come to mind as projects that if I am remembering correctly were blocked or delayed for political reasons. They all require a native environment that's richer than HTML apps can provide, to my knowledge.
Do you have any reference material or documentation for developing the javascript way? As a fairly new dev I would be interested in seeing that process as most of my "distribute outside of app store on ios" queries to the web say without jailbreaking, its impossible.
It may sound like a small point, but the feeling that I didn't own my iPhone is a big reason I prefer Android.