I get this same vibe from a lot of older folks (or people who want to sound like them, all grizzled and what). True, from a hardware standpoint, Apple devices are closed. What matters today however, is that they are open devices from the perspective of a platform and web software developer.
Has everyone forgot how cellphones were black boxes before the iPhone? And lets not forget that we make stuff for normal people here. Not just hackers like us. As it turns out, most folks don't want a hardware-hackable machine. They don't care enough for USB ports. The tablets being championed by MSFT in the previous decade were not much more moddable than the iPad, but I don't see anyone yelling at MSFT about that.
Has everyone forgot how cellphones were black boxes before the iPhone?
I must have forgotten that because it isn't true. On my P800 or Blackberry I could install any app, not just approved ones.
(Edit: I wonder if this meme about the "cell phone dark ages" comes from the millions of people who switched from dumbphones to iPhone and thus aren't personally familiar with the actual smartphone state of the art circa 2006.)
Smarphones have always been horrible. Have you ever tried to install a JavaME app that does something more useful than storing a high score on a phone? Or dealt with this symbian signing nonsense more than a year or so ago (they made it slightly better with the signing web service since then, but it is still a hassle)? You always have to cope with some certificate authority protection racket, apart from the interresting APIs.
The openneess if the iPhone appstore is par for the course here...
I can't speak for where you are, but here in North America (well Canada & the USA) to go from [cell phone customized for service provider] to [cell phone customized for you with apps that you selected to use] was never a simple process - perhaps easier on a blackberry but not simple.
The device makers simply didn't have enough leverage to make the process simple.
I am in the USA and IIRC there was no "process" with my T-Mobile Blackberry; I could install any app I wanted directly from the Web browser. Maybe that's some kind of exception since T-Mobile is the least evil carrier.
Has everyone forgot how cellphones were black boxes before the iPhone? And lets not forget that we make stuff for normal people here. Not just hackers like us. As it turns out, most folks don't want a hardware-hackable machine. They don't care enough for USB ports. The tablets being championed by MSFT in the previous decade were not much more moddable than the iPad, but I don't see anyone yelling at MSFT about that.