This week, HTC breezily dismissed any ideas that Microsoft might prevent it bringing its well regarded Sense user interface to the new Windows Phone 7 platform, even though the software giant is planning tight control over WP7 designs. HTC was similarly sanguine about similar reports that Google would look to unify the Android user experience with the release of version 3.0 near the end of the year.
In both cases, the software powerhouses would be hard pressed to come up with something that was as alluring to consumers as HTC Sense (or Motoblur, or other overlays for their operating systems). And even if they did, they would have robbed their partners of a key way to differentiate their products.
So, in the week when the US ruled that ‘jailbreaking’ smartphones to download unauthorized applications was legal, all the mobile platform controllers need to accept that they will have to be more open in future, not less.
The jailbreaking ruling mainly affected Apple, which has the most iron grip of all on its platform. Of course, it does not have to consider device partners, but it does make sure all applications and tools are vetted before being allowed onto the iPhone or iPad. Now it may have to soften its stance and this will sound a cautionary note to all control freaks out there in smartphone land, especially Microsoft.
The decision came from the US Copyright Office and Library of Congress on Monday and quashed Apple’s bid to criminalize the hacking of iPhones to install unauthorized apps. The ruling added jailbreaking to a list of practises that do not violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in the US.
Modifications to the operating system purely to allow it to support an unauthorized but legal application are ‘fair uses’, wrote Marybeth Peters, Register of Copyrights. ‘Apple’s objections to the installation and use of unapproved applications appears to have nothing to do with its interests as the owner of copyrights in the computer programs embodied in the iPhone, and running the unapproved applications has no adverse effect on those interests,” the ruling continued. “Rather, Apple’s objections relate to its interests as a manufacturer and distributor of a device, the iPhone.” Peters went on to refer to jailbreaking as “innocuous at worst and beneficial at best’.
Apple submitted its case to the Copyright Office in February 2009 after the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) asked for a DMCA exemption in 2008 for cellphone jailbreaking. The EFF, backed mainly by open source players like Mozilla, had asked the Office to allow users to instal apps that were not available through Apple’s own App Store, without fear of penalty. Apple has since said that the practice will still void the phone’s warranty, though will almost certainly lead to legal issues.
The issue is a critical one for vendors and operators, since they see control of their stores ‘ and associated revenue streams ‘ as important to their mobile web business models. Even more importantly, they aim to differentiate themselves by creating a carefully managed user experience, even if this sometimes angers users ‘ as with Apple’s exclusion of Adobe Flash. The issue is not iPhone specific ‘ AT&T, for instance, attracted fierce criticism for preventing users of its Android phones, such as Motorola Backflip, from downloading apps from other sources than the official Android Market. However, since the Market does not have a rigid approval process like Apple’s or RIM’s, the impact on the Android sector will be less.
The EFF commented in a statement: “Copyright law has long held that making programs interoperable is fair use. It’s gratifying that the Copyright Office acknowledges this right and agrees that the anticircumvention laws should not interfere with interoperability.”
While jailbreaking and SIM unlocking are now effectively legal in the US, the procedures may still void the warranty of the user’s iPhone or iPad. It is estimated that about 10 million IoS devices in current use have been jailbroken. Some analysts believe the ruling will encourage ‘underground’ app stores like Cydia to come in from the cold, and ZDnet’s Jason Perlow even speculates that Adobe could get Flash onto the iPhone at last by providing its own jailbreaker to install Flash libraries and other apps.
The affair will send out warning signals to other suppliers. Microsoft, like Apple untroubled by the dilemmas of open source, has generally seen the iPhone model as enviable, though it has to balance the needs of different Windows licensees too ‘ and its experiment with an own-branded phone, the Kin, was a failure. It has set out a business model for WP7 that would give it Apple-style control of an integrated hardware/software platform, though HTC’s comments about Sense, and HP’s abandonment of WP7 in favour of its own webOS, are just two indications that it may have difficulties imposing its will.
In March, the company set out its stall and like Apple, made it clear it would tie users and developers into one store. While current WinMo phones can download programs from the Microsoft marketplace or from third party stores like Handango, in WP 7 the vendor’s own revamped store will be the only option. Also like Apple, Microsoft will not support storage expansion via microSD cards, which opens up the platform to third party features.
For OEMs, Microsoft is also restricting its new (and impressively revamped) OS to just three reference hardware chassis designs. However, it cannot be too prescriptive or its partners will jump ship ‘ or at least threaten to. It has to remember that developers and OEMs do not love Apple’s tightly ringfenced environment ‘ they tolerate it in return for a strong experience and a booming market. And WP7 has already lost an early supporter in HP. Indeed, having announced five early stage partners for the OS, Microsoft has withdrawn the statement and appears to be hedging its bets in case any of them follow HP’s lead and defect. HP will make webOS, which it acquired with Palm, its primary software platform, and though it will still release a Windows 7 tablet, it does not plan to use WP7 or Android for smartphones or other mobile devices.