Image by Oishi Kuranosuke via Flickr

Finally, after the over hyped launch of the iPhone 3G, someone has come out and questioned Apple‘s walled garden approach to application development for their phone. Don’t get me wrong, I’m probably going to buy one in a few weeks, but I’ve been wondering why Apple was getting a pass on it’s closed system, and mainly by the same folks that challenge any regime that Microsoft puts in place. From TechCrunchIT

Apple has wrapped the iPhone SDK in enough licensing, security controls and right management that it would make the Microsoft Active Desktop team blush. The phone and platform that is certain to soon take second spot behind Symbian in the smart phone market is also the most restricted and closed. Applications can only be installed from a single source, iTunes, and open source applications and distribution is near impossible. How do you install an iPhone application without iTunes? Where are the community advocates arguing for a standard interface, openess and free code?

UPDATE:  Gina Tripani piles on.