MattCreamer.com

Another big day for consumers. The famously stubborn Apple announced that it would open up iPhone to third-party developers. In an entirely separate announcement, MySpace, the massively popular social network that been recently outflanked by Facebook, is doing the same. That means that any programmer can now create applications, meaning increased consumer choice and flexibility in two massively popular platforms.

The bigger surprise here is Apple, a company for which this kind of move is totally alien. While brilliant and visionary, Apple is a famously top-down company, essentially the will of one man abetted by some brilliant designers and technologists,  that typically communicates in an old-school one-way fashion. Its iPhone was released as a locked platform only available for use with AT&T. Moreover, the software was limited to Apple sanctioned stuff. Despite that, it was the product launch of year.

But many consumers, including this one, were turned off by Apple’s arrogance. It’s just not what you want to see from a leader. What Jobs refused to see is that open platforms are the future. Facebook has already shown this. Its popularity surged when it opened its API early this year, allowing its users to choose from a massive solution of applications, from Zombie-biting to Scrabble. Rather than indulging in a pointless and ultimately losing game of oneupsmanship with a developer community that will hack each new software update for the phone,  Jobs did the right thing. His open letter is posted here.

How advertisers use this remains to be seen. Facebook still isn’t exactly hotbed for smart marketer-developed apps so who knows what the iPhone news will bring? One that comes to mind is a Nike+ tie-in, essentially using the iPhone as a way to smarten up what’s already a pretty smart piece of technology.