The iPhone is NOT a computer.

The iPhone is NOT a computer.

I’d repeat it a few more times, but let me be perfectly clear: Comparing the iPhone to your home or office computer is a waste of time.

I see and hear thing like this constantly, and I’d like to address and put an end to some of them.

1) The iPhone is a mini-computer!

Sure. It is like a mini-computer. It has many of the capabilities that a computer has. It computes, and can run applications. However, this is true of Blackberry devices, Palm devices, and Windows Mobile devices. The multitasking capabilities of a Windows Mobile device bring it slightly closer to being a “computer”, but not quite far enough. The limitations place on all of these devices for either corporate or practical purposes still leave all of these devices to be one thing: A phone with advanced PDA features.

2) Software distribution for computers should be just like the iPhone app store!

No. Dear God, no. There are so many things wrong with this. First of all, the app store is designed to deliver applications to a single type of device, running a single type of operating system. The app store build on the age old model of the software repository, which many linux distributions today follow. Sounds fantastic, right? It is.

Here’s the problem. Every single piece of software on that store is managed by Apple. Apple collects profits for every sale. They also have, under their sole discretion, the option to remove any piece of software from the store at any time. The store is censored, and does not allow for free (libre) knowledge, speech, or software. It is a backward step in software freedom, and a pain in the ass for developers. It has now been 2 weeks since submitting my first iPhone app, and it is not yet available, nor has their been any feedback yet. I could have been selling the same piece of software on my website for two weeks now if Apple allowed it.*

3) I can send e-mail, pictures, do calculations, schedule appointments….

If your iPod a computer? Most people would say no.  The iPhone has a lot of great applications that take full use of the iPod Touch system. Did you know that nearly the only difference between the iPod Touch and the iPhone is the wireless radio, and phone application that go along with it? I have a Windows Mobile phone (that I hate), and it does a lot more than the iPhone ever could (including multi-tasking). I would never even consider to say that it’s a “tiny computer”… Yet it has Office Mobile, Google Maps, and many other usefull applications.

It is however, a phone. A telephone. A telephone with a lot of useful features. Just like the iPhone.

* Apple does allow this. It’s in a little footnote like this, they charge $300 a year for the right to do so, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a single iPhone owner that knows about it.

Tags: apple, iphone