@kerome while Apple may not licence OSX or it's variants they don't prevent others from making competing hardware (as can be seen from the many Windows & Linux PCs out there, plus all those other smart phones from the likes of Nokia and RIM. As they don't hold a monopoly position in any of those markets it can't possibly be described as anti-competitive for them not to license their products. They do however contribute more to the open source movement than Microsoft do.

@MISSINGXTENSION putting your handle all in caps doesn't make you any less wrong than usual. The HTML5 standard is unlikely to mutate significantly between now and it's formal adoption. The hard work has been done and it's mostly down to arguing fine details. There's no reason that a software update can't deal with any changes. This is pretty much like 802.11n, which was used by manufacturers long before final ratification.

When the resident haters stop with the stupid comments we'll stop correcting them, how's that for a deal?

"and they've been pushing HTML5 hard (much to the annoyance of Adobe)."
No the reason they have been pushing html five is because it is not yet a standard. It is in draft mode, so any iphones of today will not support html5 final draft. They are trying to get flash out of the way for their new os4. It is rumored that it is also coming to the new $99 apple tv, but it seems unlikely. 99 for an apple product is unlikely. But the part about the ads in the new apple os4 are correct.
BY THE WAY YOU APPLE PREACHERS, LEAVE THE PR FOR APPLES REPS THEY PAY THEM FOR THAT, NOT YOU.

seriously, thanks for a good article

Almost missed the real gem above:
"More than one speaker mentioned preliminary research showing a major use of Ipads was by women keeping up with social networks while watching TV."

I expect greasy fingers and touch screen (light and warmth) will create an environment for bacteria to mutate into Cheetos that eat *you*.

Apple are not the Microsoft of mobile: they don't license their OS, they don't allow anyone else to manufacture competing hardware, they don't allow open transfer of files to and from the device, they refuse to publish standards in many areas... not at all like Microsoft.

Anyway, I think Android has a better chance at being influential on mobile than Linux does on desktops, and both Apple and MS with WinPhone7 may well find themselves playing second fiddle in a few years, barring a major patent war.

Win Phone 7 isnt even out yet so how do you know it will do or not do, and as far as the apps go, where else do people buy apps for android or apple except their app stores? That comment made no sense

..i hardly agree that it will fail, the os has a lot of potential and is expected to be quite popular among businesses. So please stop making assumptions based on nothing

And “market fragmentation” is just a phthononym for “customer choice”.

Apple released the original iPhone with the idea that apps would be web based. Developers asked for native binary code, so they gave them limited capabilities to do that. What they continued to say was that web apps should follow open standards, and they've been pushing HTML5 hard (much to the annoyance of Adobe).

At BEST Apple are 3rd in the smartphone marketplace, behind Nokia and RIM. Talk of the app store or the iPhone being a monopoly fail to grasp these basic facts. Who else ar they going to accuse of being a monopoly? Sony as a monopoly manufacturer of the PS3? Nintendo as the only company who can license games for the Wee?

Good grief, such a long article to say bugger all. The new publishers, VNU, are trying to kill off the Inq with the new breed of writers. Talk about suffocate a successful format.

Microsoft, in its ignorance, is developing Windows Phone 7 to be the most closed and locked down platform ever to exist.

Microsoft is using DRM to lock the OS to the hardware. You can only buy apps from Microsoft's store, and nowhere else. It won't allow you to download apps from anyone but Microsoft. It won't let you use any other browser but Internet Explorer.

This is one of the reasons Microsoft's new Windows Phone 7 will fail. Dismally.

Android, MeeGo and Symbian phone platforms are all open-source.