”We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users.” – Steve Jobs
That’s the word from Apple headquarters today. They’re officially opening up the iPhone to third-party developers to provide their customers with a better product.
I’ll bet Steve has a copy of a book I’ve been reading, Wikinomics, on his shelf. The subtitle of the book is “How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything”.
It’s a fascinating look at how innovation happens much faster and results in a better product for everybody when companies take a different look at what is really theirs (Intellectual Property). Leading companies are now walking the fine line between ownership of IP and opening up their products to the community for tinkering.
One question I got twice when we compared the iPhone to my AT&T 8525 in The SmartPhone Showdown, was “does it support 3rd party software?” The 8525 did, the iPhone didn’t. I was astonished that the Apple innovators hadn’t taken this step.
If you haven’t taken your own steps to channel the power of your community toward innovation, then you might want to pick up a copy of Wikinomics.
