Why locking down smartphones is a bad idea

You can talk all you want about how cellphones are the new computers,but if the carriers have their way there will be one crucial difference between that handset in your pocket and that PC on your desk: you won't be able to install whatever you want on your cellphone. This isn't because cellphone operating systems are any different, it's just that carriers have a lot more control over the actual hardware that gets to connect to their network, and they want to make money by selling people software and ringtone downloads,
not letting them do whatever they want. Most of the non-smartphones sold are completely locked down, which is why one of the best things about having a Treo 600 or a Sony Ericsson P900 (pictured) or a Nokia 3650 is that you're able to install weird new applications on them. Anyway, some consulting firm called Mako Analysis is warning carriers that they need to close this "loophole" and not make it possible for people to do what they want with their phones. There is a semi-legitimate reason for software-locking phones — namely that they become much easier to screw up if subscribers are installing untested third-party apps — but it also means that we run the risk of missing out on some amazing killer app that no top-down, bureaucratic carrier would think up themselves. And like how VisiCalc drove people to buy the Apple II, keeping phones unlocked makes it possible for some unexpected new application to drive people to buy smartphones in the first place. Which in the end is good for both manufacturers and carriers.

[Via BoingBoing]