The iPhone’s dominance as a mobile internet device continues to grow, with StatCounter stating that 0.23-percent of US web traffic is via the cellphone, and with it grows fears from some quarters that the relatively open development phase of the internet has passed on to a more closed, manufacturer-controlled experience.  According to Jonathan Zittrain, a professor at Oxford University, the proliferation of locked-down browsers on devices like the iPhone, Nintendo’s Wii and mobile devices is a significant shift from the open-source code that has long been allowed to run on more traditional devices like PCs and Macs.

“We have grown weary not with the unexpected cool stuff that the generative PC had produced, but instead with the unexpected very uncool stuff that came along with it.  Viruses, spam, identity theft, crashes: all of these were the consequences of a certain freedom built into the generative PC. As these problems grow worse, for many the promise of security is enough reason to give up that freedom” Jonathan Zittrain, “The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It”

Of course, you could argue that this was an inevitable progression, as casual users opt for functional but secure platforms whereas those who prefer to code, experiment and generally tinker choose more open platforms.  Zittrain’s fear appears to be that in shifting toward this model we’re losing some of the flexibility and creativity we had before; personally I’d argue that a smartphone or a games console is unlikely to be the place you choose to do some programming.  The ongoing war between desktop browsers is evidence that the desire for a capable, open platform is still top of many people’s lists.