I don’t think the company needs to stop controlling what apps get in the App Store. All Apple needs to do is add a new feature, buried several menu items down in the Settings app, that mirrors the one found on Android devices: an option that lets you install Apps from “unknown sources.” If a user tried to turn this option on, they’d get a scary warning about how these sources couldn’t be trusted, and that they may lead to instability, crashes, loss of data, you name it. Scary stuff.
Most users will never find that setting. Many who do will be loath to turn it on. But by putting it there, Apple immediately shuts up every single claim that the iPhone isn’t open. (Just as iPhone OS 4’s multitasking feature is debatably not “true multitasking,” no doubt many tech insiders would immediately howl that allowing unapproved apps isn’t truly “open,” but I don’t think regular consumers would notice.)
Brilliant.