I know I'll get my ... kicked for this comment, but anyway.
The iPhone experience is not sterile at all. It comes with a browser and there is no restriction for the websites you can open. Google ('the web is the computer') should be the ones to best understand this.
Since when is controlling the quality and security of the content at a marketplace that you operate equal to limiting people's freedoms?
If I own a grocery shop and refuse to sell someone's rotten tomatoes does it make me necessary evil?
Not letting people charge 0.99$ for balloons in swimwear using your own infrastructure has nothing to do with their freedom of speech. They can always create a web page and show it to the world.
Sounds like you've never lived in a communist country; where the government decides there shall be one and only one marketplace for a certain set of goods/services.
You are severally missing the point of the problem with Apple's App Store. It has absolutely nothing to do with what they will or will not allow in their store and what developers must do to get their apps published. It has nothing to do with Apple deciding 30% is the price of admission.
It has everything to do with Apple ensuring there can be only one market. This is the antithesis of a free market.
I dont think there's an issue with controlling the quality and security of the content at a marketplace. Its an issue that its the _only_ marketplace that they're controlling.
There are porn sites that have started supporting H.264, possibly in order to cater to the iPhone users, although I have no data to back up that assumption.
The iPhone experience is not sterile at all. It comes with a browser and there is no restriction for the websites you can open. Google ('the web is the computer') should be the ones to best understand this.
Since when is controlling the quality and security of the content at a marketplace that you operate equal to limiting people's freedoms?
If I own a grocery shop and refuse to sell someone's rotten tomatoes does it make me necessary evil? Not letting people charge 0.99$ for balloons in swimwear using your own infrastructure has nothing to do with their freedom of speech. They can always create a web page and show it to the world.