Is the iPhone a Closed Platform? Not really.

So now that the cat is out of the bag and we know for sure that the iPhone is a "closed" platform that Apple will control much like the iPod... will we ever be able to run "outside" apps?

You may not need to wait for Apple to open up the iPhone and heres why. The iPhone comes with a version of Safari built in. As long as you've got a great web browser, you can build just about any app you want on the web and run it from there. Think about it: Who needs word when you have Google Docs & Spreadsheet? Need an RSS Reader? Use Google Reader or roll your own.

Sure you wont be able to do everything and anything you'd like in a web app, but we can finally see how web apps will flourish once the iPhone is released. Things like Google Doc and Spreadsheet make sense on a device like this. We plan to track down some good web apps and keep a list of them here in the future.

What we really hope is for Apple to open up the iPhone to developers to spawn a whole new industry and make the iPhone a step above the rest.