TechCrunch links to noted developer Tim Bray who’s taking a position as “Developer Advocate” at Google for Android but who announces it while taking a swipe at Apple’s iPhone and the closed nature of the App Store:

The iPhone vision of the mobile Internet’s future omits controversy, sex, and freedom, but includes strict limits on who can know what and who can say what. It’s a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers. The people who create the apps serve at the landlord’s pleasure and fear his anger.

Which is completely and utterly wrong, of course. That’s Apple’s vision of the mobile, curated App Store which they intend to be a family friendly, corporately liable software repository. Apple’s vision of the mobile internet is Mobile Safari and its WebKit rendering engine and other technological underpinnings, most of which are open source and heavily supported by Apple.

You can, now, today, get porn on the iPhone via Mobile Safari. You can get Google Voice. You can pretty much get anything and everything without any interference from or need for approval by Apple. It’s the definition of the Winer-ian vendor-less platform Bray quotes. Never mind:

I’m going to have to get savvier about HTML5-based applications, because a lot of smart people think the future’s there, that the “native app” notion will soon seem quaint.

And HTML5 (which allows web-based apps to behave more like native apps) is something Apple has been pushing very hard as well (from promotion at Apple’s Developer Tech Talk World Tour to WebKit.org itself). And again, now, today, you can code and run some of the best, most robust HTML5 applications for mobile to run well on iPhone Safari — and other WebKit-based mobile browsers.

We’ve said many times Safari is Apple’s open app store, and Apple even includes it beside Mac and iPhone on developer.apple.com. That’s what confuses us about comments like Bray’s and TechCrunch’s mention of former Facebook for iPhone developer Joe Hewitt (who has since said the iPad is “everything he’s wished for”).

It’s awesome for Bray and Google and Android and developers, and we congratulate and wish all of them well on his new position. But it’s important to point out that while Apple’s App Store might be “closed”, Mobile Safari is wide open; if you’re a web developer it’s delivering as well or better than anyone else on the promise of of that platform today.

Confusing: Developers Who Complain Apple’s iPhone is Closed AND Think HTML5 is the Future is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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While precious little new information is coming to light about Apple’s just-announced lawsuit against HTC, a lot more specu-nalysis has been hitting the blogsphere, ranging from “Apple is seeking a cross-license to get HTC’s patents” (shades of the accusations facing Nokia about their lawsuit against Apple), to “Steve Jobs feels personally betrayed by Eric Schmidt and is using HTC to get at Google’s Android”.

• Niley Patel over at Engadget has done his usual, spectacular job digging through the patents in question and surfacing what looks to be behind them. 10 are for US court, 10 for the ITC. He also points out that these lawsuits can be settled tomorrow or can drag out 10 years.

• Jesus Diaz of Gizmodo tackles the love affair and nasty breakup between Apple and Google, positing that after Apple made Google CEO Eric Schmidt a board member, and Google saw the iPhone dominating mobile web browsing, they “betrayed” Apple to try and seize that market for themselves. Having lost out to Microsoft in the Mac vs. Windows last-generation war, Giz thinks Apple has $40 billion ways to try and make sure the same doesn’t happen to the iPhone in the upcoming next-generation mobile platform war.

• John Gruber, the Daring Fireball, repeats his “if you can’t beat ‘em, sue ‘em” quip from when Nokia sued Apple, and thinks Apple is making a “terrible mistake” suing HTC. He also despises the idea of UI patents.

• Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch think Apple is suing HTC for the same reason Nokia sued Apple: to get a cross-license on patents. What could HTC have that Apple would want? (Aside from 480p screens, but it’s mostly TiPb who wants those…!)

• Our own editor-in-chief Dieter Bohn, writing for PreCentral.net, thinks that if Apple is engaged now with Nokia and HTC — who have significant patent portfolios all their own — maybe the threat of mutually assured destruction is no longer enough to keep Palm out of the patent pugilism. That does raise the question of who is next?

The US Patent Office seems to be granting everything up to and including Facebook’s recent win for ridiculously broad “the feed”. So we’re guessing we’ll be seeing more rather than less of these lawsuits as time goes on (unless there’s some unlikely software patent-shaking decision spillover from the Supreme Court over Bilsky…)

For most of us, however, just like Nokia vs. Apple, it will remain a spectator sport. About all we can do is pass the patent popcorn and watch. First round no-contest, or 10 slobberknocker, we’ll have to wait and see…

More on Apple vs. HTC (Read: Android?) Patent Lawsuit is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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While yesterday’s Mobile World Congress news was all about Windows Phone 7 Series (henceforth WinPho7s), the Android invasion has returned with news of the HTC Desire, which looks to be Nexus One-style hardware running a new version of Sense UI, and the HTC Legend, a unibody update to the Hero.

Android Central has your details and your HTC Desire hands-on.

In terms of competition to the iPhone, it’s probably not too different than the Nexus One either. The specs remain over the top but the polish in terms of capacitance sensitivity isn’t likely improved. The big question will be whether or not Sense UI on the HTC Desire is more consistent and if multitouch is in the keyboard’s future.

There’s also a new, uber-version of the Hero called the Legend, so check out details and an HTC Legend hands-on over at Android Central as well.

Overall, the main contrast to Apple’s steady, once a year pace with extreme fit and finish is Google/HTC/Android’s release fast, fix later, polish never strategy. The sheer amount of “superphone” class devices they’re putting out, however, should keep the pressure on Apple as we round the corner towards a 4th generation iPhone.

Also, unlike Apple’s one, global iPhone, HTC is — as is all too often the case — releasing the Desire and the Legend without any support for US 3G bands. (Yeahbuwhy?)

Check them out and then come back and let us know what you think Apple has to do, if anything, to compete in the newer, hotter 2010!

HTC Desire = Nexus One + Sense UI — The Competition is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Have the gloves officially come off with Apple demanding Flash of Genius: SAT Vocab’s developer remove a mention of Google’s Android from their App Store application’s description? This does come just days after Steve Jobs fired away claiming Google’s “don’t be evil” motto was “BS”. Coincidence? You tell us.

According to Cult of Mac:

In an email to the developer of “Flash of Genius: SAT Vocab” developer Tim Novikoff, Apple wrote “it would be appropriate to remove ‘Finalist in Google’s Android Developer’s Challenge!’ from the application’s description. Apple wrote that the edit was required to “avoid an interruption in the availability” of the flash card application.

As of this post Novikoff has removed the mention and the app remains available in the App Store. He does have plans to get in touch with Apple to figure out a way to sneak in his top 10 finish in the Android developer contest without ruffling any Apple feathers.

Is it just us or do you think Apple is going just a tad bit too far with this one?

[Via Cult of Mac]

Apple Requests Google Android Mention Be Removed from App Store Description is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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According to our sibling site, Android Central, in the wake of Apple’s iPhone 3.1.3 update and new iPad hardware, Google issued a Nexus One software update of their own — one that enables multitouch pinch-to-zoom in the built in apps like the web browser, maps, and gallery. Oh, and there’s also a coincidentally timed Chrome OS tablet “concept” making the rounds.

We’re being more than a little facetious in linking Google’s Android updates and Chrome OS concepts to any iPhone and iPad news. I mean, who could have seen Apple announcing a tablet last week, right? Other than Fake Steve’s prime suspect, of course. But that’s the nature of the new Apple vs. Google frenemy relationship.

Really, though, anything that keeps the pressure on Apple to keep up the pace of innovation, we’re all for. Give us that A+ iPhone update already!

Nexus One Update Brings Pinch-to-Zoom, Chrome OS Tablet Gets Conceptual — The Competition! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Dieter has his Google/HTC Android Nexus One here at CES, which means we grabbed it, put it next to our signature Apple iPhone 3GS, and took tons of pics.

First impressions: killer Google services. Killer. Solid hardware. Still Android OS 2.x, so while powerful and flexible, it hasn’t reached the user experience level of the iPhone OS yet. Nor media, of course. And it’s still not as fluid. On a 1Ghz Snapdragon processor. Really? But voice to search, launch, and type? Right back at killer.

Check out the pics after the break!

Apple iPhone 3GS vs Google/HTC Android Nexus One — Gallery is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Our sibling site, Android Central, will be doing a meta live blog of Google’s big Android/Nexus One event at 1pm ET/10am PT, and yours truly is going to be online with them to help them out and get a sneak peak at the competition.

What will Google announce? Just the mega-phone? Free candy? Who knows with them! Join us for the meta live blog!

The Competition: Android Central Nexus One Meta Live Blog: 1pm ET/10am PT is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Join Rene and special guests Phil Nickinson of Android Central and WMExperts and Keith Newman of the PreCentral.net PalmCast Round Robin Android Droid and Hero vs. iPhone and Windows Phone HD2 and Touch Pro2 vs. iPhone, more iTablet, iPhone HD, and iPhone 4.0 rumors, and all the week’s news and opinions. Listen in!

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TiPb Presents: iPhone Live! #82 — Android and Windows and Tablets… Oh, My! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Gizmodo got somes hands on a Google Phone Nexus One and shared some impressions.

A tad thinner, lighter, and “silky”-er feeling in the hand compared to the iPhone, Nexus One also sports a less cheap, more rubbery back. (The rubber lobby is no doubt thrilled with that bump in cachet). Its screen POPS and blows everything away, and it’s (likely 1GHz processor powered) web rendering is a bit faster than the iPhone 3GS, both of which are faster than the Droid. (Though the iPhone 3GS still outscored all comers on JavaScript benchmarks. Nitro FTW!) It’s also got a crazy animated background system that can launch bit blocks or ripple when you touch it, but becomes a visualizer when music is playing. Like Sense UI’s animated weather, that kind of eye candy is just sweet.

With iPhone 4.0 and a 4th generation iPhone due June/July 2010, how selfish are we to beg all comers to “bring the awesome!” so that Apple is incentivized to bring their own innovation to market faster? Exactly this selfish: well done, Nexus One, you’re not failing to impress.

Speaking of which, check out Android Guys video UI walkthrough after the break, and tell us what you think!

UPDATED: Engadget scores an invitation-only pre-sale rumor starting Jan. 5 with a T-Mobile rollout, perhaps, to follow. Also, specs galore, with what looks like 802.11n(!) support, 8??x480 WVGA AMOLED screen, 1 GHz proc, and all the trimmings.

[via Android Central]

[YouTube link]

UPDATED: The Competition: Google Nexus One Phone Gets Hands-on, UI Walkthrough is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Gizmodo isn’t waiting for the new year to shoot old rumors into the stratosphere, gossiping that the Google Phone (an honest-to-Jobs unique, branded phone by Google) is in a fact a fact, runs the here-to-fore unseen “real” Android (yes, everything from the G1 to the Droid has been running fakety fake fake Android), and is about to flood Google’s HQ for testing:

Our best guess is an Android OS with Google Voice at its heart.

And maybe a side order of VoIP? (They say it’s not Chrome OS either, but it’s hard not to imagine Google ultimately going in that direction).

If so, would this make Android less competitive with the iPhone by utterly shattering the faith and market of Google’s partners, or would it let Google ship the kind of killer integrated experience Apple, Palm, and RIM have been serving up? Oh, and, you want?

Crazy Competition Rumor: Secret Google Phone Running Secret Android is Real is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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