
"This gets round one of the most significant problems of developers working on iPhone applications and goes some way to explain why Google didn't launch this for the Android platform first"
I would say that the snippet from the article there shows author has considered that question... besides, that wasn't what the article was about.
Apple are a big company, I'm sure they can take the criticism without you defending them. sigh... and before I'm called an Apple hater, google fanboy, or M$ 'ho, this is coming from a soon-to-be iPhone owner (delivery tomorrow between 9am-9pm). :)
Aside from the crappy camera resolution on the phone (I have been used to a 5mp that gets alot of use on my current n95) the biggest barrier for me to getting the iPhone was the appstore policing... they seem to be killing applications because they will use the "unlimited" connections that the 3g networks are meant to provide, and they also seem very inconsistent with their decisions on who gets in and who doesn't, meaning it will stifle progress on the platform imho... it bothers me alot... but, in the end, I remember having problems signing applications in the past with symbian, and my other phones before symbian were all closed anyway, so to be honest there won't be THAT many applications I would be buying from the store... it would just be nice for development not to be stifled because some guy in apple is having a bad day and denies an application a release.