The CEO of Danger, Inc., makers of the Hiptop wireless PDA-thingy, has done an embarassingly rotten interview with Engadget, in which he admits that his company is selling out its customers and locking down development for the platform. Last year, I wrote a public apology to everyone that I recommended this device to, because I'd been fooled by a presentation given by Danger at a PC Forum conference where they made a bunch of now-broken promises about the openness of the Sidekick. A year later, we have more broken promises and a device with even worse policies. My Sony-Ericsson P900 has many failings, but at least I can install my own ringtones and software without having to go through the company's politburo to get authorization.
Can customers upload their own ringtones?
No. There's an effort by the industry to make people pay for the content on these devices…
What about allowing developers to create user-installable applications for the Sidekick?
Not user-installable. We're a gatekeeper in that sense. they use our developer kit, they reach an agreement with us, and then through us they can have access to our user base.
(via Wendy Seltzer)
