October, 17
... Some companies are already taking action. Nokia, for example, is not allowing any applications to be loaded onto some of their newest phones unless they have a digital signature that can be traced back to a known developer. While this makes such a phone less than “totally open,” we believe it is a step in the right direction. We are working on an advanced system which will offer developers broad access to natively program the iPhone’s amazing software platform while at the same time protecting users from malicious programs.
apple.com
I don't know how to translate this for human-users language, but it's seems to me, that is something like monopoly for iPhone programs developers.
Am I right, that I can not write my own application to my iPhone because it would have problems with digital signature?
Of cause, it will protect iPhone from viruses, but also it will give, by my opinion, opportunity for iPhone application developers to ask a good price in the uncompetitive iPhone application market...
I hope, that I am not right. ..
1 comment:
The translation is that Apple is following the standard industry practice for mobile cellular devices.
Is it the right thing to do? It depends on your perspective. From the OEM/ODM/Carrier perspective, the concerns about virus/spam/etc. are the paramount concern due to the large numbers of mobile devices. Therefore the digital signature purports to provide a mechanism to prevent malicious activities.
Whether one can or cannot actually load a non-signed application on an iPhone will be up to how Apple implements its signing authentication mechanism. Realistically, the signing mechanism is about identifying the author and controlling access to resources on and off of the device.
From the developer perspective, it's a hassle because currently it takes an inordinately long time to sign an application. There is a temporary fast track signing that is intended to promote development and validation, but it's somewhat limited.
FWIW Every signing mechanism is an open invitation for hackers to find a way to subvert it. The goal is to make it reasonable difficult for "normal" people to break it, not make the system completely impregnable.
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