Cutline Speaks

Inspect your Gadgets

posted by The Cutline Team on May 13, 2008

Many of us, especially we Cutliners, realize that we're living in a very exciting time. We all know innovation on the Internet has revolutionized the way we communicate, share ideas and do business, and that this innovation has shown few signs of stopping. However I recently came across a provocative article which suggests the opposite. Tech policy Professor Jonathan Zittrain of Oxford University argues that as more and more people access the Internet through portable devices and gadgets, and as more applications are written specifically for those gadgets, that the use of the Internet as a platform for innovation will slow significantly. He refers to them as "tethered appliances" and says they will remain "closed off to amateur tweaking, and modifiable, to a large extent, only by their manufacturers — and so they stifle the kind of innovation that enabled them to be created in the first place."

Professor Zittrain's argument is certainly logical, and is tied to the larger issue of preserving net neutrality. His theories may prove to be true, but if consumers and developers choose to use modifiable mobile devices and "tethered appliances" end up being less popular than more open mobile devices, innovation on the Internet may continue unstifled. What do you think?

Tags for this post: gadgets