14 DAY TRIAL // Apparently Apple has a pretty good reason for locking down software on their iPhone. According to them, by limiting the development of software for the iPhone, the device will be more secure, and possible attackers won't get the opportunity to find vulnerabilities or develop exploits.
Be that as it may, keeping the iPhone a closed device and not even allowing Java applications seems to be a little harsh, and a major inconvenience to many people that will want to use the iPhone for something else apart from listening to music or viewing movies.
According to Eric Chien, Symantec researcher "If the iPhone remains a closed device, with not even Java applications or widgets let alone native code, the risk of infection becomes orders of magnitude lower".
Steven Jobs has a pretty similar opinion. "These are devices that need to work. And you can't do that if you load any software on them," Jobs told reporters. "It doesn't mean we have to write it all, but it means it has to be more of a controlled environment."
However, other devices like Nokia's S60 phones have been known to work just fine so far and provide the user with the opportunity to decide for themselves whether they want to install applications or not.
Despite closing off the ability to install applications on the iPhone, researchers pointed out that this would not solve all security risks.
"Will malicious software [for the iPhone] exist? Probably," said Chien. "But the amount of malicious software will definitely not be on the scale it is today with Windows and will not reach the levels of malware for current mobile devices."
While some think that it is better to be safe then sorry, as mentioned before, this might make many people look somewhere else when searching for a mobile phone.