iOwn

07-15-2008 | 12:01 AM EST

In the last few days, the tech world has been buzzing about the latest release of Apple's iPhone (the 3G model). The headlines have been both good and bad for Apple — Apple Sells One Million 3G iPhones First Weekend, iPhone 3G poses barriers to business adoption, and Apple Cancels All iPhone 3G Orders, Releases iBrick 3G. And, while the zealots continue to paint the superiority of Apple genius and innovation against the detractors' background of connectivity problems and lack of enterprise adoption, a quieter revolution is going on behind the scenes that has as much to do with next gen thinking as with cutting-edge technology.

The FreeRunner mobile phone, created by Openmoko, is a Linux-based mobile phone with many of the same hardware capabilities as Apple's iPhone, including a touchscreen, GPS, and motion sensor. However, rather than locking the phone's underlying operating system and hardware design up in proprietary code and patented design blueprints, the operating system is free to be changed and revised at will and even the CAD files used to create the hardware itself are available for download and re-working under the terms of a Creative Commons Share-Alike license. What this means is that you're not only free to customize the software on the FreeRunner, but you're even free to re-design the physical phone itself!

This form of openness seems to be catching on in certain circles. VIA's OpenBook laptop computer, for example, also makes their device's CAD files available under a Creative Commons BY SA license. VIA even provides a video tutorial on their website to help would-be hardware designers learn more about ripping open their notebook. What's more, the world is taking notice. Just a few weeks ago at Taipei Computex, the OpenBook was honored with a Gold Award for Design and Innovation for 2008.

So, should you expect to see proprietary hardware models thrown out the window in the coming months? That's unlikely . . . for a lot of reasons. From a general consumer's perspective, something like the FreeRunner phone really doesn't compare out-of-the-box with Apple's iPhone. For all of the jokes about "iBricks," once you get beyond some initial problems, the iPhone is a fully-functioning mobile phone with a lot of bells and whistles that work without having to know much at all about technology. On the other hand, the FreeRunner's seemingly limitless number of customization options require a more-than-average amount of technical knowledge to get working in a lot of cases. For now, I think that companies like Apple, who base most of their income model on proprietary software, trade secrets, and patents, will be safe to continue making money through their traditional business plans. I do hope, however, that even if the companies like Openmoko and VIA, who are really pushing the bounds of innovative thinking, never become the market leaders, their efforts and philosophies will inspire other companies to be less restrictive with their licensing so that freedom and liberty are also considered essential design requirements for the-next-big-thing.

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