Has Apple marketed iOS as a self-hosting software development device ?
> This is a forum for technologists who are often interested in this functionality
Are people who are interested in functionality seriously expecting Apple to be the most “functional”? Isn’t that the whole schpiel of Linux, open source, where everything is customizable? Why are people seeking out Apple then? This same forum frequently complains about Apple’s pricing and does comparative pricing for similar, or rather analogous, commodity hardware. If things were really comparable and substitutable that easy, then all else being equal people would be happy with the cheaper option instead of being upset that Apple doesn’t provide x, y, z.
People are desiring Apple’s hardware, form factor, quality and design. The R&D in these areas are funded by the preferences of average consumer, and the pro/semi-pro media creatives. It feels like a sense of entitlement that Apple’s R&D / strategy in building sleek consumer products that made Apple the most valuable company should now focus specifically on developers, who may not make ROI sense.
Opening up the platform for such things that running arbitrary code poses security risks, but controlling that risks makes the user interface / preferences more complex. That’s the strategy that Google / Android took. But if this approach was superior, why are these same technologists fawning over Apple then ?