It’s gorgeous, it’s versatile, it’s intuitive — it’s more Mac than a Mac. But it will not run just any outside code. Outsiders can’t just send the next VisiCalc to iPhone owners directly. Instead, proposed new software must go through the centralized iPhone Apps store. Apple takes a cut of each piece of software sold and reserves the right to kill any app it doesn’t like.

This from a great story on Marketplace, my absolute favorite news program in the world. In “Apple’s tech goes suburban,” Jonathan Zittrain argues that only allowing applications for the iPhone to be distributed through the “iPhone Apps store” is bad for small developers, and consequently bad for innovation. I agree, but this isn’t surprising given Apple’s track record, nor is it new.

Service providers like Verizon have been playing this game forever, restricting phones’ hardware and software capabilities and making customers go through the phone company for the privilege of putting applications on a device they already own. That’s why there’s a Nokia S60-based device in my pocket, and that’s why I’ve had software that let’s me take location-tagged pictures for over a year now–unlike iPhone users who will get their hands on this “cutting edge” feature in a few weeks. Sure the software was beta quality and a little clunky, but it worked for me, and I bet apps like these helped refine the products from bigger companies that came later to market.

I’m not a big fan of having a lot of software on my phone, but I do like diversity. And I know from past experiences in a small startup, and as a graduate student in a research lab, that trying to innovate on mobile platforms is a huge pain. Lot’s of great ideas have died on the chalkboard due to the hassles the mobile industry puts us through to get software on devices, and that just can’t be good for business.

How often do you open the paper and see an intelligent quote from a politician on technology policy? I was pleasantly surprised to see just that today in a Boston Globe article. Massachusetts Congressman Ed Markey is taking over the House subcommittee on telecommunications, and on the issue of net neutrality, Markey says,

Innovations such as the Web browser, search engines, and the Internet did not emerge from large established companies, and forcing firms to pay more to reach users would stifle creativity

I think that’s a no-brainer, although it seems to be controversial in some big business circles.

What could be really interesting is if this principle were to be applied to the wireless industry. We have seen barely a trickle of mobile location services in the last decade for no other reason than there is no concept of net neutrality in mobile data networks. You have to pay to play, and you have to make separate deals with every wireless provider out there to get an application to a phone. This is clearly stifling innovation in the mapping industry.

Congressman Markey, please bring net neutrality to our cell phones!