It's standard in semiconductors and devices. The iPhone is drawing lots of the kinds of developers (web, ISVs, etc) who are not used to that. They cut their teeth on very open/well-documented environments.
Then the answer is for them to get more acquainted to how things work in the real world. Things are closed, things are proprietary. That's business.
Apple hold all the cards because... erm they made the iPhone. It's theirs.
>Things are closed, things are proprietary. That's business.
Agreed (whether you like it or not, i personally don't care for it).
>erm they made the iPhone. It's theirs.
Disagree. I purchased the phone, it's no longer theirs, it's mine.
I respectfully suggest that times change. A generation ago most "real world" programming platforms were closed. The idea of multi-billion-dollar companies routinely depending on free software stacks was almost inconceivable.
These things just make it more fun :)