iPhone = Device (not Platform)

I am in the middle of deciding my next mobile device and like everyone else in a similar situation am closely looking at the Apple iPhone.  The one catch to the iPhone is that the only way for a 3rd party to get an application on it is through the web browser.  As I look back at all the mobile devices I have owned, the ones I like the best (Palm Pilot 5000, Compaq iPaq, T-mobile MDA) all had one thing in common: an open platform for 3rd party developers with lots of great apps.  Honestly that’s one of the things I am really liking about my Nokia N800 – there are a lot of great apps out there with more coming every day.
Dave Winer brings clarity to this issue.  What apple has developed is a great device.  Not a great platform.  Has the control freak nature of the Jobs finally done wrong for Apple…or are we only one move into a drawn out chess game.  Regardless of the answer, I think I will pass on the rev 1 device and start reading up on the Nokia N95.