Apple makes a great computer, but it did not really attract a lot of hackers. That is the problem with closed hardware systems like Apple. But I learned recently that the real problem for developers was with the legal issues.

The Apple NDA, which every developer has to agree to in order to download the iPhone SDK, forced developers not to talk about Apple’s technology. But this also prevents developers from learning from the mistakes and time spent by other developers. The way that the Apple’s NDA was phrased forced developers to essentially keep reinventing the wheel since they were not legally allowed to share solutions. It was so bad that the best place for developers to network with other iPhone developers is at Google groups. As Homer Simpson would say, “D’oh”.

Finally Apple is catching up to reality. They have changed the NDA and are even including forums on their own site. It only took three months or so.

I realize that Google is being extremely hands-off with respect to who used the Android platform and how. But what kind of strategy is it to release the new G1 phone, the first of its kind, into Walmart at a $30 discount within a month and a half of its official release? Driving the high-end market down is sure to hurt Nokia, but will it backfire and make Apple look even more desirable and high end? Is this the only way for Google, Verizon and HTC to make the sales numbers on the G1 that they has promised?

This is going to be a crazy holiday season. But it will be a great time to be a consumer.

Jason Ankeny had a great post yesterday about the differences between the Android Market and the iPhone App store. Just going by numbers, Google is off to a very slow start compared to Apple. They have 62 apps,  only 1/10 the number of apps that Apple had at the launch of their store. Several of these were the ones that one the Google Android competition. Hopefully, things will improve soon.

Chances are that developers were unhappy about how Google was releasing the improved versions of the Android SDK to the competition winners and not to the community at large. As a result of this slight by Google, many developers did not create applications for the Google phone. Also, many developers are probably taking a wait and see attitude.

It is no wonder. Every day there are more mobile systems and app stores to program for. Do you program for the ultra successful iPhone store where your app will be listed among 7000 others? Or do you go with the Blackberry and its new store? For a company that has been pursuing the business customer for years, do they know how to court the regular consumer and are there enough regular consumers on the Blackberry to make it worth the time and effort.

It looks like Google may be finally getting some respect for Android. Some, that is.

If you have been following the Google Phone, then you know that the very first one is supposed to debut on the T-Mobile network. The press conference showing off the new device was last week. This device is designed by HTC, one of the bigger risk takers among the cell phone manufacturers. But it may have been enough to convince other manufacturers to jump into the Google pool.

If you believe the gossip, Motorola is supposedly hiring engineers to put together some of their own Android phones. Sony Ericsson is still on the fence testing the OS but is very interested.

Apple seems to have taken notice. It has introduced another game changer in this wild smartphone world. Geeks around the world can finally rejoice. Apple is selling unlocked iPhones in Hong Kong. You can use one of these iPhones on any network that you have an acount (and that matches the technology of the network of course). Sure it costs at least $700 for the 8G version, but it takes that network operators completely out of the profit equation for Apple.

The music industry rues the day that Apple launched iTunes and iPods. Will AT&T look back at the iPhone and feel the same way? My bet is yes, but this day has been coming for a long time.

Speaking of music, everyone uses MP3 files, but you may not be aware that companies actually have to pay royalties to use the format because it is patented. Alcatel-Lucent thought that they were going to get a $1.5 billion from Microsoft for their use of MP3 in their products. But a judge has just squashed that old ruling. And this has nothing to do with the $16 million that Microsoft has already paid to another organization that claims to hold the patents on MP3.

The weather is turning cooler in Silicon Valley. Soon we will be seeing advertisements for Christmas mixed in with the ads for the next U.S. President. Christmas ads in October are always annoying. It seems like the pressure to have a happy holiday is forced on us earlier and earlier.

This same feeling of annoyance greeted me when I read the latest predictions for the Google Android phone. To the best of my knowledge, there is currently only one phone set for release before the Christmas holiday, but the analysts are already predicting a happy holiday for Google. Actually the prediction is not just happy, it is ecstatic. They are predicting that 4% of all smartphones sold in the U.S. during the fourth quarter will be the HTC Dream, the first commercial Google Android phone. That translates into 400,000 phones.

Now, 400,000 phones are certainly doable. Apple averages 27k 3G iPhones/week, down from a high of 50k/week. Apple’s sales are averaging 324k/quarter. But the question is how will users feel about the Android phone.

The iPhone has an entire ecosystem behind it. From the iTunes store to phone itself, it is a very controlled, managed device. It is not that people can’t handle the iPhone technology themselves, they don’t want to. Thanks to the stripped down iPhone, people are discovering for the first time all the amazing things that a phone can do. But phones have been able to do most of these things for years. They just had such a terribly variable user interface that it was impossible for people to figure them out without putting hours into the learning process.

If the HTC Dream is a very intuitive device, this might work. Otherwise, it will not be a happy Christmas.