Zittrain, Jonathan.  "Law and Technology: The End of the Generative Internet."  Communications of the ACM.  Vol. 52.1 (2009) 18-20.

Zittrain offers a fascinating take on the generative nature of the Internet, which he believes is being destroyed by new developments in technology.  Using the iPhone as a case study, the author declares that its generative content is minimal and full of restrictions.  The article explains that the first iPhone left no place for innovation from outside developers.  Furthermore, Apple turned the phone of any developer that had changed the code into an "iBrick".  A sense of vindication is palpable in an addendum to the piece that praises the iPhone SDK and the apps created by outside developers.  However, the author argues that Apple always holds all the power over the applications.  From allowing developers to create in the first place to putting their apps in the store to making them featured apps to removing them all together, there can be no doubt that Apple exerts immense control over their platform.  Nonetheless, Zittrain draws the conclusion that currently Apple's gate keeping tendencies are beneficial to the majority of users that want outside control.

This article seems a bit confused at times as it tries to reconcile Apple's overarching theme of control with its occasional message of openness.  The apps created by third-party developers using the iPhone SDK connect to James Surowiecki's "The Wisdom of Crowds".  The most successful and most downloaded apps are those created by Apple outsiders, which demonstrates the importance of collective intelligence.  By opening up the app industry to anyone who is interested in participating, Apple was able to acquire an extremely diverse array of apps.  However, in relation to "The Wireless Carterfone", there are still many qualifications and approval procedures that force developers to jump through multiple hoops before getting their app in the store.  The entire idea of a generative internet relates to the reoccurring idea in technology literature of open content.  Although outside developers can create iPhone apps, these apps are certainly not open content.  Essentially, outside developers cannot come in and edit these pre-existing apps.  While the Apple SDK is available, the ability to edit or build-on to apps is not.  It's also interesting to examine this piece in relation to iPhone jailbreaking.  Although jailbreaking has raised many questions regarding its legality, the action could be seen as an extension of the generative internet.  Until a phone is jailbroken, a user does not truly have the opportunity to create generative content on their iPhone.