DVD Jon: Apple will be forced to open up app platform

Jon "DVD Jon" Johansen was made infamous in 2003 for defeating Apple's FairPlay DRM system which protected iTunes downloads and for cracking DVD anti-piracy technology.

Now he believes that Google's Android OS and Palm's WebOS platforms will be so successful that Apple will be forced to open up its iPhone application platform, allowing developers more freedom in the applications they're allowed to build.

"I think that's what would force Apple to open up," Johansen told CNET UK, "if they saw significant competition, and developers fleeing to those platforms because they're more open and because they can build more interesting applications on them. I think there's a good chance there will be a lot of developers developing for the Pre and the Android platform."

Not surprisingly, he's not a fan of policies Apple's developers are forced to abide by. "It's typical Apple," he says, "[but] they've even surpassed themselves this time, though it's not as bad as it was"

"Before the iPhone, there were all these articles about how Apple was going to revolutionise the wireless space, and how they were going to open up the control that the carriers had. But [Apple has] replaced them and now Apple is the gatekeeper instead."

Jon is now co-founder and CTO of doubleTwist -- an extremely interesting new media management and conversion tool. It aims to make converting music and video files for almost any portable media player, as simple as humanly possible. We'll be looking at the software in depth later this week. If you've ever struggled to get video on your MP3 player, you'll want to check back with us.