Should Apple Allow Installation of iOS Apps From Other Sources?

The Mac App Store won’t be the only way to install apps on a Mac. As Steve Jobs confirmed at the “Back to the Mac” event, the Mac App Store will be the best way to discover and install apps, but not the only one. You’ll still be able to purchase apps directly from developers’ websites and run installers or .DMG files just fine. Can you imagine what could ever happen if Apple turned the Mac into an App Store-only “closed” system with no possibility to download software from other sources? After 20 years of regular installations?

So in a matter of a few months you’ll be able to install apps on your Mac in two different ways, and one of them will likely take over the other one in a very short period of time. If Apple understands the natural differences of the Mac from iOS and consequently adjusts the Review Guidelines in a way that developers won’t be forced to water down their apps, the Mac App Store will be huge. Both for users and devs.

Should Apple do the same on iOS?

Think about it: Apple could as well introduce “sideloading” for applications in iOS 5. Android users, in fact, have been able to install apps from unknown sources (sideload, indeed) for a long time now. All you have to do to enable the feature on Android is set a preference in the settings, and the OS becomes capable of loading app packages from sources external to the Marketplace.

Many users and bloggers and haters alike have been asking for this feature to be allowed on iOS. Apple of course never changed its mind and even at the 4th iteration of the operating system, users can’t install apps from other sources. Period. But here comes the interesting part: buried in a P.S. of yesterday’s breakdown of the Review Guidelines, Engadget reports they got the chance to talk to Steve Jobs and asked about this very same feature.

We actually got a chance to talk to Steve Jobs at the event yesterday and asked him if the iPhone would eventually allow apps to be sideloaded from other sources in addition to being installed from the App Store, as is the situation with the Mac App Store. His answer? “Not at this time.” Whether or not that means it’ll happen at some time is depends on how much of an optimist you are, but hey – at least it wasn’t a flat no.

“Not at this time”. Now, we can debate on Steve Jobs’ answers for hours if you want, but here’s the thing: the ultimate difference between iOS and the Mac is that iOS was born with the App Store in mind. Apple didn’t open its door until mid-2008, but clearly they had envisioned a device tied to the App Store experience in the first place. The Mac, on the other hand, has always been a platform that allows users to install application the way they want.

Steve Jobs wanted the iPhone to be an integrated platform since day one. The Mac will become a partially integrated platform in 3 months, and that’s a huge difference.

Perhaps Apple will introduce sideload for apps in iOS 5, who knows. But doing that would be a route adjustment.