I almost didn't upvote this in deference for those who are (understandably) sick of the iPad discussion. But it represents my viewpoint quite succinctly.<p>I don't support how closed the Apple platform is, but I think the iPhone OS is great for a whole range of computing. On the positive side its created a market for developers, without pushing out indie developers (like consoles do).<p>I certainly have sympathy for the idea of teaching kids to program on these devices, and how hard Apple will no doubt make that. While its going to be hard to get any kind of interpreter on the device, I'm sure someone will succeed eventually - and then we could well have a generation of kids who grow up programming because of the device.