WASHINGTON -- With the surge of collaborative technical innovation that has given rise to projects like Wikipedia and the open source software revolution, it might seem a little counterintuitive to argue that the technology industry is gradually shifting toward a closed-off, top-down model.

It might seem counterintuitive, unless you're Jonathan Zittrain.

Speaking here at the office of progressive think tank New America Foundation, the Harvard University law professor took aim at what he described as a closed model of outsourced innovation.

Zittrain criticized the model where companies give a tentative embrace of the developer community, but retain strict control of the content and distribution of the applications they create.

"Steve Jobs made in iPhone 1.0 no apology that Apple would control everything," Zittrain said, noting that the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO commented at the time that he had no interest in turning the device into a PC, where glitchy software could threaten the core functionality as a phone. Then, earlier this year, Apple introduced the new iPhone, and with it came a software development kit (SDK).

"This is a fascinating hybrid," Zittrain said. "Steve Jobs ... says there are going to be limitations -- limitations we are now starting to know."

"If you want to write a program for the iPhone and give it to somebody ... you have to be approved as an iPhone programmer and submit it to the App Store and see if they approve it. And then -- and only then -- will it be made available to people who want the software."

But it's not just the iPhone that concerns Zittrain.

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