I don't really care how it gets opened up. When I was really last using OS X, there were tons of free or cheap apps that modified the machine so nicely in ways Apple definitely didn't support, and now that it has Terminal the thing really should be opening up wide. Get lots of apps on the platform and I'm probably switching when my 680 needs replacing. I have plenty of time now to follow the iPhone and see what it develops into (or what it fails to possibly). Honestly, it and Apple aren't perfect by a long shot, but the iPhone definitely looks like it will be one of the best handheld solutions in the long run. 1.0 might 'suck' in ways like this thread states and I'll definitely agree with that, but take 3rd party apps off there and to me it is the most compelling device seen yet, with great potential. I think this is big news for the iPhone, unless Apple stops it somehow (mandatory security update maybe).
I wonder how you came to this conclusion. as:
1) as you mentioned Apple can close the gap at any time, breaking older apps, resulting in a persistent game of cat and mouse.
2) They have to reverse engineer everything, meaning development will be painful and slow.
3) due to not using a published API, the likelyhood of bugs are higher, and instability even more so.
4) It still has all the hardware deficiencies, such as no 3G or GPS, and lack of physical keys (for your emulations for example)
5) Few commercial vendors would want to build a business on a hacked OS, and this will limit the type and quality of software available
etc etc
I think your conclusion is a bit premature.
Surur