Frustrated with the closed nature of the iPhone (News - Alert), high-profile developer Joe Hewitt of Facebook reportedly has opted to drop his work on the wildly popular platform. In the wake of that development, Facebook (News - Alert) downplayed the comments and noted that the social networking company is still firmly committed to its work related to the iPhone.

 

According to the TechCrunch.com piece, shortly after the release of the iPhone, Hewitt created a library to help developers build applications mimicking Apple (News - Alert)-built iPhone applications and then used it to write an iPhone Facebook app.

 

Hewitt was quoted as saying: “My decision to stop iPhone development has had everything to do with Apple’s policies. I respect their right to manage their platform however they want, however I am philosophically opposed to the existence of their review process. I am very concerned that they are setting a horrible precedent for other software platforms, and soon gatekeepers will start infesting the lives of every software developer.

 

“The web is still unrestricted and free, and so I am returning to my roots as a Web developer. In the long term, I would like to be able to say that I helped to make the web the best mobile platform available, rather than being part of the transition to a world where every developer must go through a middleman to get their software in the hands of users.”

 

But he reportedly later noted that despite any developer frustrations with the iPhone it is “an unstoppable train.”

 

Indeed. The communications department at Facebook reiterated in the wake of this story that it has a team of engineers taking over its iPhone work and that Hewitt’s comments do not reflect Facebook’s view of Apple and its policies.