Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:CEO) Steve Jobs normally does not appear on earnings calls, but he did this past week. And he decided to go to town on his rivals. Jobs knocked on the “openness” of Google Android and RIM’s tablet computer. This sparked a debate. Below is some of the things that Jobs said and what some of the responses were.

Earlier today TechCrunch reported that Facebook is building a mobile phone “or rather, they’re building the software for the phone and working with a third party to actually build the hardware.” I think the latter is true because starting a mobile device manufacturing division seems like a business that would not make sense for Facebook.

Joe Hewitt was the main developer of the Facebook iPhone application, but he recently decided to give up on that project. A couple of days ago, he wrote “Time for me to try something new. I’ve handed the Facebook iPhone app off to another engineer, and I’m onto a new project,” tweeted Hewitt. The main reason why he decided to give up on the App Store is because of Apple’s policies.

In an e-mail to TechCrunch, Hewitt said that he is philosophically opposed to the existence of the App Store review process and believes that they are setting a bad precedent for other software platforms. He said that he would rather be known for making the best platform available rather than being seen as a developer that has to go through a middleman in order to showcase software.

Joe Hewitt is best known for his contributions to the development of the Firefox web browser. In 2000-2003, Hewitt did a lot of the UI programming for the Netscape browser as well. Personally I applaud Hewitt’s contributions to the Facebook iPhone App and the Firefox browser. I hate to see him leaving the App Store developer community, but I’m not surprised he left because Apple’s review process has been highly criticized since the beginning.

Facebook developer Joe Hewitt announced on Twitter that the newest Apple iPhone application is “pretty much done – we’re just working on translating it into a bunch of languages.”  Some of the features that will be included on the newest iPhone application includes a News Feed.

The new iPhone application also includes the ability to click “Like” on the News Feed.  There is also an option to record video and upload it to Facebook using the video camera on the iPhone 3G S.  Hewitt added this feature at the last second.  The application also has the ability to manage events.

No word yet on the new application will be done yet.  “Translating could take a while.  I’ve been avoiding predicting an actual release date,” said Hewitt.  And then the application has to clear the Apple submission process.  Facebook is also working on a Google Android application that should be available in the near future.

[via TechCrunch]