The mobile handset software market has become the battleground for another clash between those who favour tightly controlled platforms and those who believe in open platforms that can be freely-adapted and modified.

Apple’s iPhone OS is obviously the exemplar of the control model, while Linux-based systems, such as Android and LiMo, are typically associated with the nebulous quality of openness, which like beauty, is often in the eye of the beholder.

Even though the iPhone OS is widely regarded as the gold standard in usability, other handset operating systems are winning over fans by touting their flexibility. China Mobile has adapted Android for use in its new range of data-centric “OPhones”, while even Microsoft has allowed handset makers, such as LG, to add their own user interfaces on top of the once-tightly controlled Windows Mobile operating system.

And, according to a recent BusinessWeek article, Nokia is also positioning itself as the “anti-Apple” in its approach to software developers, by encouraging users and developers to fool around with its operating systems. “When one person or one entity controls all the elements, it limits innovation,” Nokia Executive Vice-President Anssi Vanjoki, is quoted as saying. “History shows that competitors who behave this way never make it to the big leagues in terms of how many people are using their products globally.” Ouch!

So, which approach will win out in the mobile handset market? Apple-style control or the flexibility and adaptability touted by Nokia and the Linux camp?