Except the iPhone isn't as worrisome as StarCraft to me. Ultimately, the iPhone's problems are going to force Apple to open up, because they are decreasing the quality of the iPhone ecosystem.
And even if it doesn't, the iPhone platform is not actually a communication medium. Obviously it contains one, and people build communication media on top of it, but Apple, as far as I know, doesn't prevent you from making calls to China, or from communicating via any app that is distributed both in China and here in the States. Your provider may charge you a pretty penny, but you're free to do it.
Compare that to StarCraft, which represents a vision of a terrifyingly closed Internet, where every nation has its own walled garden and you cannot get out. Apple has a walled garden, but you're free to enter or leave any time you want.
What if this spreads? It seems pretty clear that they've proved that you can region lock and no one will care.
Many oppressive world governments like Iran and China would love it if the Internet itself was segmented in this manner. And the large copyright owners would love it too, since it would make copyright enforcement much easier.
There are some very big players looking to make Starcraft the model for the Internet, and yes, I can not play Starcraft, but there are some big principles at play here, beyond the traditional FOSS vs. proprietary mudslinging.
