iPhone To Allow 3rd-Party Development 215
Anarchysoft writes "In an exciting shift from previous statements, Apple CEO Steve Jobs revealed at the D Conference that 3rd-party development will be supported on the iPhone. Questions remain as to whether the opening of the platform, slated for later this year, will be through Dashboard-like widgets or a separate SDK."
One approach (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd be happy enough with an API that let me develop a simple interface that could store some data locally and sync with a computer, so even no network access for applications at all would be of some use (though obviously as the device is very network centric it would not be nearly as fun).
Re:GPS (Score:5, Interesting)
There is always next year.
One Word: (Score:5, Interesting)
If this critter has WiFi, and someone ports Skype to it, a damned fine radical shift in cell communications is very possible. While it wouldn't work outside of large metro areas (ones with lots of free WiFi, anyway), it would make phone companies, contracts, and all the BS that goes with 'em rather obsolete, methinks.
(then again, we'd likely see folks like Verizon et al start lobbying city councils to stop putting in free wifi, like Qwest and Comcast did when Utah began it's UTOPIA project of multiple city-funded fiber-to-the-doorstep projects all linked together).
Either way, it'd be damned cool, IMHO.
Two words: (Score:5, Interesting)
That's what I've been waiting for in iPhone news. Sure, there's the Oqo and some Axim-type devices that work for this, but very few that can harness the power of a terminal window, which I've been told (by an Apple higher ed employee) we'll be able to do on the iPhone.
Re:A much better link (Score:4, Interesting)
Not really. Cingular offers several SmartPhones like the Treo and the Samsung Blackjack that run both Palm OS and Windows Mobile. You can add software for both those with little effort. You can even write your own.
I would say your statment is "optimistic" at best.
A far more likely idea is simply that AT&T and Apple wanted to make a lot of money from selling software for the iPhone for a while. Good choice on Apples part to decide that making the developers happy would pay off more in the long run.
Re:A much better link (Score:3, Interesting)
I have to disagree. I've been using and developing apps for Windows Mobile smartphones for almost two years now and the network has never been brought down with a third party app. All you need to develop an app for these devices is a copy of Visual Studio.NET. With those requirements, I'm sure every windows geek and his brother has written a PPC app.
Cingular sells Windows Mobile devices that people, which allow people to write and use 3rd party apps. Thier network seems to be working fine (in general). So it does work. I'd say that if 3rd party apps on the iPhone bring the network down, that (in general) it is a problem with the device itself and not the 3rd party app.
I think it is 100% the second item you mentioned. Apple just does not have what it takes to get an API available, but Jobs would rather spread fud than be honest.
Announcement may make some change their mind (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:One Word: (Score:3, Interesting)
I am really shocked and, frankly, kindof disappointed in you here slashdot. The majority of you seem to have played right back in to the fanboism that you all claim to hate so much. You are excited that apple is allowing third party development of software on their device. It is the same as when apple allowed people to dual-boot windows on their macs.
Somebody please please explain to me why microsoft is hated more than apple....i really really don't understand this one.
Re:One Word: (Score:3, Interesting)
The minute someone makes Skype for a WiFi cellphone is the minute people start using fewer minutes.
Of course, Cingular's still getting your money because you signed a 2 year contract to get the phone in the first place.
What will be really interesting is if Openmoko takes off. Then, there's no 2 year contract... say goodbye to margins!
OpenMoko (Score:2, Interesting)
i never even considered... (Score:2, Interesting)
So to me the supprise factor of this article was more "oh, i didnt realise there was a question about that in the first place", but its good to know it'll be capable of it for sure.
Suprisingly, this article actually made me less excited about the iPhone and a little disappointed. The way the article reads, it makes it sound like apple will only throw an SDK at 3rd parties they choose and trust which is a bit of a shame really.
Re:One Word: (Score:3, Interesting)
iChat can do video with all other cam equipped Macs and voice with all mic equipped Macs.
On top of that, it can interoperate with the AOL video/voice client.
Re:GPS (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:One approach (Score:4, Interesting)
On my sony-ericsson W810 I've installed things like a webbrowser, a Google-earth-like app, a ssh/telnet-client, a gps-map software, a ICQ/MSN/etc-IM app, all of which access the internet via tcp-ip, none of which has ever brought down the mobile network.
I can see how they'd be nervous about letting 3:rd party software talk directly to the mobile network, but tcp-ip access for 3:rd party software is already common stuff in mainstream, middle-end mobiles via J2ME MIDP 2.0 [sun.com].
developing the SDK (Score:5, Interesting)
This is a somewhat painful process for those of us on the outside, and it normally takes a couple years before the API is published. However, it has resulted in API which, on the whole, are widely respected by talented developers with experience on multiple platforms. Some of those API have evolved only modestly since initial creation, some of those over 15 years ago, and are still regarded as advanced and modern.
It's also clear that Apple will need to accelerate this process a bit for the iPhone, simply because they want to develop *several* applications internally. They need the API and developer tools themselves. The good news is that this will also give them the experience with making different kinds of apps which will help round out and debug the API faster. We won't need to wait two years for the first version of the API. There is a non-zero chance we might see it, or at least hear about it, at WWDC 2007, the Cocoa API, not merely the Widget API.
It's clear that Apple has legitimate reasons for wanting to get the application development stuff "right" on the iPhone. The app market on most of the other cell phone platforms is really a disaster in the making. In addition to zillions of apps that are utter crap, which drag performance of the device down to unbearably slow, which crash and which feature generally poorly integrated UI, there is the looming threat of malware. There have already been a few malware incidents, and one of these days there will be a big, big malware incident. Apple doesn't want to be the platform that got nailed first. They don't want to get nailed at all.
Apple was intentionally vague about the SDK at the announcement of the iPhone because they didn't have all the answers lined up, really, none of them. But there will be a 3rd part app market at some point. And it will be huge.
cell network incidents exist, like Pluto (Score:4, Interesting)
These incidents don't get published, just like most worm outbreaks in large corporate and government networks don't get published. I know a lot of them happened because I saw them first hand. Can't prove them to some random snit on Slashdot, however. The victims are often more afraid of the bad publicity than anything else that could result from an incident, and they eschew publicity. (The world would probably be a better place if they did share these experiences more widely, because lessons could be learned, software and procedures improved, etc., but that's not how managers of bureaucratic organizations operate just yet.)
To those demanding to see a link, I say: Well, since most of the people who actually know things like this are restricted by NDA agreements and also have the integrity to honor those agreements, perhaps first, you prove to us that pluto exists. I'm not talking about some white dot that could be a pin prick on a slide. You don't really know that Pluto exists, and nobody here has time to educate you in both epistemology and information technology so that you understand enough that we can "prove" everything to your pathetic satisfaction. Before mouthing off and demanding a link as though that constituted proof, maybe you should start by asking yourselves, "hrm... why would he lie about this?" If there are no compelling motivations for a big lie, then maybe, just maybe, he's not lying. Or maybe you don't believe him because you yourselves lie so often that you don't believe anyone else? What a sad life that must be.
You're half right (Score:4, Interesting)
I think the reason this change happened is because someone at Apple ran the numbers and realized they could find themselves in a position to make simply UNGODLY amounts of money off businesses of every size from mom-and-pop outfits to multinational conglomerates if they could find an effective way to create a software ecosystem around the iPhone. Now everything from your stupid little cash register applications all the way up to massive CRM systems can talk to the iPhone, and the iPhone can talk to them.
This is the first real, commercially-viable UNIX-esque cellular device out there. Apple also has a chance to place themselves in the position of being THE SOLE PRODUCER of a standardized, next-generation UNIX handheld.
This was a very, very good move on their part. Even the price won't stop the iPhone now.