“Several sources tell me that Apple is nearing an announcement of some sort regarding third-party development on the iPhone. The bits and pieces I’ve heard are maddeningly non-specific: I don’t know, for instance, whether a full software developer’s kit (SDK) will be released; what tier of Apple Developer Connection (ADC) program member you need to be (if any); and how much of the innards will be unleashed. I don’t even know whether Apple is announcing that a program is coming, or the program itself,” Glenn Fleishman writes for TidBITS.
“Those are a lot of unknowns. But what I am hearing from several sources is that the announcement, one that Steve Jobs confirmed without any timetable some weeks ago, will happen soon. Perhaps this week,” Fleishman writes.
Full article, speculating on the directions Apple could go, here.
“Make it so number 1”
“Number 1 I order you to take a number 2”- Beavis and Butthead
“Engage.”
An iPhone framework inside Xcode is what the man said. I gotta agree. That must be possible, but only alongside certification for any apps so produced. That’s how RIM does it adn I don’t see anything wrong in emulating a company that’s got itself inside government and more secure environments using such certification.
Unlike Symbian, Palm and Windows CE, who’ll allow anyone and their dog to write shit for their platform.
If indeed iPhone is actually based on Leopard rather than Tiger, this would make sense- to coincide with the Leopard release.
Now I know even less than I did before I read this.
It all sounds good eh guys. Let’s hope this is the direction Apple takes. Any one and their dog can write web apps and the real deal Apps require certification. I like that approach. Especially if it means better security and stability etc.
In other words he’s guessing and to take this comment with a grain of salt.
I have no doubt that many will jump around to take credit for being vocal, outspoken about the opening iPhone up for 3-party apps, thus forcing Apple to give in and deliver some sort of SDK.
They will be mistaken. While Apple is a company known for its ability to turn on a dime, which it from time to time demonstrates by doing sudden unexpected things (price drop -> rebate letter), there is no way in hell this hasn’t been planned from the day one. Apple’s timeline on iPhone has probably been pretty much set in stone in January. This was a product three years in development, Steve Jobs’s piece de resistance, therefore it is extremely unlikely that a decision like this would have not been made long before the device was even released.
Either way, whatever they do announce and ultimately release later will, I’m sure, be very much welcome by most. It will also increase the distance between the iPhone and everything else. The few gripes that some have about missing this or that will be resolved quickly.
Every tech. and stock analyst should boldly declare the following.
“I’m saying right now with 100% certainty that something, somewhere will happen. Soon. You’ll thank me when see that I’m right. Now get off my lawn. And for the sake of all that’s holy, would it kill you to eat a salad once in a while? Where did I leave my thigh cream? Honey? Did you borrow my thigh cream and where the fsck is my razor? Oh, look. Isn’t that hysterical. I taught my dog how to do that last night. Don’t worry. It’ll wash off. Don’t rub it. It’ll stain. Blot it like this.”
Now that it looks like Apple will allow, dare I say encourage, 3rd party apps, I notice that we are not hearing from all the folks on MDN who have been saying that 3rd party apps are not needed and anyone who wants them should use Windows.
I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of the “Apple must have planned this all along” line.
Guess I’ll be flamed for saying this.
For a version 1 (I’d even say beta) product that’s only been on sale for 3 1/2 months, there’s been a helluva lotta griping about third-party apps.
Apple has a lot at stake with the iPhone and the new platform it represents and spearheads. They do NOT want another Newton fiasco, so they’re taking their time and doing it RIGHT! Apple does, apparently, learn from it’s mistakes.
A lnkage between the release of Leopard and possible third-party app support for the iPhone makes perfect sense. Hasn’t it been mentioned that the iPhone runs a slimmed down variant of Leopard?
Now all Apple needs to do is double or triple the memory and sell iPhones UNLOCKED.
I’m still scouring the net for a work-around to getting ring-tones imported into iPhone. Anyone seen anything recently that has been successful?
“I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of the “Apple must have planned this all along” line.”
How do you know they haven’t? Have you been to the War Room? Have you sen the Big Board?
By the time you get to a third party, aren’t you already wasted and ready to go home? Kiefer learned that the hard way.
@ Moo
“I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of the “Apple must have planned this all along” line.
How do you know they haven’t? Have you been to the War Room? Have you sen the Big Board?”
Of course, I don’t know if this was planned all along, and neither does anyone else here. My point is that the people who have said that anyone who wants an app Apple hasn’t provided is an MS troll or a fool are now silent, or else saying that this was a brilliant plan by Apple from the beginning. Notice that MDN itself is, for the first time silent on the subject.
There is no room on MDN for differing opinions.
@DanielN
Dude, I agree with you.
Wait, won’t third party apps crash AT&T;’s west coast network? Let people steal my identity? Open me up to malware? Not let me call 911?
Arguments against 3rd party apps have been ridiculous from the beginning. IMO. <– notice I said, “in my opinion”.
Well, DanielN, you haven’t seen me cry either way, fair or foul. But I’ll tell you what I have seen everyone else doing… it’s the same thing people always do. The take the news of the minute and whine and cry. And the reactionaries react and slap them around. And the re-reactionaries slap back. And everyone misses the forest for the trees.
Everyone spends so much time trying to read the tea leaves and claim that they saw “the trend” first. When in fact, if everyone would just calm down, step back, and take a deep breath (and maybe a walk in a park or something… less caffeine, people!) they would gain a little perspective.
If, as I suspect, Apple does release a true SDK with certification, here’s how I see the whole iPhone saga, without all the hysteria and carping from people:
1) Apple is developing this thing for 2 years, right? And by January, the leaks are ridiculous. They don’t have the name rights yet, they don’t have the software finished. Nothing’s done, but the name leaks need to be dealt with. At the same time, everything is behind schedule. iLife, iWork.. it’s all in beta mode. So Steve decides… prep the demo, let’s announce the thing. The FCC is going to leak the details anyway while it’s in approval.
2) So the engineers rush the thing to a demo condition, and Steve shows it off 6 months early.
3) The code monkeys cobble together a working, reasonably stable system, but it’s not ready for prime-time. But they have to meet a release date, so they do the best they can, and plan to fix it along the way. Since updates are clean sweeps, and no apps are installed by users, this is easy. Right? Once everything is stabilized and cleaned up, then we’ll start on the SDK and a system for 3rd party apps.
4) Of course, within weeks everyone’s tinkering with it and unlocking it and installing crap on it.
5) Now we have to deal with it, but basically all these hackers have been working with a temporary system that was meant to be a placeholder. When we update, not only is it going to erase everything they’ve hacked in, but even if they reinstall, their programs are probably going to be broken. Sigh. What can we do?
6) So warn them to revert before updating. Let them know with a big warning dialog box beforehand. Let’s not screw with people.
7) We’re screwed.
Doesn’t anyone else really see this for what it is? There’s no evil megalomania here. There’s no screwing with developers. The only thing that Apple is not doing is telling everyone the road map ahead of time.
Why not? Because Apple has long long long ago learned the most valuable business adage: Under-Promise, Over-Deliver. They don’t very often announce things that aren’t ready. They don’t tell you what they are GOING to do. They tell you what they ARE doing.
Because if they promise a full SDK for iPhone, and then can’t deliver, they look like total idiots. If they promise an iPhone 1.2 update in 4 weeks that will fix every problem, make your phone snappier, and walk your dog, and then it comes out 8 weeks later and doesn’t walk your dog, they look like liars.
So guess what? They are NOT going to tell everyone the road map. They are not going to mention that they’ve been converting OS X to run on Intel chips for 6 years before revealing that they are converting to Intel chips. They are not going to mention that Leopard needs to be more stable and close to finished before they can release iLife and iWork, due to the various integration between them. They aren’t going to tell you what’s in store for Apple TV in its next phase.
Because this way if things are behind schedule, or they change their mind, or they find a different way to go, you hyperactive oversensitive geeks (you know who you are) don’t go ballistic every 10 minutes challenging that “you promised this or that”.
Seriously, haven’t you people ever worked in business before? It’s not some big mysterious alien entity. Apple is a company. A good one. They make mistakes. They make decisions. Decisions made by human beings. There’s a lot of internal logic here. But you’re not internal, so it looks mysterious to you. But it’s there, believe me. Stop treating it like some CIA conspiracy movie, or some X-Files episode. It’s just a company doing business, albeit in a less transparent way than some.
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what was the question again?
Predrag, you’re right. Many will claim credit for such an annoucement. Even if Apple says they’ve been planning it all along.
Blucaso, thanks for a sane argument against the “ZOMG Apple is evil for not allowing teh h4cks! I hates dem!” crowd. Then again, rationality isn’t something to expect from such high-strung types.
mm, third-party apps may not crash AT&T;’s network, but they could crash themselves or the iPhone. Been seeing reports of that very thing on the interwebs. Granted, the existing third-party apps are very kludgy, considering what has to happen to get them in place, but people shouldn’t consider the current state of third-party hacked apps as satisfactory. And, even with a blessed SDK, it’s still possible to write poor code that does things like horribly waste bandwidth. I would hope, however, that should such apps pop up, they’ll get smacked back down by users and reviewers. Heck, maybe Apple’s third-party app implementation will be a sandbox of sorts, to keep apps from going nuts or causing problems.
Doesn’t anyone else really see this for what it is?
Yes. Can’t we also be bitter about it?
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