“There’s a week to go before Apple’s commitment to release the iPhone Software Developers Kit in February runs out of room,” Arik Hesseldahl blogs for BusinessWeek.
“I’m hearing from one source that its going to be late,” Hesseldahl reports. “I’m not yet hearing any reasons why, and it’s sounding like the official release date could slide by anywhere from one to three weeks.”
“I’m also hearing that the situation is fluid, and a lot of last-minute decisions are close to being made about what precisely will or will not be disclosed next week, if anything,” Hesseldahl reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “MacVicta” for the heads up.]
@ DLMeyer – To elaborate further on the wrongness of your Viper analogy:
The Viper compared to current standard car such as a Corolla, only offers slick styling and a more powerful engine. The difference is mostly aesthetic.
But the difference delivered in the iPhone vs. a budget handset is more like the Viper compared to a base level 1970 Chevy Nova. Not only are you getting the slickness but also power steering, power brakes, automatic transmission, power windows, etc. … improvements that we consider standard today.
Yes, you can still drive to the grocery store in both but the experience of driving the Viper, even subtracting the styling and reducing the power of the engine, is supremely enhanced on just the basic functionality level.
My advice is don’t worry about being on time,
JUST GET IT RIGHT!
Do it once and do it right!
Better late than Windows.
DL Meyer wrote “my budget phone does everything I ask of it and more”
We are spending thousands of dollars on the phone/data service. To waste that on a cheep device just doesn’t make sense.
It would be like paying $70,000 a year on an employee and not giving him the equipment he needs to do his job. No, wait . . . that’s what my employer does.
Thomas, you missed the point of the Dodge Viper analogy entirely. Should I have said “Ferrari” instead? My point was not that “someone” might not want (need) features only available in an iPhone, only that MY needs did not exceed those of my cheap-phone. Perhaps I could have said “Ford F-150” instead, but plenty of people DO use such gas-guzzling style-statements to commute and shop for groceries – and nothing else, so you might not have gotten the point.
The Other Steve … I didn’t “waste that on a cheep device”, I spent what I had to in order to get all the features I could “feature” using. A few extra came along for the ride. I have to say that a) I have not missed the ones I didn’t expect to use and b) the ones that came along for the ride have been mostly unused.
@ Mr. Reeee
“Better late than Windows.”
SO TRUE.
Love it!!
first post!!!…
oh
rats.
location.href=’Http://www.microsoft.com’;
February 2008. The day the Apple started to ROT.
Now watch the Mac heads scramble to say that 3 weeks is only some minor thing.
Hint: 3 weeks now means 3 months later, and then the rats start to flee the sinking ship. The rest of the world can only chuckle. It’s so typical how fanbois will bend over and PAY dearly for the privilige!
Its a bit strange that with all the MS Windows missteps their stock isn’t getting hammered as hard as Apple. How many Zunes were sold this quarter?
@ And so it begins,
Are you some kind of nutter? You really ought to stay on the pills.
Try telling your boss that you can either do it on time, or right. Good luck to you.
I had assumed that Apple had already “padded” their time in announcing the SDK for release in February … After all, that was MONTHS ago.
In the recent past, Apple has had no reason to do things differently because the stock price was booming. But now, given the huge slide in price, Apple has a little (a lot of) pressure.
This is good for Apple – even though it hurts.
Oh and what about Time Capsule????
Ships in February? And even if it still does, why couldn’t they pull it together earlier than the last minute
“Apple’s iPhone SDK will be late”
Maybe it’s pregnant.
Late, just like Microsoft.
However, It will work and it will work very well, UNLIKE the crap that Microsoft squeezes out.
@Thomas,
You are right about Apple delivering more than I purchased when I bought my iPhone on June 29th. iPhone has far exceeded my expectations of it, and I continue to marvel at how well it works. Just for the heck of it, I dug out our old Samsung flip phone that we had prior to the iPhone, and using it was like stepping back into the Flintstone era.
Any third party software that I might use in the future is just icing on the cake. I would be perfectly happy to have iPhone do no more than it does now. It is the most amazing electronic device I have ever used. Nothing else comes close.
@DLMYERS
No sweat. Everyone should be free to use what ever equipment they wish.
I just have to wonder why there is an Apple Hate issue. I never hear people saying that its stupid to use a Palm Treo, or BB, or anyother phone. Yet people seem to go crazy about why Apple is bad.
I think that is why people that enjoy Apple products feel they need to — not build up Apple — but rather they are just trying to level the playing field.
Just a thought.
en
Quality is far more important than release schedule. Pump it out early with bugs – complaints. Hold the release for a few weeks or months to get it right – complaints. Release an update that adds cool new features, even to models sold a year ago – complaints that they “should have been there all along.”
I am tired of complaints and, as a result, I am getting tired of rumors because they lead to complaints.
I am finished complaining. I like my iMac. I like my Airport Extreme Base Station. I like MacOS X 10.5.2. Is there room for improvement – certainly. And I provide that feedback to Apple.
@DL Meyer
Your bonus will be late.
Sorry,
Mikey
For most people, the iPhone SDK being late by a few weeks is a non-issue. How many even know what “SDK” stands for… or what it does? iPhone customers are already satisfied with their iPhone to an unprecedented degree. Having the SDK out to developers just makes third-party apps available sooner. That may make iPhone customers even more satisfied and happy, but there will be no problem if having third-party apps is delayed by a few weeks (except to developers).
It’s not like Windows Vista SP1, where continued delay is damaging Microsoft customers’ level of satisfaction (or increasing the level of dissatisfaction).
@Jay-Z: “I hope Apple learns from this and other recent missed deadlines and starts padding their deadlines”
Hofstadter’s Law
It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.
—Douglas Hofstadter: Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, 20th anniversary ed., 1999, p. 152. ISBN 0-465-02656-7
REF: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstadter's_Law
Typical of the new Applesoft.
@ Zune Tang
I appreciate your consistent comedy… although I fear few others can see or understand it.
ElderNerm, I don’t recall saying – hinting, even – that “Apple is bad”. The iPhone is not appropriate for ME. This does not mean it isn’t the best product available for many others. I admit that Apple’s recent history – since The Return of The Jobs – has been spectacular … up until a year or so ago. And I’m pretty sure we can blame the recent blemishes on the iPhone. They still haven’t delivered a “full OSX” for it and several other products – like the Mac OSX – have suffered in the process. Still, we’re not talking about a disaster of Microsoftian proportions, we’re talking “cracks in the veneer” rather than in the foundation. I just bought $10,000 worth of AAPL … more like $9,000, now … and didn’t do that because I believe either the company or its products are bogus.
Dave Meyer
The SKD was promised to developers, not iPhone owners or prospective iPhone buyers. 99% of iPhone users couldn’t do anything with an iPhone SKD.
We are all waiting for wonderful new Apps and/or games. We all knew the new apps and games would not appear before the SKD was given to developers.
I would think that all of the Apps that Apple had planed to build and release for the iPhone, would have to appear before any SKD showed up. How bad would it look if Apple came out with The Next Best App after some other developer had released something quite similar already?
The iPhone SKD will be released when Apple has all of it’s ducks in a row and not a moment sooner. Probably some time in February.