MacDailyNews Take: Yet another reason to get an Apple iPhone. It’s much more likely that not only is there an app for that, but the app was probably built for iPhone first.
Johnson reports, “Not even 2 years old, [Google’s] Android is already a poster child for the fragmentation stymieing the development of software applications for smartphones.”
“The Nexus One will run on version 2.1 of Android, and the Droid soon will. But other popular Android phones are stuck on version 1.6, which doesn’t run many apps written for the newer releases,” Johnson reports. “And many apps written for version 1.6 can’t run on version 1.5, which is still prominent in the Android market.”
“But there may be a lifeboat on the horizon… The new standard, called HTML5, has been in development for more than 5½ years. The idea is de-emphasize hardware-specific technologies like Adobe Systems Inc.’s Flash, which doesn’t run on iPhones or most Android phones, and Sun Microsystems’ JavaFX, which won’t work on any phone that doesn’t support Java in some form.”
Johnson reports, “While work on HTML5 is expected to continue for many years, some of its elements are scheduled to be implemented this year. Eventually, developers should be able to to build graphically rich ‘Web apps’ that to the end user look and behave like native apps — even though they’re actually run in the Web browser, making them usable on every smartphone that has a compliant browser.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: HTML5 will solve certain problems, but the best apps will still take advantage of platform specific hooks.
Apple is a strong proponent of HTML5 web development.
Apple was ahead of the curve by insisting on web-only apps at first. Ironically, bowing to demand for proprietary apps has strengthened its position.
This is one of the drawbacks of supporting and OS on hardware from many different manufacturers. It is inherent in the model.
Avoiding this kind of clusterfuck is one of the many reasons I enjoy being “limited” to Apple hardware.
Long live ease of use.
“… making them usable on every smartphone that has a compliant browser.”
Well that will be the killer final nail in the coffin for WinMo and it’s old ass IE.
The beauty of the iPhone is that it will run HTML Apps. The negative ( for users ) is that not many write them… when it’s easier to make money on the App Store.
The App Store’s “Ka-Ching” factor is what people like about it. It’s the “get rich quick” scheme for developers. In doing so, it has unexpectedly made Apple rich as well.
“Compliant browser” leaves out the forthcoming (or eventually coming) WinMo 7 — Redmond does not understand the term ‘compliant.’
Google’s continued Android involvement will bite Google in the Ass hard. They should have open sourced it, built the mobile phone partners to support and develop it in the Open source manner and then got out of the way. Instead Google is developing Android and handling Android like a Proprietary Mobile OS then Open Sourcing it. After Google as already provided or used the release for it’s own purposes. This is evil and because Google can pick and choose who get’s an android release first! You know, I think it’s even more evil the Microsoft! At least at Microsoft all of the OEMs get the OS at the same time! Microsoft doesn’t cherry pick who get’s first dibs and who has to wait.. and if MS was going to do hardware with it software they’ll just screw their complete partner chain.. With Google they’ll just knife a partner in the back and then Just smile and say we’re not evil!
For Android to survive now Google needs to take itself out of the picture completely otherwise the Android Open Source distribution is going to split into multiply distributions just like Linux did because A doesn’t like the way B does thinks and C just wants more control over the direction the project is going.
In 2010 bad management choices and continued cherry picking by Google will kill Android’s long term future and viability. 2011 the number of New Android phones will drop off just a few. Mid 2011 Google discontinue all Android development and by 2012 no new Android phones will be released.
“The Nexus One will run on version 2.1 of Android, and the Droid soon will. But other popular Android phones are stuck on version 1.6, … And many apps written for version 1.6 can’t run on version 1.5, which is still prominent in the Android market.”
Gee. Maybe some phone maker will start giving their users free updates to the latest OS version. (Well, after they start making phones with enough memory to actually do an upgrade with.)
Apple’s many years of work on HTML5, of which they are a big proponent, may why Steve originally thought web apps could be the way to go on the iPhone. Apple may have originally intended to keep the SDK inhouse for their own use until, with HTML5 delayed longer than expected, they decided to share it. Just speculation, but it is often these types of serendipitous occurrences of events on which history changes.
This pic sums up android.
“HTML5 will solve certain problems, but the best apps will still take advantage of platform specific hooks.”
As long as none of those are IE-6 specific.
jarrettdailynews,
Looks like you gotta suck it up and type it all over again. And the fact that you typed your “where is it?” post tells me it was a long one.
Feel for ya dude.
Good luck getting people to pay for a web app.
I think Steve goated Gargle into releasing their own phone when he said: If you are passionate about your OS, you need to make the hardware for it.
Haha, Gargle fell for it and they will choke on it.