iPhone, you'll be a computer, soon
Starting February, you'll finally be able to call the iPhone a mobile computer.
Ever since Apple let the iPhone loose in late June, most of the criticism around the device (forget about AT&T and the price cut for now) has centered on the company's decision to shut developers out of the iPhone's early life on this planet. CEO Steve Jobs tried to assuage developers by reminding them that they could create Web applications for the iPhone, which is sort of like telling a teenager that no, you can't have a car, but isn't this the nicest bike you've ever seen?
But Jobs didn't just roll into the Valley last year with $10 million in Series A funding. The PC and the Mac would have never changed our lives to the extent they have unless Microsoft and Apple allowed third-party application developers to create the myriad programs that simply couldn't be envisioned or tackled by those two companies. It's just not possible for one organization to envision everything that you or I might like to do with our computers.
Apple is almost ready to let iPhone users add applications to that blank space beneath the clock and calendar buttons.
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)In an inevitable move, Jobs revealed the plan for third-party iPhone applications on Wednesday. Come February, budding iPhone developers will be able to obtain a software development kit that will give them the tools and the know-how to create safe and reliable applications for the iPhone without having to depend on "jailbreak" programs. That means iPhone users will be able to add applications they can trust without voiding their warranties.
The only thing unexpected about this development is the timing. Some thought an SDK would arrive as early as this month, while others (including yours truly) didn't expect Apple to provide an opening into the iPhone until next year's Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
The reason it's taking so long, according to Apple, was that the company wanted to find a way to be as "open" as possible to third-party development while still keeping a lid on viruses and malware that could kill the iPhone before it gets off the ground. The iPhone runs OS X, which is essentially a derivative of Mac OS X with all the parts you don't need on a phone stripped out to make the software smaller and easier on your battery. There are tested and proven Unix fundamentals at the core of OS X, but Apple apparently felt it couldn't guarantee a reliable experience on the iPhone until it made sure that no security holes had been created in the development of the mobile operating system.
Apparently, that fear will be settled by February, when Apple will either ship OS X 2.0, borrow technology from Leopard to make the iPhone more stable, or both. Jobs hinted that developers will probably have to adhere to some sort of digital-signature architecture, similar to one Nokia has in place, to create working applications for the iPhone. We'll have to see if that passes muster with the development community, although some developers seemed happy with the compromise between developer-signed applications and a locked iPhone. However, as we've followed, some people simply couldn't wait to get started.
iPhone jailbreaks
Almost immediately after iPhone Day, hackers got to work "jailbreaking" the iPhone, or opening it up so third-party applications could be developed and installed on the device. Dozens of small, useful applications sprung up overnight as enterprising developers came up with new ways to use the iPhone.
The problem was Apple never authorized this, and actually said quite specifically in the iPhone's user agreement that loading third-party applications onto the iPhone was a violation of that agreement and would void the warranty. It reinforced that notion with the now-infamous 1.1.1 software update, which wiped the iPhone clean of any third-party applications.
Outrage spewed forth onto the Internet, labeling Jobs and Apple as control freaks bent on infiltrating every portion of your computing life and stamping it with a once-bitten apple. As the always-entertaining Macalope put it today, "Well, NOW what is everybody going to complain about?"
This SDK will change the way people think about the iPhone. Research In Motion and Motorola will be able to port the BlackBerry and Good Mobile Messaging software to the iPhone, allowing secure access to corporate e-mail. Browser developers will be able to release products with Flash or Java support and really bring the full Internet to your pocket. And some independent developer toiling away in his or her basement on weekends will come up with a totally new application that takes advantage of the touch-screen interface to do something really cool, and start a business around that software.
One thing the SDK probably won't support is unlocking, at least just yet. I e-mailed an Apple representative to ask that question, and haven't heard back yet. But I can't imagine that AT&T is ready to allow unlocking (not that they'd ever be if they really had a choice). Reports have put the exclusive contract between Apple and AT&T at anywhere from two years to five years, so it's unlikely, but not impossible, that Apple will authorize iPhone unlocking with the SDK.
A classic dilemma
In many ways, that's a shame. Someday we'll look back on this era of carrier control as ridiculous: can you imagine if your cable or DSL provider currently dictated which PC you could buy, and if you then moved your PC to a part of the country or world where that service was unavailable, you couldn't hook it up to the Internet? But it's a classic dilemma between working for change within the system and revolution, and controlling entities with the power of wireless carriers tend to frown on revolutions.
Expect the underground hacking efforts to continue up to and past the point when Apple formally releases the SDK, as there will probably be demand for unlocked iPhones until the day Apple releases a version for other networks. Just as the company knew that one day it'd have to open up the iPhone to other applications, at some point it's going to have to target the segment of the population that wants nothing to do with AT&T, O2, Orange and the other exclusive iPhone partners.
We're not there yet. I've kept coming back to one thing as this whole outcry over the iPhone and third-party applications has unfolded: We, as a society, have the attention span of gnats. Not only do people want an iPhone, they want it to do everything they want it to do when they want it to do those things, and anything less than instant gratification is a slap in their faces by an evil overlord insisting there be no fun of any kind.
I know, I know; I'm only the 38 millionth curmudgeon to complain about that. But look, people: new eras of computing take time to evolve. It's the 1980s all over again, only this time we can carry these things in our pockets. Real people, not just gadget freaks and productivity-obsessed managers, are starting to realize what they can do with the Internet and computing power anywhere at any time.
The iPhone may not be the device that gets us there, but it's doing more to spark conversation and development toward that goal than anything else out there right now. Starting next year, it will get a whole lot more interesting, especially if Apple finally decides to install a nice, fat 3G pipe to the outside world.
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom.
iPhone ... for example light version of Pixel image editor, what is a
Photoshop clone. http://www.pixelimageeditor.com
* Pocket VLC, for those formats Apple doesn't feel like supporting.
* A neat pile of pocket-sized games.
/P
I could be wrong- we won't know for sure until Februrary when they release the SDK.
/P
What is so intrinsically different about the iPhone that makes it so much more susceptible to all that 'malware'? Is it that it's such a problem on Macs that they wanted to spare the iPhone from experience such horrors?
And what about Flash? Jeez, even the PSP browser lets you use Java and Flash... of course the PSP is just FULL of malware, yup.
Apple gives me a new reason to loathe them every single day. I wonder what happened, I used to think they were brilliant..
Potentially, an infected iPhone being carried around all day could infect many other iPhones and iPods, as well as do the usual virus-y things with an internet connection. You tend to carry your phone or your iPod more places, and keep them turned on for longer, than a laptop; making the risk of spreading viruses that much greater.
Seriously, you seem to have issues. Just take a deep breath tell yourself that everything is going to be just fine. I'm sure you have better things to be angry about, yes?
Oh by the way, Apple isn't as bad as Micro$oft, they are worse, they had built a reputation of trust over the last 20 years, then they completely broke that trust. I use Linux and don't have to tolerate any of the B.S. from either MS or Apple.
Enjoy getting iBoned it makes Steve happy.
iPhone/touch-like device that would offer even more functionality (a
Newton 2.0 of sorts) as rumored? Imagine if it was announced at
MacWorld in January and shipped in February. Apple could release
an SDK and distribution system suited for all Apple handhelds
around the same time.
Even if this new gadget isn't announced in January, I'm pretty sure
there is something in the works and the SDK would be very similar
across all these devices.
Will it make them unstoppable?
What is it you are trying to say? Will what make them unstoppalbe- limiting the choices for open source even more?
to unlock the phones, but can not come after you if you do so.
All this attention on the iPhone and its little brother (iPod Touch) has distracted attention away from the AppleTV. An SDK needs to come out for that system as well. iTunes Wi-Fi store should have rolled out for it by now. Where are the games for this Apple Console. Where's Safari for AppleTV? Come on Apple, finish your hobby project.
before moving on the AppleTV.
I do not have a digital TV other than the Elgato Hybrid connected to
one of the Macs. Maybe I will get the family a digital flat panel or
Christmas and then look into getting an AppleTV.
That way both abandoned / orphaned products can have some company. :)
You get HD resolution and playback, computer functionality.
A 20" iMac is good for an office or small room/bedroom but if
oyu need a bigger display get an HD display/plasma/LCD, and
attach a Mac to it.
Watch rented iTunes movies in HD, your-photo screen savers,
browse the web. NOT JUST A PLASMA TV any longer.
http://www.createthefuturecontest.com/pages/view/entriesdetail.html?entryID=365
real hackers work on a Neo 1973 from openmoko.com instead of this commercial pile of hype.
for the comment on the AT+T Apple agreement terms and conditions.
With one exception, you don't know what they are and neither does
anyone else except the executives directly involved in the negotiations.
That exception - Cellular [now AT+T] was the only carrier that stepped
up and agreed to allow Apple to develop the phone for use on its
network with no preconditions and agreed to assist in the technical
development. We know this because Apple and Cellular said so in
public documents.
For taking this unprecedented step AT+T is entitled to the quid-pro-
quo of exclusivity. That is the way capitalism works. So those of you
who want to unlock your iPhones, either stop you sophomoric whining
or sell it and buy some lesser device.
I don't even use that POS called the iPhone, and I saw in my bill this month that the EULA has changed.
I likely will not be affected by the EULA changes, but if I am, I refuse to abide by the changes; I signed under a particular EULA with Cingular, I never once agreed in writing or verbally to any other EULA. AT&T however believes that with the help of Bush they can do anything they like.
Folks, this is simple, don't buy iPhones, don't support AT&T, there are SUPERIOR phones out that make the iPhone little more than an overpriced paperweight (Steve will do that for you if you don't bow down anyway).
- Anger management
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by Nodack
October 21, 2007 11:50 AM PDT
- LOL!
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Reply to this comment
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(34 Comments)Some of you need to get a hobby or a life or something to
negate all of that pent up anger.