As Intel and PC makers prepare to launch an app store for Netbooks in 2010, the emphasis is on speed.
"We have a lot of developers right now jumping all over this and writing apps and getting them ready," Scott Apeland, director of Intel's Developer Network, told CNET Wednesday. "Today, you can actually submit applications and get them in validation and be one of the first in the store when we have that available next year. We don't have specific dates. It's how fast we can get it up and ready."
Intel Atom Developer Program
(Credit: Intel )How fast? "The whole program is moving extremely fast. Now we're working frantically on getting the store ready," he said.
The store itself will come preinstalled on future Netbooks, according to Apeland. "We're working with OEM partners (PC makers) now to get this ready and preinstalled on systems. So, when a user purchases it, he just runs the app store...and pulls from a catalog of applications that are available and they can make the purchases right there," he said.
The largest suppliers of Netbooks using Intel's Atom processor are Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Acer, and Asus--all of which are readying the next wave of Netbooks based Intel's new "Pine Trail" Atom technology, expected to launch sometime this month. It's a hot market: Intel said Wednesday that more than 50 million Netbooks are expected to be sold by the end of 2009.
Though most applications are expected to be written for the Linux operating system--Intel's version is called Moblin--Apeland claims that the program has a wide target.
"The Atom Developer Program doesn't favor one OS over another, and at its core, the program is meant to facilitate development across multiple OSes," he said. "Right now it's Windows and Moblin...we plan to expand support to different run-time environments, including Adobe AIR and Microsoft Silverlight."
Apeland said that Intel's software developer network overall has between 700,000 and 1 million monthly users, and 20,000 independent software vendors (ISVs) who are members of the Intel software partner program. Though Apeland couldn't say how many of these developers are doing development specific to Atom-based Netbooks, he did allow that Intel has had "tens of thousands coming and checking out our site (and) thousands actually joining before we had any (software development kit) or tools available."
The developer will get 70 percent of the revenue from the sale, Apeland said--similar to the Apple app store. "The rest (30 percent) will cover operational costs and partner costs that are involved." Intel announced a beta of a software development kit on Wednesday for Atom processor-based Netbooks.
Apeland also discussed the type of applications that are popular. "For example, social networking, on-line chats, sharing of photos, video. I think there's going to be a lot of innovation around that," he said, adding that development will also target "a way so users don't have to worry about--keep track of--different sites for log-in."
On the education front, Apeland said, "the Netbook has a lot of natural opportunity because of the keyboard and screen size versus a small handheld device."
LOS ANGELES--Adobe Systems' announcement of tools to create applications for the Apple iPhone comes with some restrictions.
Adobe announced on Monday at Adobe MAX, the company's worldwide developer conference, that its Flash Professional CS5 developer tool will enable developers to create interactive applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch. A public beta of Flash Professional CS5 is expected to be available later this year.
In an interview at the conference Monday, Anup Murarka, director of technology strategy and partner development in Adobe's platform development unit, spelled out some of the limitations of creating Adobe Flash-style apps for the iPhone. These limitations exist because the Adobe Flash player is not supported on the iPhone.
Murarka clarified that Monday's announcement was not a joint announcement with Apple. "This is an Adobe announcement. This is just something that's related to our tools and what they output, which is a native iPhone app," he said.
"So, we're not running Flash directly on the device. We're actually allowing our tools to output for native iPhone apps," Murarka explained.
He then described some limitations. "Let's take it from the developer's point of view. They have a very rich environment and language. That's in Flash today," he said. "You're not going to get all of the Flash feature set that would normally be there in the run-time."
Murarka continued: "For example, high-quality video, H.264, is not available with this product because Apple does not make available the decoders. They make you use their own UI (user interface) to play back high-quality video." Apple describes the H.264 video codec as delivering "stunning quality at...low data rates."
He also cited synchronization. "Being able to do synchronization between data and video. Those can be built as Flash applications. In sporting events (for example) using flash for data overlay. Those types of things are not going to possible because we don't have access to the APIs (Application Programming Intefaces) that would give us the video decode along with all of the individual frames so we can do synchronization," he said.
And he spoke about graphics effects. "Some of the filter effects. Some of the capabilities that as a programmer you would easily do within Flash are not available as they are not natural APIs that iPhone platform makes available to us."
Murarka concluded by saying that Adobe continues to work with Apple towards getting Flash on the iPhone. "We're not there as quickly as we would like. We're not able to put Flash in the browser. We're not able to put a Flash run-time on the device directly. But this is a good step," he said.
Since the launch of Apple's App Store, a steady stream of business-oriented applications has flooded in for iPhone users. Most of the developers are independent third-party start-ups, but big-name software vendors are now clamoring for a piece of the pie.
Names such as Oracle, SAP, and Sybase have released iPhone versions of applications that allow users to tap some of the functionality afforded with the traditional desktop versions.
Most of the applications can be found on the App Store, Apple's online market--which opened in July--where iPhone users can browse and download applications built for their devices.
Fresh off a second wave of global launches, the iPhone 3G has been deemed ready for enterprise workers by Gartner analysts--albeit with some caveats.
According to the research firm, the iPhone 3G "does not deliver sufficient security for custom applications," so businesses wanting to deploy such applications will likely have to bear with a lower level of security.
Nonetheless, the overall iPhone software market has been coined a success by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who said the online collection drummed up some $30 million in sales a month after it launched. It could prove to be a lucrative market, too, with iPhone sales expected to hit 25 million in 2009, as Apple said it will ramp production up to 40 million units a year.
ZDNet Asia looks at five enterprise apps that the big software houses are hoping will catch the attention of the growing iPhone user base, though none has yet to make it to the top downloads list on App Store.
Oracle Business Indicators
Oracle released its native iPhone application in July, becoming one of the first to release an enterprise application when the App Store opened its doors.
The business intelligence tool is available as a free download, but customers must have licensed copies of Oracle's BI software running on their company's servers because the mobile app draws reports and analytics from the on-premise software.
According to reports, Oracle last month said the software clocked 23,055 downloads since it became available.
Sybase iAnywhere Mobile Office
The database giant's iAnywhere software connects users to company e-mail server, based on Lotus Domino and Microsoft Exchange platforms.
According to Sybase's Web site, the software is touted to help secure a company's messaging platform by providing access to e-mail and contacts "without requiring changes to an enterprise's (main) messaging infrastructure."
Offline e-mail access is also supported. The company also said it plans to upgrade the app based on version 2 of the iPhone SDK (software development kit).
SAP
The business management software maker released its iPhone version of a sales force automation suite, ahead of other platforms such as the BlackBerry.
SAP said in a statement that the software will load business contacts, information on sales prospects, and account data onto the device.
Salesforce.com Mobile
One of the earlier vendors to release an iPhone app, Salesforce.com in March showed off a preliminary version of its CRM product based on the beta version of the iPhone SDK.
The software connects users to their CRM records. The free version allows users to search and view contacts and accounts, but users need to sign up for the paid version to edit their data, according to Salesforce.com's Web site.
Web-based apps: Netsuite, SugarCRM, Zoho
These apps are not native iPhone apps but meant to be launched via the phone's Web browser. Some of the big names offering non-native apps include CRM vendors NetSuite and SugarCRM, which have released Web-based ERP (enterprise resource planning) versions of their product offerings.
The apps are available in both hosted and on-premise versions.
Online office suite Zoho, has also launched a mobile version of its productivity suite for the iPhone. This includes word editor, spreadsheet, and e-mail programs. Users can view existing documents but not edit them or create new ones.
Victoria Ho of ZDNet Asia reported from Singapore.
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