Filed under: OS, Software, Leopard, Developer, iPhone
Possible evidence that Leopard could bring true iPhone apps
Our little blue and green TUAW tipster birdie is chirpin' again, and this time the news could make both developers and consumers happy if everything pans out. From what we hear, evidence has been found that references to the ARM architecture appear in several of Leopard's standard include files, such as those found in the /usr/include/machine directory. Since ARM is the type of processor found in the iPhone but not in any Macs (for the most part, virtually any Mac still in service is likely running on PowerPC or the newer Intel processors), this is leading some to believe that these references are a sign that Leopard could usher in an update to Apple's Xcode development app, allowing Mac OS X developers access to the current holy grail of making true apps for the iPhone - apps that would be able to take advantage of things like synching data, storing files, RSS feeds and a whole lot more. Imagine being able to truly travel with, edit and create new Yojimbo notes (instead of simply view them with Webjimbo), bring your NetNewsWire feeds or do basic blogging with a mini-MarsEdit or ecto, and you have only seen the tip of the iceberg that is the iPhone's 3rd party app potential.[Update: Adrian, Webjimbo's developer, set me straight in the comments that Webjimbo can in fact create and edit Yojimbo notes, bookmarks, archives and serials. This leads me to agree with Derik DeLong at MacUser: Webjimbo is indeed one of, if not the, coolest implementations of web 2.0 technology that integrates with a desktop app.]
Of course, for now this is merely speculation, but it's still speculation based on evidence whose existence is a bit puzzling. Fortunately, October is getting closer by the day, so we should have a clearer idea as to when a true iPhone SDK is coming. I simply hope that it's still a closely guarded question of when in Apple's eyes, instead of 'if.'
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Johnny Thrash said 4:32PM on 7-25-2007
Well, when it comes right down to it... People will have their own apps on there even if there has to be a hack of some sort in place like the old Hackmaster for the PalmOS. That's already started.
It's much more likely that Apple will create a much more secure method of allowing apps to be put on the phone to keep people from needing/desiring the need to hack it. Therefore allowing them to make it as bugfree and as secure as is possible.
When they released the phone, they had to stop somewhere. The had to have chosen point X as the stopping place on the software development.
Now it's in the wild and they see how people use and react to the device. It's time for them to do more debugging and actually create the apps and add more features that wasn't able to be added in the first development cycle.
That's just how things go.
I expect to see big things down the road and I know, since it's Apple, I won't be disappointed. And neither will the rest of us. (And in the same breath I also say that you can't please all the people all the time... but Apple will still have the finest products on the market.)
This news only reaffirms my belief that having our own apps (or widgets if you will) is inevitable.
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mentalsticks said 4:33PM on 7-25-2007
how about some true AppleTV apps too?
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Mo said 4:36PM on 7-25-2007
It could just have been an oversight when putting together the include files for the seed. I'd not read much into it until we see /Developer/SDKs/iPhone.sdk, and a compiler supporting ARM bundled.
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kevin said 4:47PM on 7-25-2007
More likely, Apple has one code base for Mac OS X on Intel, PPC, and Arm and the header files have preprocessor defines for each platform.
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Bryan T said 6:15PM on 7-25-2007
(Crosses fingers for Slingplayer)
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Adrian Ross said 6:47PM on 7-25-2007
Webjimbo can create and edit notes (and bookmarks, serials and archives for that matter) as well as view them. No rich text editing just now though.
Adrian (the developer)
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mark said 11:03PM on 7-25-2007
yeah, if apple wants to keep the hype for the phone going (and convince fence sitters) we're going to see some significant software updates between now and October. the majority of features that some think are missing can be added with software updates (cut/paste, true to do list, use phone as modem, BT sync, etc).. i think apple deliberately launched with significant features omitted to keep the hype going. the culmination will (hopefully) be a complete sdk announced with Leopard. would it be too much to wish for blackberry client software (apple and RIMM official partnership) - one can only hope.
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milkmage said 11:08PM on 7-25-2007
oh.. just to add, i'd personally like to see a way to selectively sync bookmarks, and a user defined 'dictionary' where you could use your own keyboard shortcuts to enter a longer phrase e.g. type zzzzz and the phone automatically types something like "in meeting, call you back later"
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PSM said 12:56AM on 7-26-2007
Are you telling me it doesn't have cut & paste?
The list just keeps getting longer.
I certainly hope the next version is a lot better.
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Matteo said 2:56AM on 7-26-2007
The implementation of applications both on iPhone and AppleTV after October makes sense to me. Apple stated that one of the reasons they had to push the release date of Leopard to October was in order to finish iPhone's software. Moreover, the AppleTV's Front Row interface looks like the one that will be in Leopard.
So my guess is that:
- they released some new product lines
- Leopard will be a major step in a new direction
- Leopard is the new platform on which most things will be based
So Apple actually released devices whose full potential will be exploited with the release of Leopard.
Leopard will, hopefully, be the center of this ecosystem and hence also allow the devices to include new features.
An example?
Why spend time and human resources to include iChat in the iPhone when the next version of iChat is just around the corner in october?
The decision, in my opinion, was to keep iChat out of the iPhone and release a version with the same features and design on both Leopard and the iPhone. The same applies with the AppleTV. First you release Leopard with a better HD enconding capabilities and then you allow people to buy, watch movies in HD on AppleTV.
What do you think?
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Ankur said 6:14AM on 7-26-2007
Really waiting to get my hands on Leapord
Ankur
http://techtoday.110mb.com
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Robert Huebner said 6:22AM on 7-26-2007
Sorry guys, but it's not going to happen. If Jobs (or Apple as a whole, if you prefer) is known for anything, it's shoving uncommon technology down the consumer's throat. In this case, it happens to be web apps. I don't doubt that the iphone will get a firmware update, and i'm praying for some kind of file browser (really, really not likely), but not on the scale that some people are predicting. Apple isn't going to go out of it's way to improve on an already good product. Instead, they will hold out for the 2g iPhone, which will suck enormously for the rest of us, but, ya know. :|
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Kai Cherry said 8:37AM on 7-26-2007
What makes it even more unlikely (sorry to burst bubbles here) is the entire architecture of the phone os; it is not a multiuser system and as such, *none of the protections and security* of Mac OS X are present. It was obviously *not* made to support 3rd party apps because the things that make 3rd party apps "secure" are not present.
All apps run as "root"...memory addressing is flat, it goes on and on.
Apple sees the phone as a CE device, and no matter how much wishing and speculation people bandy about, it doesn't change how *Apple* views the platform.
Its not a "PDA" or the "new Newton" or a true "Smartphone"...it is essentially a 6th Gen iPod with phone and internet features that happens to run Apple's own quasi mac os x *like* (its not mac os x) embedded os.
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