So I was chatting with Cory and we started talking about what the iPhone will or will not bring. Will it ship on Thursday or not? Will Apple charge for it? Here's a round-up of our outstanding SDK concerns:
Will it ship? Rumors seem to be split between a no-show and a preliminary alpha or beta release. The fact that Apple has promised a "roadmap" rather than a "roll-out" indicates that things aren't as settled for shipping as we might hope.
How much will it cost? Is this going to be freely available like XCode or are we looking at a paid ADC-only release, like the early Leopard seeds? I wouldn't be surprised by ADC-only but I certainly am hoping for a wider release. The iPhone is a perfect hobbyists platform and limiting development to "enterprise" would be a sad move.
What shape will it take? It looks like a given at this point (just watch me be wrong!) that we're going to see an Objective-C 2.0-based XCode development environment with access to "blessed" frameworks and headers. There will likely be a simulator and a way to transfer by cable to the iPhone for testing.
What limits are there going to be? Will devs get access to the cell radio? Or does Apple intend to limit development to Internet-only? The smart money is riding on the latter option. I don't see the jailbreak community, with its full suite of iPhone applications and services going away any time soon--especially if Apple limits access to core iPhone features. That being said, I'm pretty sure that Apple will not interfere with any standard networking calls. So you should be able to use the WiFi and EDGE connections and services like Bonjour to interact with other computers on your LAN.
How will iTunes delivery work? My guess is that certain approved providers (like TuneCore for music) will be able to access store distribution for a fee, possibly a very large fee. I do not think that Apple will be involved in vetting individual software items. I also think that the legal agreements before you can distribute will be extremely complex, particularly when it comes to things like warranties and liability. I'd be stunned if this delivery system was in place any earlier than WWDC -- and possibly later.
What about that whole "enterprise" iPhone thing? It may just be more Exchange-type integration. Hard to say. Layton Duncan thought that it might mean the event might touch on non-iPhone news, with the recent dropping of the Xserve RAID line.
So that's a roundup of things we discussed. What are your takes on these issues? And what issues did Cory & I miss? Let us know in the comments.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
3-03-2008 @ 7:49AM
Dan said...
you should probably mention in the beginning of this article that it's about the SDK, because i had no idea what you were talking about until the second question...
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3-03-2008 @ 2:12PM
Stef Geiger said...
I agree. The topic isn't properly introduced. It seems that the author wrote it assuming EVERYONE knows about the iPhone SDK when in fact plenty of people who read this blog wouldn't even have a clue as to what an SDK is.
3-03-2008 @ 9:55PM
(01) said...
*shrugs* it's an Apple blog, and the Roadmap event for the SDK has been pretty well publicized across the 'tubes...
3-03-2008 @ 7:53AM
Flunky Carter said...
I wonder how we'll be able to install apps unto the iPhone. Will there be an installer.app type of application that Apple will make to distribute content? Or, will we be seeing a new Applications tab in the iPhone/touch settings that allows you to sync the applications you downloaded from iTunes? I hope that also, with the new 1.1.4 and later updates we'll finally see a non-jailbreaked media browser, or at least, the ability to use the iPhone/touch as a disk drive.
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3-03-2008 @ 7:54AM
Ryan Trevisol said...
Well I think it'll be available for free . . . I mean XCode is a great example of this (versus Microsoft and Visual Studio), and the SDK seems like an addon of that.
As far as limiting access, I'm hoping they give us access to the accelerometer and the cell radio.
But as far as delivery systems, iTunes is gonna SUCK for that. Does apple really want the responsibility for the FLOOD of apps they're going to receive?
Didn't we just have the report of Apples C(?)O saying the "sky was the limit"?
Ah well, if they let devs transfer to iPhone via cable, then "unauthorized" apps will just make use of this interface for distribution.
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3-03-2008 @ 8:25AM
Rubbinz said...
Given how much of a stranglehold Apple intends to keep on this with restricted access to certain functions of the phone, and restricted delivery via iTunes I expect a whole lot of nothing. I'll stick to Jailbreaking/Unlocking with the freedom to choose someone other than the NSAT&T and installing whatever apps I choose without iTunes.
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3-03-2008 @ 8:35AM
DrWho said...
Isn't this all pre-supposing that the event on the 6th is for the SDK?
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3-03-2008 @ 10:59AM
TedB said...
Here is a link to the picture of the email that went out..
http://images.macrumors.com/article/2008/02/28/044849-sdkevent_400.png
Considering how they said "including the iPhone SDK", I am guessing that they might mention it...
3-03-2008 @ 11:14AM
DrWho said...
I guess I should do my research a bit better in the future!
3-03-2008 @ 8:42AM
Tedious said...
I think that the beta will be made available to ADC members immediately with a public beta "in a few weeks".
The public beta and the final version (due @ WWDC) will both be free, as they are mere extensions of Xcode, Interface Builder, Xray, Dashcode, and AppleScript.
There will be an emulator, and a way to load on a local iPhone for testing.
You will not be able to market any program that causes Apple to break existing contracts by adding functionality they have agreed to keep off.
That means no iChat, no Skype, no MMS, (and no 3G for those of you who haven't heard that it's a hardware thing).
Delivery of the SDK will be bundled into Xcode. Delivey of software titles will work just like iPod games do now. Download it to iTunes then sync it to the iPhone.
Direct-to-iPhone downloads will come later. Even though Apple will have their priorities straight, there will be howls of derision as geeks with no clue to how long and hard the coding process is says that it should be there "on day one"!
Enterprise = Lotus Notes, salesforce.com, Google Apps, and a reminder of what a great server Leopard is.
One more thing: Safari 3.1 allows "downloadable" web apps kept in a special sandbox environment. All HTML5 compliant, no Java or Flash required. Also, no need to use iTunes.
...and a Tablet... pleasepleasepleaseplease.
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3-03-2008 @ 9:54PM
(01) said...
That pretty much covers most of my hopes for the SDK. One can dream....
3-03-2008 @ 8:44AM
Peter Zich said...
I'm hoping it's free release, but I doubt it…
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3-03-2008 @ 8:51AM
Shaun said...
I've got a 4-line Sprint contract ready to expire. If Apple makes the SDK feasible for hobbyists, I'm in. Otherwise, I'm holding my breath for Android...
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3-03-2008 @ 8:52AM
rmtwrkr said...
I just discussed this exact topic on my blog as well. I think Apple has a bit of a battle on it's hands regarding convincing hardened Devs that Apple's way is the way to go (although purely commercially-orientated Devs will clearly embrace Apple's official channel for distribution)
I dunno..hmm..
rmtwrkr.wordpress.com
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3-03-2008 @ 9:16AM
Jim Barr said...
As an iPod Touch user, I'm obviously not concerned with EDGE, phone, or Bluetooth control, but my question is will developers be able to interact with existing "core" application databases? Also, will developers be able to sync data? For example, will we see "enhanced" Calendar apps? Will we see Calendar being able to be synced directly with Google Calendar? Will we be able to see an eBook application that lets us sync various file types?
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3-03-2008 @ 9:18AM
heiko said...
Here is my guess: "Adobe AIR iPhone edition"
Look at the coincidences: pre-announced release date: feb. 2008, WebKit based, sandboxed local apps with local storage, ...
There are probably going to be some iPhone specific extensions (accessing the tiltSensor or recognizing swipe / pinch) but no general filesystem or low-level netwotking api.
And then there is going to be a 'signed native plugin' framework where apple will allow some big players (with big money) access to the bare metal.
I just hope, they are going to provide a real apple style SDK - maybe a mashup of Dashcode and XCode. Just telling us to be happy with Adobes free core SDK or shelling out money for flexBuilder would be kind of disappointing.
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3-03-2008 @ 9:31AM
Jesse Hogue said...
There should be some announcement about Exchange support. Apple posted a job opening a while back about Exchange support on the iPhone, so I would assume this would be included.
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3-03-2008 @ 9:38AM
Rich Stoner said...
I expect WPA Enterprise support finally - 802.1x is sorely missing...
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3-03-2008 @ 10:10AM
Jmac said...
What about the 3G iPhone? Any chance they'd use this event for a pre-announcement of the next phone? This would likely cannibalize existing iPhone sales, but it would be nice to see the details on the new phone sooner than the summer...
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3-03-2008 @ 11:10AM
Wouter said...
On the enterprise side: Exchange support, deep integration with Google services like calendar and google apps (recent release of Google Sites would be a good introduction to what they will release for the iphone)
Small apps will probably be available on itunes wifi music store.
I don't think Apple will let developers access the core features because then the code has to be easily removable in case of bugs, restoration etc. Hoping for Google Calendar Sync, RSS Feeds, Flash (it's 2008, come on), GPS of some kind (Enterprise feature for tracking transport etc). Some sort of online collaboration app ( Google Sites?). Online radio? Google Talk?
My biggest concern is whether Apple will allow developers like Mozilla, Opera or Microsoft to play ball. Guess not..
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