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June 11, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Is Jobs just like the wizard behind the curtain in Apple-Oz-land?
Monday, Steve Jobs took center stage, a place that he seems quite comfortable in, and gave a cheering crowd of 5,000 developers at the WWDC07 a not quite close-up look at the platform for developers who want to create applications for the iPhone.
Not a platform and far less than an SDK -- Jobs pointedly remarked that an SDK is not required -- the development environment will allow any third party to create Web 2.0 applications using current Internet standards.
As Jobs demonstrated it, a widget can access and incorporate the iPhone's built-in services inside a widget, including such services as placing a call, sending an e-mail, or displaying a location in Google Maps.
But my question is, is this really magic, or is it more like the Wizard of Oz standing behind the curtain making it look like magic? Only in this case, it is a Web server behind the curtain.
What I mean is, from where does the application actually execute? If it is a Web 2.0 application, then it is built on the server and accessed by the iPhone, but it is not an application residing on the iPhone. So what's the big deal?
For me, this makes it far less magical. It is a given that on a server using Internet standards, you can write anything you want. Then you can run it on a cell phone as long as you are cognizant of the small device's limitations.
Sure, you can access the services of the iPhone if you know how to talk to the application processor, the DSP (digital signal processing) chip, and the Wi-Fi chip inside the phone. Please call Intel for those details.
Writing applications for a small device, such as a cellular phone, with built-in Wi-Fi is a bit of an art and takes a great deal of technique.
Despite the fact that Jobs made it sound all so simple, I kind of think it isn't as easy as it looks, which developers who are not used to designing for small devices will quickly discover.
My advice: Don't promise your IT manager anything before you figure it all out.
Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on June 11, 2007 01:11 PM
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There was a missing piece in Jobs's remarks: for AJAX to work with the iPhone, this statement you make isn't exactly right:
"Sure, you can access the services of the iPhone if you know how to talk to the application processor, the DSP (digital signal processing) chip, and the Wi-Fi chip inside the phone. Please call Intel for those details."
Apple will need to provide iPhone-specific JavaScript functions that an AJAX-based page can access. There's no way for what Jobs was demonstrating to work with AJAX otherwise.
So there will be an iPhone class or something, and you'll write document.iphone.callaction.dial.loadnumber = '12065551212'; document.iphone.callaction.dial.call();
Posted by: Glenn Fleishman at June 11, 2007 03:53 PMSheeeze, not another MS shill??? Please. The iPhone is doomed cause . . . . . its not like MS mobile.??
If the iPhone runs a full safari, just like the MacBook, that means you should be able to develop your apps just you would for a regular web site. Use the laptop to make sure it works, tweak it for any extra features that the iPhone can provide.
I am not an expert here, but from what I am hearing, it sounds like this should be a cake walk for people wanting to get good apps on an iPhone and a royal pain in the keester for those wanting to CONTROL the iPhone for viruses, spyware, and MS style control over the hardware from the outside.
Maybe Steve Jobs has something going on here after all. ????? :-)
Posted by: elder norm at June 13, 2007 01:14 PM
