More Shareholder Notes: SDK Hints, "Lots of" iPhone Apps, No Flash

[MacRumors]

A few other interesting tidbits have emerged from Apple's shareholder conference with regard to the iPhone software development kit and the possibility of Flash.

iPhone Atlas relays these tidbits:

- Regarding iPhone applications, Jobs claims "You'll see a lot of apps out there this summer" based on the upcoming iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK).
- Claims that Adobe Flash won't be coming to the iPhone anytime soon, despite recent rumors that a Flash update was imminent.

Appleinsider's notes reveal the following:

- Jobs indicated that the SDK would open the market for new gaming opportunities.
- In answering a question about an iPhone blogging application "if Apple does not address it", Jobs recommended that the individual learn Cocoa and write an iPhone blogger application himself.
- Jobs seemed to pause when questioned about the possibility of an Xserve mini to provider consumers server functionality.
- When asked if ad-supported free content for the Apple TV seemed like a good idea, Jobs said "yes" before saying that they don't comment on future products.

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[bbplayer5]

this "summer"?


Umm... I guess we dont get the SDK until summer folks! Way to go Apple!

[shawnce]

Originally Posted by bbplayer5

Umm... I guess we dont get the SDK until summer folks! Way to go Apple!

Steve said he expected many 3rd party applications for the iPhone this summer so that means 3rd party developers would need the SDK at least a few months before this "summer" in order to develop a reasonable number of applications. If you factor in a likely certification program then developers would need the SDK even earlier.

[badNameErr]

Originally Posted by bbplayer5

this "summer"?


Umm... I guess we dont get the SDK until summer folks! Way to go Apple!

You do realize that writing applications takes time don't you?

[morespce54]

Originally Posted by badNameErr

You do realize that writing applications takes time don't you?

You also do realize that Summer means, in Steve's own term, the very end of June at least, right?

[mouchoir]

Originally Posted by morespce54

You also do realize that Summer means, in Steve's own term, the very end of June at least, right?

Well seeing summer only starts on the 21 June, that isn't too unreasonable

[tadunne]

Originally Posted by mouchoir

Well seeing summer only starts on the 21 June, that isn't too unreasonable

I think we will have the SDK in some form tomorrow. So that developers will have time to make Apps for release in the summer.

I think the missing part will be the ability for developers to sell their stuff on the store. Developers will probably be able to make apps and test them out in some-kind of emulation program like how all the asteroid development is going on now.

I do hope that some apple made apps will be available (games, exchange support?)

[MacsAttack]

Originally Posted by bbplayer5

this "summer"?


Umm... I guess we dont get the SDK until summer folks! Way to go Apple!

Ummm... If I had the SDK right now the special application I would like to develop would take a couple of months to get to feature-complete beta quality (if I ditched the day job and did nothing else). Possibly longer (I don't know how much effort getting two iPhones or Touchs to communicate wirelessly involves - and adding that to the equation adds a whole extra subset of functionality right there). And as I also have a day job (and other concerns) it is going to take more than two months (unless I can convince my boss that we want to go into iPhone software development and can sneak my little side project in as training). Sure - a lot of the web apps will not be that hard to implement, but the real interesting apps are going to take a bit longer to get out the door.

Apple may (or may not) release a full SDK on Thursday - but if Jobs is going to see lots of apps by summer then they are going to have to get it out very soon.

[BWhaler]

Originally Posted by bbplayer5

this "summer"?


Umm... I guess we dont get the SDK until summer folks! Way to go Apple!

You really have no idea what a SDK is or what you are talking about, do you?

Originally Posted by blackshuu

No flash support is killing the iPhone/iPod Touch

No, not really. And flash sucks.

[gusapple]

Only two days left until the SDK! From the sounds of it, it might be un-monitored by Apple!

[jcammo123]

thank gawd!

should be fun...

cant wait

[TPALTony]

Oh sheesh, we're reading things into when Jobs DOESN'T say things now! A pause means something? Other than he needs to take a breath?

[blackshuu]

No flash support is killing the iPhone/iPod Touch

[gusapple]

Originally Posted by blackshuu

No flash support is killing the iPhone/iPod Touch

Even though I agree that no Flash cripples parts of the iPhone, I accepted long ago that it would not be until we could get a computer grade processor inside that we would see Flash support. I mean, Safari alone crashes a lot even without having Flash support.

[k2director]

There better be a To Do app in my near-future, Apple. With synching to iCal on the Mac, no less....

[Hattig]

Originally Posted by k2director

There better be a To Do app in my near-future, Apple. With synching to iCal on the Mac, no less....

I'm hoping that Omni will port their OmniOutliner application to the iPhone when the SDK comes out, or at least a subset of it that makes sense for the device. Proper hierarchical TODO applications are few and far between.

[MacDude415]

- When asked if ad-supported free content for the Apple TV seemed like a good idea, Jobs said "yes" before saying that they don't comment on future products.

The day this happens I will buy an Apple TV, no question!

[Telp]

He says there will be lots of apps by the summer. In the meantime there will only be a couple of bigger ones?? That's how i choose to read into it.

[Zwhaler]

Originally Posted by MacDude415

The day this happens I will buy an Apple TV, no question!

Me too, that woukd be excellent! Please do this Steve, you will gain a ton of new customers.

[benlee]

Definitely not going to have an SDK release Thursday. Makes me wonder if the SDK will even have much affect on the current generation of iPhones. I think the current iPhone is amazing. However, I'm going to have a hard time not buying a 3G iPhone if it also adds another key missing feature (video camera, gps, etc.)

[Niiro13]

Waaah! No Flash! Waaah! (At least add comments on the Youtube application...I'd be set)

It's nice to know that apps will be out. I think what he means by summer is that is when the final SDK will be released as opposed to a beta which is in two days.

[Alrescha]

Originally Posted by blackshuu

No flash support is killing the iPhone/iPod Touch

It's funny how different people see this in different ways.

For myself, the first thing I used to do on every OS installed was ferret out and disable/remove/delete flash wherever I found it.

Nowadays, I usually don't bother. But to be honest, I'm *glad* that the iPhone has no flash support. There's no web site that I go to where I need it.

ymmv,

A.

[pubius]

Originally Posted by Alrescha

It's funny how different people see this in different ways.

For myself, the first thing I used to do on every OS installed was ferret out and disable/remove/delete flash wherever I found it.

Nowadays, I usually don't bother. But to be honest, I'm *glad* that the iPhone has no flash support. There's no web site that I go to where I need it.

ymmv,

A.

well, that's fine for you. but for a lot of us in the creative industry, i would guess that at least 50% of the sites i go to are flash based. that's a pretty large portion for me to cut out. so you don't need it, but a lot of us out there do.

[guet]

Originally Posted by pubius

well, that's fine for you. but for a lot of us in the creative industry, i would guess that at least 50% of the sites i go to are flash based. that's a pretty large portion for me to cut out. so you don't need it, but a lot of us out there do.

I think Apple probably left it out for several reasons :

a> It would require more horse-power than their mobile processor has
b> It would require a lot of effort from Apple *and* effort from Adobe
c> They'd be beholden to Adobe for updates

I'm in the creative industry too, and surf with flash off (I enable it when it's absolutely required). Mostly it's used for annoying adverts and sites that want me to sit and watch their site do stuff as if it's a film - no thanks. It's surprising how few sites I actually need it for. It also breaks loads of web paradigms like 1 page per resource, URIs etc which are very useful, so I find it annoying in that respect too.

I'd rather see the web prosper and proprietary extensions like Flash and Silverlight die off. They simply wouldn't be necessary if certain browser manufacturers (MS) hadn't tried to kill the web at birth by taking it over and then letting it wither, and they're less and less relevant nowadays. With HTML 5 you'll be able to do many animations with javascript and css (you can already do a lot). I personally hope Apple refuse to put it on their phone, and this encourages a lot of sites to turn away from Flash (which is after all under the control of Adobe now, who have their own agenda). IMHO Flash is the past, not the future, of web design. If Apple do include it eventually I hope there's a preference for disabling it.

[echoout]

That's retarded. Half the websites I go to use Flash in a meaningful way. Half of the election coverage last night was Flash-based charts and stuff that were awesome and easy to decipher at a quick glance.

I personally turn off and delete all HTML and jpegs when I see them. Why would you want those?

Lame.

Originally Posted by Alrescha

It's funny how different people see this in different ways.

For myself, the first thing I used to do on every OS installed was ferret out and disable/remove/delete flash wherever I found it.

Nowadays, I usually don't bother. But to be honest, I'm *glad* that the iPhone has no flash support. There's no web site that I go to where I need it.

ymmv,

A.