Apple's Joswiak on the iPhone, iPod Touch, 3rd Party Apps

[MacRumors]

GearLog relays some comments by Apple’s vice president of Hardware Product Marketing, Greg Joswiak.

As has been known, Joswiak confirms that the iPod Touch and iPhone use the same software platform -- "they're both running OS X on basically the same hardware".

The iPod Touch does not have Bluetooth (despite images floating around the internet) and there are no games coming for the iPod Touch for now.

Of interest, Joswiak comments on 3rd party application development:

Apple takes a neutral stance - they're not going to stop anyone from writing apps, and they're not going to maliciously design software updates to break the native apps, but they're not going to care if their software updates accidentally break the native apps either.

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[TheSpecialist]

Good news for the hack/mod community!

 

[iJed]

Excellent news

The comment that Apple will not intentionally break support for third party software has been the deciding vote in me buying an iPod touch or iPhone.

Now I just have to pick which one... If only the iPhone was offered pay-as-you-go...

 

[Peace]

Looks like iToner gets a reprieve.

 

[cliffjumper68]

I was hoping for bluetooth and a mail app on the touch. Looks like i will get one of the two in the end.

 

[yayaba]

The comment that Apple will not intentionally break support for third party software has been the deciding vote in me buying an iPod touch or iPhone.

Now I just have to pick which one... If only the iPhone was offered pay-as-you-go...

There are methods to unlock the phone only for pay as you go but I believe that only works with AT&T/Cingular sims. Otherwise you'll have to do a full unlock for other pay as you go plans on other carriers.

 

[shoelessone]

This really is great news, in my opinion.

Of course, Apple could always change their mind, release a new firmware update and just say, "oh, this is to fix such and such a problem".

Still, really good news .

It doesn't make my decision between an activated (w/ no service) iPhone or Touch any easier though

 

[Sayer]

$299 4 GB iPhone

Apple is blowing out 4GB iPhones for $299, very tempting since I never got the new SIM card for my RAZR I ordered. .

 

[madmaxmedia]

This is great news for everyone.

1. If you're looking at a Touch, then this news means that installing 3rd party iPhone apps and the Apple iPhone apps should be highly likely.

2. If you are looking at either Touch or iPhone, it means that even if future updates break any hacks or 3rd party apps, it should just be a short matter of time before the hacking apps are updated to acount for the new Apple updates.

 

[kyleaa]

The comment that Apple will not intentionally break support for third party software has been the deciding vote in me buying an iPod touch or iPhone.

Now I just have to pick which one... If only the iPhone was offered pay-as-you-go...

I believe that if you fail the credit check for whatever reason, you are offered the option of using AT&Ts prepaid plan.

 

[iJed]

There are methods to unlock the phone only for pay as you go but I believe that only works with AT&T/Cingular sims. Otherwise you'll have to do a full unlock for other pay as you go plans on other carriers.

I'd be waiting for the UK release of the iPhone if I am going to buy that. If Apple has not announced this by the time the iPod touch hits the shops I will be going for the iPod.

 

[Flowbee]

Looks like iToner gets a reprieve.

iToner is not the kind of app he's talking about. He's talking about apps that are written to run natively on the iPhone.

 

[chr1s60]

That last little statement kinda seems like he is saying "we aren't against it, but we are gonna probably do things to break them."

 

[cliffjumper68]

This really is great news, in my opinion.

Of course, Apple could always change their mind, release a new firmware update and just say, "oh, this is to fix such and such a problem".

Still, really good news .

It doesn't make my decision between an activated (w/ no service) iPhone or Touch any easier though

The touch not having bluetooth is a low point, it would be nice to connect to car systems, wireless headsets, and macs. Ohh well maybe the hardware is there and you just have to turn it on, like the extensions to the mac mini.

 

[P-Worm]

This is excellent news. I canceled my order of my iPod Touch because of the calendar app fiasco. This has me reconsidering. I am going to wait until it is actually released, follow the application circle and buy if it will meet my needs.

P-Worm

 

[psingh01]

That last little statement kinda seems like he is saying "we aren't against it, but we are gonna probably do things to break them."

No. He specifically said that they will not do anything to try to break them. What he is saying here is that if any future updates (for other things) happen to break these apps then too bad.

 

[sananda]

I believe that if you fail the credit check for whatever reason, you are offered the option of using AT&Ts prepaid plan.

no at&t in edinburgh.

 

[theheyes]

Hooray, calendar entries for all!

 

[tribulation]

Makes no sense?

So instead of making a nice stable 3rd party SDK that would work securely, since they are "so" intent on keeping the iPhone from "crashing"; they'd rather have developers just hack stuff around that may or may not break it, and be half-baked? Without a sanctioned SDK, developers are shooting in the dark and can never make things on par with what would be capable otherwise.

 

[chr1s60]

No. He specifically said that they will not do anything to try to break them. What he is saying here is that if any future updates (for other things) happen to break these apps then too bad.

Think about it though. Would it really be smart for him to say that Apple will do everything possible to break hacks? No, it would draw some people away from buying iPhones. It may not be their main concern or even one of their top concerns, but I think to an extent they are doing things that may prevent hacks.

 

[unigolyn]

Ohh well maybe the hardware is there and you just have to turn it on, like the extensions to the mac mini.

Since the iPhone and iPod touch don't use the same exact chip setup, that is nearly impossible. There's no way Apple would be attaching unused Bluetooth chips to iPod logic boards, because these chips cost money. Integrated circuits are often crippled feature-wise because it's cheaper to produce just one type of wafer and sell it at two price points. This isn't a feature, this is an extra component.

Putting Bluetooth chips in the iPod touch makes as much sense as putting two gigs of RAM in every Mac but not allowing the OS to address one gig on consumer machines.

 

[rorschach]

Hmm, isn't this exactly what Apple said about running Windows on Intel Macs a few months before they released Boot Camp?

http://www.macnn.com/articles/05/06/08/schiller.on.os.x.on.pcs/

As for Mac users running Windows on Intel Macs, Schiller said Apple won't intentionally stop users from doing this. However, Apple will not provide any support, let alone a method, for running Windows.

"That doesn't preclude someone from running [Windows] on a Mac. They probably will," he said

 

[guzhogi]

Now I just have to pick which one... If only the iPhone was offered pay-as-you-go...

You can get it pay-as-you-go. AT the activation screen when it asks for your SSN, don't put in your SSN but rather 999-99-9999 and you'll get pay-as-you-go options. Plus, it lets you have full functionality & let's you quit whenever you want. On the downside, it's still $49.95 or something/month. And Apple legal hasn't shown up yet (but probably will after reading this )

 

[psingh01]

Hmm, isn't this exactly what Apple said about running Windows on Intel Macs a few months before they released Boot Camp?

http://www.macnn.com/articles/05/06/08/schiller.on.os.x.on.pcs/

As for Mac users running Windows on Intel Macs, Schiller said Apple won't intentionally stop users from doing this. However, Apple will not provide any support, let alone a method, for running Windows.

"That doesn't preclude someone from running [Windows] on a Mac. They probably will," he said

Yep, that is their attitude because it actually helps sell their products It is basically their way of saying we won't offer tech support for these apps/hacks because we never said it was a feature.

I think they said the same thing about AppleTV when people hacked it to play WoW.

 

[unigolyn]

So instead of making a nice stable 3rd party SDK that would work securely, since they are "so" intent on keeping the iPhone from "crashing"; they'd rather have developers just hack stuff around that may or may not break it, and be half-baked? Without a sanctioned SDK, developers are shooting in the dark and can never make things on par with what would be capable otherwise.

They'll make an SDK eventually. Hacking the iPhone is something a very, very fleeting minority of iPhone users will do, and these people will have the technical wherewithal to not cry foul when something breaks. Apple knows the ubergeeks will want to play multitouch Nintendo on their iPhones, and this doesn't hurt Apple - rather, it acts as a real-world testbed to show Apple what third party apps can do and how they affect the iPhone.

What Apple does not want is a few million Joe Q. iPhones installing some POS third-party app that dilutes the "it just works" experience for the vast majority of potential customers.

They also probably can't officially sanction the most popular of all iPhone apps - multiprotocol IM clients, because AT&T wants cashy money for the SMS-based pseudo-iChat. Let's all be glad they decided not to be dicks about it.