No 3rd party apps on iPhone rant

[mainstreetmark]

http://www.macworld.co.uk/ipod-itunes/news/index.cfm?newsid=16926

I just gotta say how bummed I am at this - to the point where I no longer really know if I WANT an iPhone.

I was immediately imagining getting something like iStumbler going on it, or other things useful to me such as a local tide chart. How about a Terminal where I can shell into one of my many sick servers? All kinds of stuff that my piece-of-crap Treo could do years ago. I could care less about Stocks, and don't need it to be one of the 11 "applications" this phone.

It seems, though, that Apple is gonna write the applications, and no doubt sell them to us.

No Skype? Why not? Cingular gets $$ on the data just as much as it does on the voice.

Why even bother bragging about it being OSX. Who cares? We can't touch it. We're locked out of what might have been the world's first star-trek device.

Friggin sucks. Absolutely sucks.

 

[Reflow]

Give it time someone will develop something new on it

 

[jsw]

I just gotta say how bummed I am at this - to the point where I no longer really know if I WANT an iPhone.

I too am rapidly cooling on the idea... foe the first-gen one. The lack of Java means the browser can't be used nearly as effectively as it could otherwise. If there was a good Java implementation, I could live without any more on-the-phone apps.

No Skype? Why not? Cingular gets $$ on the data just as much as it does on the voice.

Because Skype would work on any WiFi connection, meaning no $$ for Cingular. It's insidious, but I understand it as a business decision. But I hate it anyway.

Why even bother bragging about it being OSX. Who cares? We can't touch it. We're locked out of what might have been the world's first star-trek device.

I agree - the locking down of the phone removes a lot of potential plusses to using OS X. Do I think it's a cool device? Of course. But I think - and recent comments by Cingular have referred to this - that Apple bent way over and greased themselves up just to have Cingular help them release the phone. Two year lock in with them (meaning Apple's 2 year commitment)? Scary.

 

[adrianblaine]

I watched the Keynote just a couple hours ago. Doesn't he mention something about why they aren't allowing 3rd party Apps? I can't remember Job's exact wording but it was something about not having to worry about installing it and then your phone not working. I think 3rd party apps will be tested in controlled conditions before releasing them out into the wild... Or maybe this was in an article I was reading... I can't remember. Basically they are running the iPhone like the iPod, with complete control.

EDIT: From the New York Times Article...

“We define everything that is on the phone. You don’t want your phone to be like a PC. The last thing you want is to have loaded three apps on your phone and then you go to make a call and it doesn’t work anymore. These are more like iPods than they are like computers.”

 

[jsw]

I watched the Keynote just a couple hours ago. Doesn't he mention something about why they aren't allowing 3rd party Apps? I can't remember Job's exact wording but it was something about not having to worry about installing it and then your phone not working. I think 3rd party apps will be tested in controlled conditions before releasing them out into the wild... Or maybe this was in an article I was reading... I can't remember. Basically they are running the iPhone like the iPod, with complete control.

I completely agree that lack of control over 3rd party apps can lead to an unstable phone, which can prevent it from working in emergencies.

However, a good Java/Flash implementation would allow you to do more webapps, which presumably would contain their instabilities within a sandbox within the browser. If the phone supports SVG (scalable vector graphics) and, in particular, the animation portions of that spec, then there might yet be hope.

 

[mainstreetmark]

I watched the Keynote just a couple hours ago. Doesn't he mention something about why they aren't allowing 3rd party Apps? I can't remember Job's exact wording but it was something about not having to worry about installing it and then your phone not working.

That argument is crap, too. Jobs should be chiefly aware that OSX lets people install applications all the friggin time and it still works! OSX doesn't let an app screw up the mac, just as OSX shouldn't let a phone app screw up the phone.

Good point on the Skype - you can bypass the "phone" part entirely, and cut Cingular out. I wonder if Skype is the primary (only?) reason they're outlawing 3rd party apps - Cingular is afraid they'll loose revenue with VoIP apps, but it's not like there's global WIFI everywhere (yet?).

Of course, the camera is pointing the wrong way anyways, so, you either get to look at the back of your phone, or show the person you're talking to what your hand looks like up close.

 

[jsw]

Of course, the camera is pointing the wrong way anyways, so, you either get to look at the back of your phone, or show the person you're talking to what your hand looks like up close.

Silly boy... you just don't get it, do you?

We're Apple fanbois. We like to show off our Apple products. When we video chat, we hold the phone the other way around, so the person we're talking to can see us (who cares if we can see them), and, more importantly, so everyone standing nearby can see the cool video on the front of the iPhone.

That's why it's on the back.

Plus, of course, someone will be marketing the new iPeriscope soon enough to let the camera view what's in front of the phone.

 

[emptyCup]

It was stated somewhere in the mass of stuff that has been written the last few days that there will be 3rd party applications. They will go through Apple and not be shareware or betas or stuff you write (that you will expect Apple to fix if it borks your phone). My, limited, understanding is that there is not enough coverage of high bandwidth telephony to allow reliable iChatting.

You could buy Cisco's iPhone. It's a VoIP phone.

 

[mainstreetmark]

Plus, of course, someone will be marketing the new iPeriscope soon enough to let the camera view what's in front of the phone.

..or save the cash and stand in front of the bathroom mirror.

 

[Eraserhead]

It may be that Apple doesn't want to make it "too good" to start with so they can easily improve it for iPhone v2.0, the thing I don't like is the lack of replacable battery, mainly due to the cost/environmental damage of chucking the whole thing.