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Apple Launches WebApps Directory

emotion said:
See, the problem with Apple's strategy right now is that those 'brilliant engineers' are engaged firefighting the effort to break into their good work. Even if that is minimal effort it would still be better spent making the iPhone more like the portable computer Jobs sold to everyone at the start of the year. I think the expectation was raised that it would be a nice open platform that could possibly change mobile computing.
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I am reminded of the early days of the Lisa and the Macintosh. Because of the cost and "newness" of the Lisa, Apple wanted to exercise complete control over the system and it's applications for a time to ensure that everything was presented in a consistent way to the user base as it grew.

With the Macintosh, they decided to get the third-party developers to bear the brunt of the application development in the hopes it would draw interest to it.

While the Macintosh was a success and the Lisa was not, Apple's licensing schema did allow companies like Microsoft to learn how the system worked and then develop their own counter - Windows. And then when they (for a time) stopped developing their existing Macintosh software while they ported it over to Windows and enhanced it, that drove a lot of folks (back) into the PC fold.

So an totally open iPhone SDK would bring us many new and cool aps, but one wonders if would also allow Google and those MotoWhatever folks (sorry, the name escapes me - they're porting Linux or something to mobile devices) to leverage all the iPhone's features, make it cheaper and better, and we end up with "deja vu all over again" where a single-digit percentage of us use iPhones while the rest of the world uses something else that used the iPhone as a foundation.

Considering Apple is as much a hardware company now as they were two decades ago (even if content is becoming more and more important), Steve Jobs might not want the iPhone to become the Mac to the gPhone's (or someone else's) Windows...
 
neven said:
I wonder if those complaining about how these are JUST web pages, and how you HAVE to be online to use them (the nerve!) direct the same complaints at Google or Digg or, err, MacRumors.
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The difference between those websites and the iPhone is the fact that they are websites and nothing else while the iPhone is a physical device that consumers pay for and pay service for.
 
Project said:
No, the problem is you automatically assume that nothing is happening behind closed doors in respect to 3rd party apps. We. Dont. Know. Anything.
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No I don't. I don't say that.

Do I Have to spell it out? I'm saying they will need to release 1.1.2 soon (and sooner than they'd have had to if they hadn't directed hacking attention to it) to prevent random websites gaining root on the device. THis effort would be better spent polishing up that SDK for general release.

That's what I'm saying.

I just find it amazing that every Mac Rumors forum member thinks they know whats better for the long term success of Apple and the iPhone than Apple themselves..... as if Apple wants the thing to fail.
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Yeah, because Apple don't get things wrong? All companies get stuff wrong occasionally.

At the moment Apple has a PR problem that they could do with attending to. If they hadn't anticipated this then they need to adapt.
 
CWallace said:
So an totally open iPhone SDK would bring us many new and cool aps, but one wonders if Google and those MotoWhatever folks (sorry, the name escapes me) porting Linux or something to mobile devices could leverage all the iPhone's features, make it cheaper and better, and we end up with "deja vu all over again"
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thats not true, you are assuming apple is the only one out there that can developing revolutionary apps. But truth to be told, google is, linux is, apple is NOT.

There are countless 3rd party apps out there for WM and Palm, what ca apple do on its iPhone/iPT/iNewTon that haven't been done? not very many at all.

Apple is the one borrowed vast amount of code from unix project, not the reverse.
 
CWallace said:
I am reminded of the early days of the Lisa and the Macintosh. Because of the cost and "newness" of the Lisa, Apple wanted to exercise complete control over the system and it's applications for a time to ensure that everything was presented in a consistent way to the user base as it grew.

With the Macintosh, they decided to get the third-party developers to bear the brunt of the application development in the hopes it would draw interest to it.

While the Macintosh was a success and the Lisa was not, Apple's licensing schema did allow companies like Microsoft to learn how the system worked and then develop their own counter - Windows. And then when they (for a time) stopped developing their existing Macintosh software while they ported it over to Windows and enhanced it, that drove a lot of folks (back) into the PC fold.

So an totally open iPhone SDK would bring us many new and cool aps, but one wonders if would also allow Google and those MotoWhatever folks (sorry, the name escapes me - they're porting Linux or something to mobile devices) to leverage all the iPhone's features, make it cheaper and better, and we end up with "deja vu all over again" where a single-digit percentage of us use iPhones while the rest of the world uses something else that used the iPhone as a foundation.

Considering Apple is as much a hardware company now as they were two decades ago (even if content is becoming more and more important), Steve Jobs might not want the iPhone to become the Mac to the gPhone's (or someone else's) Windows...
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Maybe but M$ has been trying to duplicate the Mac OS for years without success. Google might build a better (and more open) phone even still. And then where is Apple? If there is a GPhone and it's open will anyone even be interested in developing apps for the iPhone even if an SDK was then released. Probably not.

I understand Apple needed to protect it's franchise but certainly it could start a licensing program like Sony has w/ Playstation, Nintendo has w/ Wii. etc. where Apple licenses the SDK to developers, but only Apple can distribute the app. The iPhone needs apps or it's going to be just another phone soon.
 
Project said:
No, the problem is you automatically assume that nothing is happening behind closed doors in respect to 3rd party apps. We. Dont. Know. Anything.

Just because Apple is pushing the webapp idea (which probably involves zero of said engineers given that it is just a database), does not mean that they are neglecting work on more interesting stuff.... and vice versa of course.

I just find it amazing that every Mac Rumors forum member thinks they know whats better for the long term success of Apple and the iPhone than Apple themselves..... as if Apple wants the thing to fail.
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Nobody believes that Apple wants anything they do to fail. What people here are simply complaining of is their own personal wants and needs concerning the iPhone. And considering that they're iPhone owners, they're opinions are completely legitimate. Apple takes into account their own goals and the wants and needs of the consumer base. Sometimes, their goals come at the expense of the wants and needs of the consumer base. This happened with AppleTV and consumers rejected it. This, I suspect many consumers fear, is happening with the iPhone. Apple doesn't want to give consumers what they want because of other Apple objectives. But, unlike the AppleTV, the iPhone won't fail. Apple has a lot of leverage until a consumer backlash. But this does not make their position a good one.
 
CWallace said:
Considering Apple is as much a hardware company now as they were two decades ago (even if content is becoming more and more important), Steve Jobs might not want the iPhone to become the Mac to the gPhone's (or someone else's) Windows...
Click to expand...

Good point, but the way I see that is that they need to make this a more open platform to counter a more open OS like linux.

It also ignore the closeness (Eric Schmidt is on Apple's board) that Apple and Google have. Even though that closeness isn't explicit....yet.
 
Web Apps are a start, but they need just apps. so i don't need to be online. Living in michigan the only place i have wireless is at home & work... and the nearest Starbucks in an hour away.
 
Damn, 204 apps. That's a lot more than I thought there would be. Good stuff. It would be nice if some of these could take advantage of Core Animation.
 
zombitronic said:
Damn, 204 apps. That's a lot more than I thought there would be. Good stuff. It would be nice if some of these could take advantage of Core Animation.
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yeah, Im glad My palm PDA can run many of those iPhone webapp too, how nice!
 
it would be cool if they also had an appmanager...kinda like appleopolis.com... so it would be easier to add your favorite app icons to a homepage, rather than having to bookmark each and everyone of them.
 
aonflux said:
it would be cool if they also had an appmanager...kinda like appleopolis.com... so it would be easier to add your favorite app icons to a homepage, rather than having to bookmark each and everyone of them.
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There are plenty of things it would be cool if Apple did...releasing an SDK is way above web-bookmarking...
 
itcheroni said:
Nobody believes that Apple wants anything they do to fail. What people here are simply complaining of is their own personal wants and needs concerning the iPhone. And considering that they're iPhone owners, they're opinions are completely legitimate. Apple takes into account their own goals and the wants and needs of the consumer base. Sometimes, their goals come at the expense of the wants and needs of the consumer base. This happened with AppleTV and consumers rejected it. This, I suspect many consumers fear, is happening with the iPhone. Apple doesn't want to give consumers what they want because of other Apple objectives. But, unlike the AppleTV, the iPhone won't fail. Apple has a lot of leverage until a consumer backlash. But this does not make their position a good one.
Click to expand...

Yes, iPhone customers who knew full well that there was no SDK at the time of purchase and none promised further down the line.
 
Worst Set Of Apps I Have Ever Seen

I just scrolled all the apps for the iPhone! Laughable and useless!

Apple is going to shoot themselves in the foot soon enough with the iPhone for webdev only. Jobs is really screwing this up.

Seriously, as a sys admin I bought my iphone for all possibilities of creating apps to manage my servers.

This is one case the Apple/Jobs is acting like a total idiot.

Blackberry may not have iTunes WiFi, but seriously other than safari and mail what is the point? Not to mention that I am still pissed about paying $599.00 for it. I remember when Jobs first announced the iPhone prices he had this great lead-up but then price did not wow anyone, in fact it was so out of place that it made no sense in his keynote.
 
Project said:
Yes, iPhone customers who knew full well that there was no SDK at the time of purchase and none promised further down the line.
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on paper, yes, in reality,why do you think so many people turn to hacks?
 
coolbreeze said:
So it's a bunch of website addresses? Errr...

Ok, it's a start, but I don't get reception everywhere. Downloadable, installable apps, please. Thank you.

Although weatherbug is pretty cool... :cool:
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What's really goofy is that the Apple Hot News headline for this new directory is "Web apps for iPhone and iPod touch ready for download" (emphasis mine.) "download"? "Web apps"? The two don't belong in the same sentence, do they?
 
Steve apparently doesn't use the subway 2 hours a day. :mad:

You have an amazing product and you have to limit it so severely by not allowing apps to be installed directly? I've been waiting for Apple to open the platform up. Unless they do, the "fossil in my pocket" Treo will have to suffice for now. I swore that I wouldn't buy another Treo after my 700P but at this rate, the new Centro is beginning to look good. My killer apps are mybible and Metro (subway app), both installable apps
 
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