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iPhone SDK in Beta Only? More 3G iPhone Predictions...

hollerz said:
That might be right, but then surely Apple would of known how much work it takes. So why tell people they'll have an SDK in developers hands by February?
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Apparently you have never worked in a large organization before...

The answer is that even the best laid plans and timelines often meet unexpected roadblocks. I would guess that Apple wanted to help set expectations in an area that is being watched closely, and then found they couldn't meet that self-imposed timeline. (Keep in mind this is a RUMOR, not fact, also...we don't really know what will or won't be released on March 6.)

But for actual application developers, the thing they care about most is knowing what the SDK will provide, the application development and distribution model, the security model, any pricing structures within iTunes, potential tiers for vetted and "untrusted" applications, and so on. Whether the SDK is delayed by a week or the first one being a beta, or the "February" timeframe slipping by a month or two, doesn't matter at all to developers and enterprise customers.

kingjr3 said:
The only thing that matters is if users can install applications developed from whatever SDK is released next week.
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Wrong. That is probably the LEAST important thing. That is important to YOU. That is not important, at all, to the actual developers and the people who will be making the third-party app ecosystem on the iPhone work.
 
Even though you're trolling, it's worth a reply....

As much as I'm really pleased and impressed with my iPhone, I hope you're right! The iPhone is still a "first revision" of a whole new concept in cellphones -- presenting everything with a touch-screen interface with no real keypad.

All the imitations that were quickly cranked out by companies like Verizon pale in comparison to the real thing. But that happens every time Apple does something innovative and successful. (Remember all the really bad imitations of the original iMacs that came out running Windows? Look how many cheap copies of iPod Nanos and regular iPods came out of China.)

I'd like to see some clearly superior phones get produced, forcing Apple to up the ante. Although I'm not quite sure how it would be done, I'd like to see a better physical design/shape for the iPhone, for starters. It tends to be bulky when put in any kind of belt-clip or case, and the phone slips out of one's hands too easily. It's sort of like trying to talk with a bar of soap.

Maybe the multi-touch interface needs to "unfold" out of a sleeker phone when needed, or something?


bbplayer5 said:
This is great news. This gives other companies time to develop a better phone so we can all get off this Apple bandwagon!
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daveschroeder said:
Wrong. That is probably the LEAST important thing. That is important to YOU. That is not important, at all, to the actual developers and the people who will be making the third-party app ecosystem on the iPhone work.
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Right, cause developers would write apps that can't be installed :rolleyes:

I am an interested developer, so both an SDK and the ability to actually release something to the masses are important to me.

Why such a hostile attitude?
 
Technical Question

Got a technical question for anyone who might know the answer...

Is it possible to put a chip in the iPhone that will enable 3G, but also be backward compatible with the slower EDGE network when a 3G network is not available....or would this require 2 separate chips and software to toggle usage between them?

If it possible...why wouldn't Apple do this? I've heard the argument about it increasing the size of the iPhone...but I don't buy that considering their are phones a quarter of the size of the iPhone with 3G. I've also heard the argument about 3G eating up battery life. Is it that big of a battery hog?
 
DuFFy said:
why does this even sound possible to anyone. Steve said it would be late February for the sdk just last month. Why would he say that if it was gonna be delayed 4 months. Second. Why would a 3g phone make sense when they have to delay the sdk cuz they can't finish it in time. It seems impossible for both to be true.
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Fast Shadow said:
So they're having an event to announce the plan to release in June something that was promised in February? If Apple would be more realistic with their release dates in the first place, this wouldn't happen.
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If this rumor is true then next Thursday Steve will show a prototype of the 3G iPhone with a limited beta release to developers for bug testing. But I don't believe this rumor. The recent 1.1.4 update was put out to fix bugs and to allow for some developers to test the beta on a non-3G device.

No way Steve would say February in January only to have it not come out till June unless the apps being developed require 3G.
 
Reality & Comparison

Fast Shadow said:
So they're having an event to announce the plan to release in June something that was promised in February? If Apple would be more realistic with their release dates in the first place, this wouldn't happen.
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Reality is that Apple comes out a lot faster and gets closer to its release dates than Microsoft. Apple is NOT doing bad on that account.

The SDK is not only an SDK for the existing iPhone, iTouch and the 3G version coming down the road.

The SDK will also cover other hand held & tablet sized products that might hit the market in the next year or two. So being a few months behind now is not a big deal. Given what a mess some companies have made by releasing OS's and applications with major bugs, I find it refreshing that Apple simply sets things back a bit to get things more fully developed before the first public release. That sure beats the Longhorn-Vista route.

We are only at the beginning of the mobile pocket device era, and Apple has shown the leadership, but what goes on behind the scenes which is arguably every bit as complicated as a desktop OS, and it involves a lot of items still being worked out which Apple will try to have frameworks in place so they can be smoothly integrated later, like advanced finger touch actions, and probably extra wireless connection options.

Apple is doing it right.
 
The delay is probably caused by the 3G iPhone to launch in Mid-Year, like the delay in Leopard because of the 1st Gen iPhone.:mad:
 
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At least it is something. Some developers will be able to work with what they have and get some nice apps out nonetheless. I hope.
 
If iPhone is a platform that has yet to be updated to 3G form, why the crying over a delay? I will almost guarantee most of the whiners on these forums over delayed SDKs arent in enterprise, or developers. So they take a few months to finalize a solid SDK to follow their tradition of well working devices. When you think about the level of difficulty it is to make a single platform to appease every developers wish, and do it to a degree that makes for the nicest, most seamless user experience possible, who cares if it takes a couple more months.
Theyre still releasing the beta because we all know this will need extensive testing, there literally are millions of variables that could make your iPhone, the potential key to your entire business, unusable. Think of the REAL outcry for enterprise users whose phone stopped working after they tried to startup a 3rd party app. Its not like Apple had to make the iPhone, they just did. And if they take their time doing it right, who is to complain? A small group of whiny ignorant posters?
Take your time Apple making it right. Otherwise theyll be like many many other companies who rushed 3rd party support and ended up creating a nightmare for usability and stability. Give it a rest already, yeesh.
 
daveschroeder said:
Perhaps not. And that's why Apple doesn't really like giving deadlines in the future. I imagine he wanted to offer some sense of firmness to an area that a lot of press and analysts are keeping an eagle eye on. The only people who will care about this are the people who want to fill 45 screens on their phone with apps, and the people who click reload on MacRumors forums every 2 seconds in a thread with dozens of responses about how people are feverishly downloading the 1.1.4 firmware update in the hopes that it has Flash or iChat.

The IT and wireless press, analysts, and others won't really care much if the first release is a week late, or whether it's a beta.
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I agree, having a deadline too soon would make the end product too rushed and a PoS. Setting it too late (or none at all) would mean people would be more likely to goof off and not finish it in a reasonable amount of time. My philosophy: take your time, but don't waste it either.

Anyways, at least a beta is something. It'll give developers a taste of what they're in for.
 
something fishy

The only the time I remember super secretive Apple offering a public roadmap was the 3GHz G5 laptop. Not so good. I'm guessing the "roadmap" includes new/different API's and a distribution mechanism. I'm going to be really irritated if Apple doesn't allow party apps until flippin' WWDC! An SDK is hard, butnot that hard, unless of course they is more to the story than we know.
 
kingjr3 said:
Right, cause developers would write apps that can't be installed :rolleyes:

I am an interested developer, so both an SDK and the ability to actually release something to the masses are important to me.

Why such a hostile attitude?
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So something possibly being a little bit late materially affects you in the long term how?

Any hostility is a reaction to the people who think something being a week later than originally anticipated, or the first SDK release potentially being a "beta", is somehow a huge failure or a massive disappointment.

We all want the SDK and application development model on the iPhone to be successful. But it will also probably be full of compromises. As a developer, your primary concerns should be understanding the development model, what's possible, the distribution model, and, yes, actually getting started with development. But whether users can install apps ON March 6 — that's really not the most important thing, here. I realize people WANT that, but that really, really isn't the most important thing about the SDK ecosystem here, unfortunately.
 
daveschroeder said:
and the people who click reload on MacRumors forums every 2 seconds in a thread with dozens of responses about how people are feverishly downloading the 1.1.4 firmware update in the hopes that it has Flash or iChat.
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My god this annoys me more than anything in these forums... to find out how an update worked out for everyone only to see a million posts of "downloading now!"... "can't wait to get home to down load it!"... "instaling now!"

Who the f cares you're downloading it or can't wait to get home to do so??? I certainly don't. Just post AFTER you've downloaded it and let us know what you think already.
 
okay, I only develop simple applications, so I;m no expert but....

I'm finding it hard to believe that its taking apple this long to release an SDK, the iPhone Hackers seem to have thrown together a pretty good system in very little time, I think that the reasons that this is taking so long, are either, patent issues, or the delivery system.

The second one I think is most likely, they need to find a distribution system that works well for this, they will use iTunes I imagine, but more will need to go into it.
 
daveschroeder said:
People who think this should have just happened overnight have no idea just how much work goes into something like this. Making a third party software environment that is reliable, consistent, supportable, and secure takes a lot more work that the (admittedly impressive) work that the hacking/hobbyist community has done. If only I had a nickel for every time my Treo 700p crashed or was utterly hosed or unstable because of one garbage app or another. Certainly Apple could adopt the free-for-all model, but Apple prefers a, shall we say, more "refined" experience when it comes to consumer products, especially for its first foray into a major new marketplace. And that necessarily includes the iTunes selection and syncing paradigm.

The comments above (and the couple below this, and probably about 99% of the rest in this thread) typify the reaction by those who have literally no idea just how much work goes into developing such an initiative. I wouldn't go so far as to say "ignorant" or "completely unable to see the big picture beyond what new little icon they'll have on their phone", but close. Apple is taking baby steps here, and an SDK allowing third party development is a massive undertaking if you want to have an element of control over the process, and the beautiful integration people have come to expect, overall, from Apple products.

"What's going on in Cupertino?" Please. You have NO IDEA how many people are working on this, and how high a priority this is for Apple.
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I don't think there's any doubt that Apple is working hard to get this thing on the street. What has sort of been a letdown, is Apple not meeting expectations lately, expectation which they set for themselves. There used to be nothing better than hearing that my computer might take 10 days to get repaired and have it come back in 5. But if, I were told it would be ready by tomorrow and had to wait those same 5 days, you can bet I wouldn't be as enthused. I think part of Apple's success was that it was very low-key, didn't set very high expectations (or certainly didn't release them publicly) and then when they met an expectation, everyone acted like it was sliced bread. Its a business model that I think Apple is starting to lose, perhaps as an effect of public pressure, but nonetheless, it seems to be starting to fade.
 
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To be honest, this SDK is what made me keep my phone when I was about to switch back to VZW with the Voyager. If Apple can't get things straight sometime soon, I have no reason to stay with this phone. It could've been so much better, but now I'm having doubts.
 
janitorC7 said:
I think that the reasons that this is taking so long, are either, patent issues, or the delivery system.
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My feeling is it has something to do with changing the underlying OS of the iPhone to properly run 3rd party (aka untrusted) applications in a sandboxed model so that they can't do too much damage to the OS or other critical files/applications.
 
is it possible that aple releases a SDK beta and at the same time releases two or three simple apps to show off the potential (like an ebook reader, a text/notes app and a game)?
 
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andiwm2003 said:
is it possible that aple releases a SDK beta and at the same time releases two or three simple apps to show off the potential (like an ebook reader, a text/notes app and a game)?
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I that is definitely possible not to mention it would be pretty cool if they did it.
 
kingjr3 said:
Right, cause developers would write apps that can't be installed :rolleyes:

I am an interested developer, so both an SDK and the ability to actually release something to the masses are important to me.

Why such a hostile attitude?
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Because there's a significant number of Apple users that get butt-hurt at the mere suggestion that Apple might not be infallible?
 
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