iPhone "SDK" To Receive Improvements, Remain Web-based

[Tara Davis]

As far as I'm concerned, the phone is the LEAST important thing about the iPhone.

I want a hand-held OS X gizmo which can run homebrew apps.

I want it to replace my 80 GB iPod, and allow me to leave my MacBook at home most of the time.

If I can *also* use it to make calls, cool.

Until Apple (or SOMEBODY) comes out with a gadget like that, I'll pass.

Absolutely. Neither side can really prove anything other than what they want or what their immediate group of friends want but yet continue to make claims of "everyone".
I always assumed that real apps would come later through iTunes like they sell games and I'm completely ok with it. I'm sure there will be free apps as well but I would not be surprised or upset at the fact that they sell some as well.

If that's the philosophy, why not lock down OS X so you can't install MS Office on your Mac, and must download iWork via iTMS?

Oh yeah, because no general computer user would EVER put up with that kind of crap. It seems strange to me that so many phone users are content to do so.

After all, the iPhone is just a modern-age Newton with a phone bolted to it. I'm not buying one until the platform is opened up, and I continue to marvel at how many people are snapping them up anyway. I think it says a lot about just how abysmal the cell phone market really is that people see the iPhone as a big step forward.

 

[grappler]

I love how people keep pointing out that the original mac didn't have expansion slots, as though that proves apple has been acting this way and locking things down from day one.

To those people, riddle me this: what past Apple computer was locked down to keep out 3rd party *software*?

 

[winterspan]

- Ebook reader
Yes, available via AppTapp. OSX has PDF printer built in. Leopard's preview would let you format your PDF files to whatever compitable. Also, http://manybooks.net/help/

- Instant messenger
Yes, available via AppTapp. Compatible with AIM, etc. Looks exactly like iChat.

- picture / file transfer
You can email pictures to and from iPhone. Also available via AppTapp. It's called SFTP.

- dictionary / thesaurus
iPhone has a dictionary. As to Thesaurus, are you trying to compose a novel on your iPhone?

- enhanced email program
Not sure what you want. It beats email programs on other mobile phones.

- sketch / drawing
Yes, available via AppTapp. You can sketch on top of photos you took with the iPhone too.

- Wi-Fi stumbler
Yeah that'll be cool. Someone will figure it out, but a laptop is the better solution.

- medical diagnostics for physicians
http://www.intomobile.com/2007/07/2...medical-images-delivered-to-apple-iphone.html
http://www.heartit.com/

Just because you 'don't know' somethings are possible doesn't mean it does not exist.

Who said I didn't know these things existed? I was merely pointing out some possibilities to the guy who said "what could you possibly want that Apple doesn't have".

 

[blackcrayon]

Absolutely. Neither side can really prove anything other than what they want or what their immediate group of friends want but yet continue to make claims of "everyone".
I always assumed that real apps would come later through iTunes like they sell games and I'm completely ok with it. I'm sure there will be free apps as well but I would not be surprised or upset at the fact that they sell some as well.

The side that wants 3rd party apps can "prove" that third party apps have already added a lot of value (capability, fun, etc) to the iPhone for a lot of people. It would be a little different if this were before the release of the iPhone and people were speculating about what would or wouldn't be capable using them. But since we have 3rd party apps which are useful even in their early stages, it's all the more annoying for Apple to "take them away", especially when a lot of them represent things that aren't likely to be done with a web 2.0 based app.

I hope you're right that Apple both sells apps, and there are a source of free native apps- even if they have to implement some kind of signing that gives a stern warning the first couple of times an unsanctioned app is launched.

 

[JonHimself]

The side that wants 3rd party apps can "prove" that third party apps have already added a lot of value (capability, fun, etc) to the iPhone for a lot of people. It would be a little different if this were before the release of the iPhone and people were speculating about what would or wouldn't be capable using them. But since we have 3rd party apps which are useful even in their early stages, it's all the more annoying for Apple to "take them away", especially when a lot of them represent things that aren't likely to be done with a web 2.0 based app.

I hope you're right that Apple both sells apps, and there are a source of free native apps- even if they have to implement some kind of signing that gives a stern warning the first couple of times an unsanctioned app is launched.

No I understand that you can prove that you've lost something that was of value, I agree with that. My complaint is about people saying that just because they feel one way, or some people they know feel the same as them that it means that "most" or "everyone" or "a ton" of people all feel the same way and therefore their argument is valid when in fact it's really just an opinion and doesn't prove their point in the grand scheme things, only on a small scale.
And I'm assuming that by putting "take them away" you are aknowledging that Apple never gave them in the first place and people went behind Apple's back, so to speak, to install them.

 

[3.1416]

Oh yeah, because no general computer user would EVER put up with that kind of crap. It seems strange to me that so many phone users are content to do so.

Completely agreed. Maybe it made some amount of sense when phones had limited capabilities so you weren't actually missing much, but an iPhone really is a handheld Unix touchscreen computer that also makes phone calls. Apple's engineers have made a fantastic product; it's a shame that the marketing and business guys feel compelled to cripple it.