I was wondering yesterday why Apple hasn't started an iPod development program. By this I mean create a set of tools, or sub-set in XCode, to allow people to develop apps for the iPod. Think basic games, small utilities, etc. Kind of like Widgets, just not live updating.
Create a standard interface in iTunes to install/remove them, and also to update them when synced. Examples would be an iPod weather application that gets the weekly forcast for you, updated every time you sync; an analog world clock (like they added to the nano); an RSS reader that grabbed a few feeds for you when you plugged your iPod in; email readers; plus all the obvious games...
Have them in a menu under Extra's and let people go crazy. Seems like a good idea to me, as it wouldn't really cost Apple anything, wouldn't distract from the the 'purists' who want 'just an mp3 player' (they don't have to install anything extra), would give them yet another one up on the compition, and let users have what THEY want on the iPod.
Create a standard interface in iTunes to install/remove them, and also to update them when synced. Examples would be an iPod weather application that gets the weekly forcast for you, updated every time you sync; an analog world clock (like they added to the nano); an RSS reader that grabbed a few feeds for you when you plugged your iPod in; email readers; plus all the obvious games...
Have them in a menu under Extra's and let people go crazy. Seems like a good idea to me, as it wouldn't really cost Apple anything, wouldn't distract from the the 'purists' who want 'just an mp3 player' (they don't have to install anything extra), would give them yet another one up on the compition, and let users have what THEY want on the iPod.