Apple has techies buzzing about the new features announced on March 6th for the next version of the iPhone software due in June. Version 2.0 will include enhancements for business users, especially ActiveSync for Microsoft Exchange servers (which can't help but be superior to the finicky, slow syncing with Outlook offline cache files that's presently supported via iTunes).
More importantly, it will finally open up the iPhone as a platform for 3rd party software developers to create new applications that run natively. (All previous iPhone development was limited to web applications. Among other things, webapps have the obvious shortcomings of requiring a web connection and being limited to what's possible within the context of web browser, which has little access to the other content stored on the iPhone.)
The corresponding new version of iTunes will be the distribution vehicle for iPhone applications, and as part of that, hats off to Apple for distributing freeware applications for free. At the top of my wish-list for the new apps would be clients for the following services:
| SSH (secure shell remote command-line access) | |
| VNC and Windows Terminal Services remote desktop connections | |
| Skype or a similar "wifi phone" service | |
| Pandora |
I'll be curious to watch how Apple handles distribution of applications with the potential to cut into the business model they've used for the iPhone (and, in particular, the profits available to AT&T, their exclusive wireless network). For example, a Skype or other wifi phone service could allow users with regular access to wifi networks to use that connection instead of burning their cell phone minutes (and would be especially helpful for international travelers), but those savings could translate into lost revenue for AT&T. Having anticipated an appetite for such features, I'm not sure whether the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) allows low enough access to the underlying hardware components of the iPhone to create features like that. I'm similarly curious whether it will allow developers to add some sorely-missed basic user interface features, such as:
| A clipboard and support for cutting and pasting | |
| A way to play Flash content (even if in a pared back format) | |
| Support for a broader array of Bluetooth devices (presently limited to audio only; access to Bluetooth keyboards and printers is sorely missing) |
At a minimum, it should allow someone to create:
| A basic photo editor (crop, rotate, brightness and contrast) | |
| Some information-rich widgets envisioned by Edward Tufte | |
| Psuedo-GPS (aka "location aware") applications |
With the release of the SDK, Apple has also made a variety of templates, style guides and other components available to help ensure that the elegance of the native iPhone apps doesn't get drowned in a sea of kludgy add-ons.
I've put some of those templates to use in the development of my first webapp for the iPhone: an interface to the list of movie recommendations I've received (which I've stored online already for many years), tailored to display neatly and compactly on the iPhone, with links to more information about the films (currently, New York Times reviews and IMDb.com details), plus a way to check whether the Minneapolis Public Library carries the title.
For now, I'm calling it iLike2Watch. Movies, that is.
No comments:
Post a Comment