For a piece of hardware that was initially hailed as giving its users a sense of freedom not previously known in the infamously restrictive world of telecommunication, the iPhone sure has a bad habit of locking things down, between the bricking that resulted from unlocked handsets and the general lack of support for third-party downloadable apps.
However, phone analyst, Sascha Segan, pointed me to a page on the company's site this morning, that delivers on the the company's long-standing suggestion that we turn to the much-touted freedom of Web apps. On their site, Apple has compiled a list of apps that currently numbers 215 entries long.
The entries run the gamut, from well-known no-brainers like Facebook, Digg, WeatherBug, and Fandango, to old school phone favorites like Sudoko and a tip calculator, to odder fair like a baby gender determining app and a Magic 8-Ball knockoff (called, enigmatically enough, "Mystic 8-Ball").
It's a pretty decent list, sure, but when it's sent from you by the author of such opinion pieces as, iPhone: Poor Compatibility with Web Apps and The Trouble With Web Apps, you've got to ask him, "so, where's the bile, Sascha?"
Here's what he said--not especially cranky, though it is Friday. Still, whether or not you're an iPhone fan, it's worth it, if only to see Sascha refer to himself as a, "crabby tech pundit."
"Web apps" will never have the speed, flexibility, or power of true native applications; one analyst did some calculations and found that native apps were several dozen times as fast as Web apps. They also don't work when you're off-line, and can't access many of the iPhone's hardware features.
That said, Apple's doing a good job here of focusing on what you can do with the iPhone, offering a counterargument to the many crabby tech pundits such as myself who are obsessed with what you can't do.
There's something very reassuring about their Web apps catalog. "Hey, folks," Apple is saying, "here's 215 new things to do with the iPhone that you may not have thought of."
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October 12, 2007 8:16 PM
Finally some good news from apple :D
October 16, 2007 6:05 PM
Apple has a golden opportunity to parlay the iPhone into a money making machine by encouraging 3rd party developers to add their apps to this handheld MAC. This would use the talents of those wanting to play the iPhone way and provide a rich set of apps that ultimately make the iPhone better for everyone.
Rather than try to keep them out, what Apple should do is:
1) Provide development tools, IDE, API, whatever, to those that would like to develop apps for the iPhone.
2) Certify the apps, give them a gold star, whatever, for those that pass a rigorous testing program at Apple runs on each such application. For all such apps, sell them thru the Apple store, keep 10%, give the rest to the developer/company supplying the app. (Hey, maybe Apple could sell each app for 99 cents thru the iTunes stores...)
3) Fix the (non)security of the iPhone. With Microsoft having countless examples of poorly designed security for their software and the consequences thereof, don't you think Apple would have at least learned from a bad example? Naw: apparently not. Now that the deed is done, Microsoft is having one h*** of a time to try and fix what amounts to a poor design where security was never a consideration, only an afterthought. If Apple lets the iPhone software live too long with its current poor security design, they too will face this same issue.
Apple has been discouraging, nay, FIGHTING to keep 3rd party apps off. Rather than fight, just setup an environment that encourages such offerings. This would be in concern with the current Open Source philosophy plus would open new opportunities for them that none of us can even imagine at this point.
October 17, 2007 8:15 AM
I have an iPod Touch, the web apps are in their infancy as is the iPhone and iPod Touch. I would fully expect that
a) the web apps will get better
b) the iPod and iPhone will be optimized for use in this capacity
c) the wireless networks will be expanded.
d) apple will offer additional native apps.
the problem with anything opened up is Security issues (yes money too but that is another story). Personally I do not want to purchase software to protect my iPod from the internet in the same way that I have to protect my PC. I am sure in time, it will happen anyway, but...