[toosweetnitemare]

your my hero good sir

[jedi228]

Without official Apple SDK support, nobody is going to put any serious money into developing real apps. Oh sure, there will be a handful of hobbyist apps that are pretty good and in certain limited categories this works, but substantive useful apps require an officially supported SDK.
This half-hearted message by Apple is a sort of "Don't ask Don't tell" policy. Basically Apple hopes the whiners will shut up, but they still haven't done a thing. This isn't any different than the AJAX/Web 2.0 message. They aren't doing anything differently today than they did the day before and don't have to lift a finger.
Your first article was the right one. Apple needs to do it right.

[toosweetnitemare]

so im using sendspace to upload it to my phone but there is no /ROMs/NES in the /var/root/Media/ folder. when you installed the application was the /ROMs/NES auto created for you?

[rjwill246]

Quote:

---

Without official Apple SDK support, nobody is going to put any serious money into developing real apps. Oh sure, there will be a handful of hobbyist apps that are pretty good and in certain limited categories this works, but substantive useful apps require an officially supported SDK.
This half-hearted message by Apple is a sort of "Don't ask Don't tell" policy. Basically Apple hopes the whiners will shut up----
Your first article was the right one. Apple needs to do it right.

---

No kidding-- Apple, for crying out loud, make this iPhone the BEST damn handheld device on the planet!!!! It's not that hard, but it does need your support. Standing back and saying that there is no need for true 3rd party apps is disingenuous at best-- YOU know that is not true. YOU have to know that great 3rd party apps turns this phone into an ALL-phone killer. Why in heaven's name would you want your showcase item be anything but the BEST device it can be?
Get real and let this phone blow away all criticism-- it's not that bloody hard!!!

[daniel2828_MW]

The bottom line is this. If Apple doesn't open up to third party developers, others will. And their phones will be better. Period. I LOVE my iPhone, but I miss the apps I had on my Palm: AIM, an eBook reader, a variety of games as I saw fit, a secure program that held passwords and serial numbers, a means to write and save text notes to my computer, etc. In short, just about any program I wanted if I was willing to pay for it. Form can only go so far. FUNCTION is what we now need. And what's with the games I bought and paid for on iTunes with my iPod? How difficult can it be to get them to reside natively on my iPhone? If the iPhone is a BETTER iPod, then iTunes games should have worked on it out of the gate.
Get with it, Apple.

[trip1ex]

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

I won't even mention the crashes I get with Google Maps.
Now I'm not saying some might not find 'em useful, but just that those folks are the small minority.

---

Google Maps has crashed on me more than any other app, but not in the last month.
I think Rob's point is that the whole process is so (apparently, I've not tried it yet) easy, even though it's been only a little more than two months. I could see myself using MobileChat a lot. And the terminal with SSH (to log in to my university server on a few times when I need to).
What I really miss from my Treo 650 is a way to sync with Bluetooth. And (as someone else mentioned) a To Do capability, but for that I'll hold my breath that Apple adds it to the Calendar app.
Oh, and copy/paste. And some kind of TextExpander-type utility. And an encrypted data program for securely storing stuff on my iPhone.
This new Connect application for easier logging in to wireless networks looks intriguing too.

---

Yeah the process is pretty easy. I used the hacks on my phone and it works. I went through some of the software. I'll have to check out MobileChat. I think I missed that one. I tried a few other programs, but again nothing to write home about imo. I'm sure I don't have the 'geek' needs some probably have on this site and really I think I'll be content if Apple updates the iPhone every 3 months.
As for crashes well let's see I used the iphone for an hour tonight since my last post. Safari crashed 3 or 4 times at least. Google Maps crashed in under 5 minutes of use. Even UTube crashed during one particular video. Perhaps there is an (incompatibility) problem with the my wi-fi setup? My iMac never had problems though. I didn't use the iPod functionality otherwise I'm sure I would have had a few more crashes. I would probably bring the phone back if I hadn't seen this same behavior on my first phone a couple months ago. (I returned that one and bought again after the price drop.) I guess this is a bit off-topic, but the author did mention in the article that the Apple software is working perfectly. I have to disagree with that although I don't attribute it to the 3rd party apps.

[scottmacworld]

>Er I think you're overestimating the usefulness of the 3rd party software so far.
I can see you've never used a Treo. Look at all the items users are clamoring for. To DO lists, syncing notes, cut/paste, reading files of text, word, excel documents and editing them (not just reading email attachments) (Like Docs to Go on Treo) eReader, blue tooth file transfers, mass email deleter, flight status, voice commands, travel app, modem.
3rd party apps fill in for missing items on the iPhone that Apple doesn't want to do. It provides niche market apps. It also provides apps that aren't dependent on having a EDGE or WIFI connection all the time.
If Apple provides a true SDK expect any Palm or other mobil phone developer to jump in, including Mac and Window programmers.

[aaAlbertoRicci]

With all due respect, Rob, I think you missed the point.
Apple doesn't necessarily want to break compatibility with third-party apps; what it does want to do is to prevent third parties from unlocking the iPhone, because of their current contracts with telephone companies. But that's another story.
Compatibility with third party apps will break in future versions of the iPhone firmware, exactly because there is no official SDK yet. This means that the iPhone's internal private frameworks are subject to change, and - therefore - developers can't rely on things to remain in place and valid in the future.
Building an SDK is no easy task, even for Apple. They need to standardize things, they need to polish up their own code, to publish the APIs and then document them. It's a huge amount of work.
Obviously, they first released the iPhone and, only afterwards, they can start doing this. Whether they are working on this or not, I cannot know.
However, the point is, if you hope to be able to keep using third-party applications, you'd better hope that Apple releases an SDK as soon as possible! That's what will ensure compatibility in the future.
Requesting that Apple maintains compatibility with current third-party apps, which they have not written and that rely on undocumented, perhaps arbitrary, sometimes unpredictable, inner workings of the iPhone, means blocking Apple's ability to innovate their own OS and add new features.
Third-party apps for the iPhone currently only rely on methods which have only been observed by the developer and that are not backed by official documentation.
An official SDK is a guarantee to the developer that specific methods will keep working in the future.
Therefore, we do need an SDK. You need an SDK in order to make sure that you can keep using your favorite third-party apps when Apple releases the next iPhone update that does some new useful thing.
Alberto Ricci, currently developing software for the iPhone.
Ovolab

[NewGuyontheMac]

Quote:

---

The question is when would have they released it if not for the hacking.

---

I think many fairly computer literate people put far too much emphasis on these fringes. In fact, were it not for the CONTEST, Apple may have released it earlier. Their stance was that they were not going to make it impossible to run Windows on the Mac because the plan all along was to facilitate it.
I'm not saying that Apple is infallible, but Steve Jobs has shown some marked ability at long term thinking (Remember, this is the SAME company that had dual builds of OSX running on Intel and PowerPC for YEARS). Windows on the Mac is a part of a long term strategy that was a foregone conclusion as soon as they decided to switch to Intel chips.
Hackers can be credited with "Getting there first", but GTF is much easier when your company's future doesn't depend on it, you don't have to get it right the first time, and your customers don't expect a polished and complete solution. Even the initial Boot Camp beta was far more feature complete than the hacks were at the time.

[NewGuyontheMac]

Quote:

---

I think they're just covering their arses. Things will break, the later statement just states the obvious. The important point is their intention is not to break. I think things are so fluid in iPhone dev at Apple they probably haven't got any choice but to break things, even if they were offical APIs.

---

There are even some things in the Safari implementation that are broken. If fixing one of those breaks a hack, then I'm all for breaking the hack.

[griffman]

Don't get me wrong: I'd love an official SDK. Really -- the letter at the beginning was fictitious, as I admitted in the very next paragraph; it was mainly just a way to introduce the subject of third party apps on the iPhone as of today. The main point of the article was that, lacking an official SDK, which is presently the case, I really don't want Apple to go out of their way to break the third party apps with future iPhone updates.
I know things may break with future updates. But there's a big difference between accidental breakage and going out of their way to prevent third party apps from running at all. In the former case, fixing the breakage should be relatively simple. In the latter case, Apple can make it very hard for third parties to do what they're presently doing.0
Until/unless the release of an official Apple SDK, all I'm asking is that Apple not intentionally prevent what's already been developed from working.
-rob.

[kwill]

Apple was entering new waters with the iPhone -- negotiating contracts with 3rd party carriers and creating a portable device that could change how the world communicates. With carriers forced to alter accounting methods to satisfy Apple demands while getting in on the ground floor, there must be talk about generating progressive revenue sources from this software-updated interface.
Multiplying the effect by x-number of developers was an incalculable risk. However, if third-parties developed hacks -- using their own resources to determine stability, Apple could decide to embrace its own flavor of the useful apps (that were officially unapproved) or break the ones that cause havoc. It's a nice little system called reap and weed.

[aaAlbertoRicci]

Rob,
Thanks for your reply: I see what you mean. I was somewhat misled by your provocative remark that Apple should not worry releasing an SDK.
I too hope that Apple won't break third-party apps for the sake of it, but if it happens, that it's for a reason: adding applications, adding features, making the iPhone more stable, or even making an SDK itself.
Best regards,
Alberto
Ovolab

[louis24x7]

Enough about this bickering already.
What about wishlist on apps that can be made?
I want someone to create an app that uses ActiveSync so I can get my Exchange email /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif