Since my MacBook had a hardware failure on the day of the iPhone SDK event, I could not post an update on what happened. By now, you have probably either watched the video, or read all the blog posts about it. So instead of just telling you guys what happened, I will write my thoughts about the event.
Vice President of iPhone Software, Scott Forstall was the main speaker about the iPhone SDK. Scott gave a great keynote, which featured some amazing things about iPhone software and the iPhone SDK. The first thing that really stood out for me was when Scott said this,
“Starting today we’re opening up the same APIs and tools that we use to develop our own applications today. Now, there are a lot of pieces that make up an SDK. But the most important are the APIs and the platform. And we have a great one, Mac OS X.”
This means that developers will have the exact same limitations as the Apple iPhone developers, which is essentially none. And because the iPhone OS is so amazing, the apps developed will simply blow people way. Although everything is optimized for the iPhone, the only major difference between Mac OS X and the iPhone OS, is Cocoa. Instead of Cocoa, the iPhone has Cocoa touch, which is Cocoa, but specifically for touch input. This shows off the great power of the iPhone. The iPhone is in some ways a small, low-power Mac. This means the iPhone can have Open AL, Open GL, Core Animation, etc. Developers can use all of these features to make absolutely amazing apps. This got me very excited about what is going to come for the iPhone. At this time in the keynote, we still have not heard anything about dates or limitations.
Scott then went on to show off some amazing apps that people have made with the SDK. First was Apple themselves. The first app they made in 2 days (impressive) and distorted images with different touch gestures, This was cool, but did not really show off the real potential of the iPhone. The next app was built in 2 weeks and was absolutely incredible. This game was called Touch Fighter:
Without even playing the game, you can tell that there is nothing like this on a hacked iPhone. It really shows of the capabilities of the iPhone, which is exactly what Scott was trying to do in the Keynote.
Scott then invited many other companies to the stage to show off the apps they created in 2 weeks. We saw Aim, Super Monkey Ball, Epocrates and more. These apps were great, but there was one that really stood out. That was Spore. Yes, Spore. The game that everyone has been talking about is coming out on the iPhone.
I couldn’t believe what EA could do in 2 weeks. This game looks amazing! Imagine what EA could do in 2 months!
Apple will release all of this great software in iPhone firmware update 2.0. This will also include a new app called “App Store.” This is basically Installer app, but much better. It will have tabs for Featured, Just Added, Staff Favorites, Most Popular and Search. You can download the apps from iTunes or directly to the phone.
The iPhone SDK looks amazing, so what’s the catch? Although the iPhone SDK tools are being released for free today, iPhone users will not be able to get any apps until late June. While this does annoy me, I do not think it is such a big deal. The SDK is being released today, which means that developers can work on their apps for 4 months until they have a chance to release it to the public. Some developers will stick with 2 to 3 apps for this period of time, this way these 2 or 3 apps will be amazing by the time they are out. If apple allowed people to download apps today, developers would try to push out apps as fast as they can and they would not be very good. Although I do agree with the delay of iPhone firmware 2.0, I do not think it should be pushed back all the way to June. I think it should have only been pushed back a month or so. This way developers can have plenty of time to work on their apps and users won’t have to wait very long. Unless there is a development issue in firmware 2.0, I don’t see the point of delaying it to June.
In order to put out an app for the iPhone, you must join the iPhone Developer Connection for $99. I think this is a bargain considering how much the developer will probably make for the app. If a developer decided to sell an app, Apple will get only 30% of the revenue. This 30% is going strictly to hosting and maintenance for the App Store.
Conclusion
The only thing that disturbed me in this event, was the long wait for apps. I think the iPhone SDK will end up being one of the smartest decisions Apple has ever made. it will allow people to exploit the great potential of this amazing device they have created, which will eventually bring many more customers. We have already seen the great apps people have made on the hacked iPhone, imagine what they can do with a real set of API’s. In response to my recent post, My Expectations For The iPhone SDK Event, What If I’m Wrong?, Apple did the right thing and exceeded my expectations. They released an amazing SDK for the iPhone, which will make the iPhone so much better than it already is.
Note: I am still not sure if I want to hack my iPhone or not, since it is a very long wait for official 3rd party apps. I will have to think about it more.
If you found this page useful, consider linking to it.
Simply copy and paste the code below into your web site!
March 7th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
I usually don’t watch entire Apple Events such as this one, but I actually sat through an hour and a half of the SDK for something that I don’t even have. The games look really good. With people talking about an Apple game console, I think that the iPhone/iPod Touch accomplishes that as far as a hand-held device.