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iPhone SDK

Stefan Tilkov,

So a lot of Mac developers are pissed because the iPhone SDK announced yesterday will actually be Web-based — i.e. the idea is that you build Web applications if you want to do iPhone apps. I fail to see what’s wrong with this, because Safari will allow interaction with the iPhone’s features — you can make calls, access contacts etc. What more could one ask for?

Had Apple chosen to build a ‘real’ SDK (i.e. using Objective C/Cocoa), only Mac developers would have been able to build iPhone applications — this way, and with the accompanying release of Safari for Windows, there are millions of developers who can (and will) build them.

On June 12, 2007 4:17 PM, Baggy said:

I couldn’t tell from the keynote whether the iphone would allow disconnected access to those web apps, but I strongly suspect not. Cingular’s network is OK, but not great and not available everywhere. It would be nice if there were a way to “download” a web app onto the phone, but obviously that implies a bunch of things (e.g., running everything that was on the web server on the phone) that are unlikely to happen. Without this, though, no network == no application.

On June 13, 2007 4:39 AM, JMS said:

I would think they could run disconnected: http://thenewsroom.com/details/396043

On June 14, 2007 2:23 PM, jon said:

google gears for iPhone Safari?

On June 22, 2007 8:55 PM, Kurt said:

Are you kidding me. Without an SDK real developers won’t even be able to consider it as a platform. Think out of the box. Web pages can’t do everything. This will ultimately lead to the devices demise, and alternatives like palm and microsoft will sell even better.

I was pumped until I learned no SDK. So I will now upgrade to the latest palm based Treo, thanks for making up my mind Apple!

On June 30, 2007 4:31 AM, C_Sepulch said:

Then why bother with an iphone at all? The web based applications you mention already run on a lot of cell phones already.

On July 2, 2007 10:25 PM, tony said:

The thing wrong with safari being the SDK is that it will be /too/ limiting for people to create the ‘Killer app.’ There is only so much you can do within the walls of safari.

That only Apple developers will create apps? That is your support for it? Why not both? If they offered a proper SDK, then Apple devs can create the killer apps, and everyone else can add to the pile. You’d have millions of people creating apps, and thousands of Apple devs creating even better ones.

On July 3, 2007 1:09 AM, mahalie said:

Perhaps I’m just terribly dense but I can’t even find basic (html/javascript) development guidelines anywhere. All I found was iPhoney but I’m on a PC. Perhaps installing Safari for Windows and NOT installing Flash is as close as I’ll get?