iPhone as a Software Platform

If you haven’t heard already, Apple this past Thursday had just announced their software roadmap for the iPhone (and iPod Touch). If you haven’t seen the event, follow this link to go watch it. If you don’t want to watch the hour long presentation, or if software development details sound boring, a summary of what I want to discuss can be found here.

So what does the release of the SDK mean? Well for me and other current iPhone users, we will soon have an official method for developing and using 3rd party software. Previously, the only way a user could use 3rd party software on their iPhone was if they performed a “jailbreak” on their phone. In a nutshell, this is an unofficial way for users of the iPhone to gain access to run applications not created by Apple directly on their phone. This was in response to Apple’s request that all iPhone applications be created for the iPhone’s web browser in the form of web apps. Web apps were limited because they essentially did not have access to any specific iPhone functions such as the accelerometer, and even basic things such as read and write access to the iPhone itself. Additionally, it required that the iPhone have some form of internet access (cellular or wi-fi). Sometimes both might not be available, such as when you are on a plane, in a hospital etc. With the SDK, developers are allowed access to do all of this and more.

What’s most exciting about the SDK though is what developers discovered about making applications for the iPhone. As a prior user of a T-Mobile Sidekick (which runs Danger’s proprietary OS, has its own SDK and application delivery store, similar to Apple’s, but a closed and heavily protected architecture), and a Windows Mobile Smartphone (a completely open architecture, developers distribute the software themselves), Apple is not alone in terms of software development on a mobile device. What’s different about developing about the iPhone, compared to say a Blackberry or a Windows Mobile phone? It’s all about the operating system and the development environment given to you. From what I’ve seen during the keynote this past week, and the types of software that companies have developed and demoed, I am very excited. Unlike most other mobile phones, the architecture of the iPhone allows for a much more robust development environment that is much more similar to a computer desktop operating system than a mobile phone operating system. Because the difference between the iPhone and desktop like computing is blurring, the scope of development will follow.

Imagine the ease of use of a fully integrated Flickr application on the iPhone. The ability to take photos from the camera, upload them to Flickr, tag your photo with the multi-touch interface, or even edit and crop the photos within the iPhone itself without going to your computer. Or how about a version of Delicious Library for your iPhone that leverages the camera and intuitive interface to help you catalog your growing collection of physical music, movies, and books. How about games? A few games were shown during the event this past week, so this will obviously be a huge focus for developers. By having the ability to directly develop games for the iPhone, we will start to see much more engaging forms of gaming. Should the Sony’s and the Nintendo’s of the world be scared… I think so, why you ask? Let’s not forget that the iPhone has one thing both the PSP and the Nintendo DS don’t have. An always on internet connection through your wireless provider. They all have a wi-fi card, but you’re not always in range of a wi-fi access point. Can you say networked gaming on the iPhone?! Not only networked gaming, but can you imagine a Second Life client for the iPhone? Technically it might not be possible to run it all the time with the speed of the cellular data connection in the 1st generation iPhone, but I won’t completely rule the possibility out.