Mike Mace: "The iPhone SDK: Apple gets it right"

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://mobileopportunity.blogspot.com/2008/03/iphone-sdk-apple-gets-it-right.html' target='_blank'>http://mobileopportunity.blogspot.c...s-it-right.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"I have time tonight for only a quick note on Apple's iPhone software developer kit announcement. Overall, it is deeply impressive how many things Apple got right. We still need to see more details on terms and conditions, and a lot will depend on Apple's execution, but here are the problems they appear to have solved..."</i><br /><br />I think Mike Mace has hit the nail on some of the stuff Apple has done. By mobile stores' standards, 30% is a great cut, and having a centralized app store is a killer way of encouraging application adoption by end-users. The biggest downside of the iPhone--its closed and controlling parent company--can also be its biggest upside, as Apple can develop new solutions as quickly as they want. It remains to be seen how well the SDK works, and some of the limitations, such as "one app at a time", worry me. Still, I suspect it's going to be a great success, and I would have liked Microsoft to come up with mobile downloads a long time ago. They certainly had the technology. :|

[dommasters]

There are now very few reason to develop for Windows Mobile :cry: Apple's approach has been a revelation. Even I am now hooked up with OSX and an iPhone ...

[alex_kac]

Actually WinMobile 6 has an on-device app store too. But it was optional and all OEMs seem to have removed them. Pity.

But yeah, the SDK rocks. And frankly, so does XCode 3.1. There are some really cool things you can do that make using apps so much better. Can't talk about them, unfortunately, but these aren't gimmicks or flash - really productive stuff.

[stevew]

This just may put the final nail in the coffin for Windows Mobile sad to say. RIP Windows Mobile :cry:

[hamishmacdonald]

Does it all for cut and paste now? Or the Bluetooth HID profile (for an external keyboard)? So far, those are the utter deal-killers for me with this device.

[virain]

There are now very few reason to develop for Windows Mobile :cry: Apple's approach has been a revelation. Even I am now hooked up with OSX and an iPhone ...
It's very ineresting how different average user, not so knowledgable in tech details and tech blogger can be! :roll: The reason for that conclusion is my own experience. This Monday I had a business meeting. People there were bankers, lawyers, pretty much have nothing to do with high tech. On a coffee brake one of them, a man in his thirties start showing off his new shiny iPhone, all those jestures, maps on the internet and so on. I just had to put my 2 cents in there :twisted: I took out my 2 years old Mio A701 customized with SPB Mobile Shell 2, PocketCM (freeware) keyboard and Contacts, and MS Voice Commander. So I showed how nice SPB Shell animotions are, very sensitive Sirf III GPS along with FREE Live Search, PocketCM keyboard with ability to add words to library, and not ONLY in English, handwriting with Transcriber, Contact search options with Mobile Shell and PocketCM, and when I start "talking" to the phone using Voice Commander, asking things like my next oppointment, battery status, dail a number, that stall the show. I had to give interested people, Expansives website address, refer them to PocketGear.com, and PocketCM for customization options and got myself a few potential clients. :lol: So, the point is, well customized and handled 2 year old WM 5 phone can beat brand new iPhone hands down in a real world, not on the tech blogs, of course. 0X The iPhone is just a trendy device. And BTW, My mio was pretty stable, untill I start loading it with 3rd party software. Let's see how iPhone will handle all those new upcomming soft, before we jump to conclusions who is better and who will survive or die. Cheers.

[wshwe]

I had to give interested people, Expansives website address, refer them to PocketGear.com, and PocketCM for customization options and got myself a few potential clients.http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/7872/motricity-announces-layoffs-plans-to-sell-pocketgear/
Motricity, the parent company of PocketGear, is trying to unload PocketGear. PocketGear may not be around much longer. Buying iPhone software will be as quick and easy as buying music, TV shows and movies from the iTunes Store. Apple can support the iPhone without interference from carriers. As a result there's no carrier crapware on the iPhone just like Macs are free of manufacturer-installed crapware.

[virain]

http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/7872/motricity-announces-layoffs-plans-to-sell-pocketgear/
Motricity, the parent company of PocketGear, is trying to unload PocketGear. PocketGear may not be around much longer. Buying iPhone software will be as quick and easy as buying music, TV shows and movies from the iTunes Store. Apple can support the iPhone without interference from carriers. As a result there's no carrier crapware on the iPhone just like Macs are free of manufacturer-installed crapware.
PocketGear is not the ONLY store where you can buy soft for WM, it's just my favorite :wink: But when iTunes are down they are down, not that easy to buy any music, video or other OVERPRICED stuff from them. just search engadget for articles on that "wonderful" apple store. 0X
And of course, there's no manufacturer's crapware on Apple devices 'cause Apple is the manufacturer, so the only crap there is Apple's own, such as, aaaah, let me think... iTunes! for example :D

[johnm]

Boy where to begin? I too am not ready to let go of my windows mobile device for my personal use. There are just too many things I do with it daily that the iPhone cannot do - yet. But I cannot deny the momentum behind the iPhone / iTouch platform. They really nailed it on the first try. I am frustrated that Microsoft didn't attempt improve the UI or fix the nagging problems in all these many years. There is no technical reason that Window Mobile couldn't be as slick and easy to use as the iPhone. Even complaining from within MS (before I left) didn't create any action on the pocket IE and other fronts. It seems they can only be motivated by actual outside /competition.

I give up. I bought my first Mac this weekend, and I've been pouring through the iPhone SDK ever since. I see the iPhone as a new canvas on which I can paint all the ideas that I used to target at Windows Mobile. The big difference here is that the iPhone platform is a consumer device and it has momentum. As a small developer you will be able to get your product in front of the masses and actually have a chance to sell some real quantities. -Not so with the niche WM market. -Especially not with the the Pocket PC form factor that has become a niche within a niche.

I may not personally use an iPhone as my mobile platform (yet), but that doesn't mean I can't capitalize on its rising popularity. And really once you use Safari on the iPhone, you can never look at your WM device the same way again.

[Frankie1]

There are now very few reason to develop for Windows Mobile :cry: Apple's approach has been a revelation. Even I am now hooked up with OSX and an iPhone ...
It's very ineresting how different average user, not so knowledgable in tech details and tech blogger can be! :roll: The reason for that conclusion is my own experience. This Monday I had a business meeting...Cheers.


I was about to agree with the poster that you quoted, that was until I read your post. I was about to say that with the new sdk I was going to now switch over, because I’m sure someone would write an RDP application (which I use when I am on call (way more efficient than whipping out my laptop)), but you reminded me of so much more options on windows mobile that I kind of forgot about because I’m so used to it.

I wake up in the morning and I tell my device what album to play (while my eyes are still blurry) I respond to a couple emails during breakfast on my stowaway Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. I read up some current events “directly on my today screen” via my RSS catcher. And there’s still so much more, like the generous keyboard on my Vodafone v1650 that I allows me to type much quicker and more efficiently using “both hands” as I walk through the mall.

The iPhone is without a doubt an breakthrough device, but I’m not ready to convert just yet.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR GREAT POST!!!!!!

[alex_kac]

There are now very few reason to develop for Windows Mobile :cry: Apple's approach has been a revelation. Even I am now hooked up with OSX and an iPhone ...
It's very ineresting how different average user, not so knowledgable in tech details and tech blogger can be! :roll: The reason for that conclusion is my own experience. This Monday I had a business meeting. People there were bankers, lawyers, pretty much have nothing to do with high tech. On a coffee brake one of them, a man in his thirties start showing off his new shiny iPhone, all those jestures, maps on the internet and so on. I just had to put my 2 cents in there :twisted: I took out my 2 years old Mio A701 customized with SPB Mobile Shell 2, PocketCM (freeware) keyboard and Contacts, and MS Voice Commander. So I showed how nice SPB Shell animotions are, very sensitive Sirf III GPS along with FREE Live Search, PocketCM keyboard with ability to add words to library, and not ONLY in English, handwriting with Transcriber, Contact search options with Mobile Shell and PocketCM, and when I start "talking" to the phone using Voice Commander, asking things like my next oppointment, battery status, dail a number, that stall the show. I had to give interested people, Expansives website address, refer them to PocketGear.com, and PocketCM for customization options and got myself a few potential clients. :lol: So, the point is, well customized and handled 2 year old WM 5 phone can beat brand new iPhone hands down in a real world, not on the tech blogs, of course. 0X The iPhone is just a trendy device. And BTW, My mio was pretty stable, untill I start loading it with 3rd party software. Let's see how iPhone will handle all those new upcomming soft, before we jump to conclusions who is better and who will survive or die. Cheers.

As a Windows Mobile developer for 7 years and also an iPhone owner (through my wife), I can tell you all that stuff is great and for someone like you its really good. But a normal user simply has no patience for setting all that stuff up.

My Amiga 500 can do animations that only recently high end PCs could do, but that's not the point. It took a tremendous amount of work to get that done.

The truth is that people I know who are tech geeks are simply tired of all the customization, hand-holding, and so on that is required to get a Windows anything (Desktop Windows or Mobile Windows) device to work as well as a Mac or iPhone works out of the box. I can name quite a few engineers whom you would know as top Windows Mobile developers who use iPhones now exclusively. I can tell you that my wife has used every kind of phone from a RAZR to Symbian Series 60, to WinMobile PPC and Smartphone - and the only the device she has ever loved was the iPhone. And that is with me helping her set things up.

So it matters not what you can in the end do. All these devices are programmable - they can do it all. Its the interface, the design, and how things work consistently.

[Janak Parekh]

I took out my 2 years old Mio A701 customized with SPB Mobile Shell 2, PocketCM (freeware) keyboard and Contacts, and MS Voice Commander. So I showed how nice SPB Shell animotions are, very sensitive Sirf III GPS along with FREE Live Search, PocketCM keyboard with ability to add words to library, and not ONLY in English, handwriting with Transcriber, Contact search options with Mobile Shell and PocketCM, and when I start "talking" to the phone using Voice Commander, asking things like my next oppointment, battery status, dail a number, that stall the show.
As someone who has used Pocket PCs since they first came out, and ditto with the iPhone, there's only two significant advantages you've outlined there: GPS and the voice command. Of these two, I find the lack of voice command to be the iPhone's greatest weakness; its psuedo-GPS works scarily well. On the other hand, the iPhone's media player and web browser beat WM's hands-down. There's no clear-cut victor. However...

And BTW, My mio was pretty stable, untill I start loading it with 3rd party software. Let's see how iPhone will handle all those new upcomming soft, before we jump to conclusions who is better and who will survive or die. Cheers.
This is a good point, except that I've found plain-vanilla WM to be only somewhat tolerable stability-wise. The last WM device I had that didn't memory leak regularly was my iPAQ 3870 running WM2002. Every single Pocket PC Phone I've owned since leaks memory regularly, necessitating regular soft resets. The iPhone is downright more stable to start. It's not perfect either, but it's really rare that I have to reboot it.

Alex also makes good points: WM is great for the power user who's willing to spend hours setting it up. The iPhone is simpler out-of-the-box, and I think Apple deserves points for considering that kind of ease in the on-iPhone App Store plan. Apple also tends to follow the "less-is-more" philosophy, and tends to opt for UI simplicity over features. Most notable example: cut-and-paste still doesn't exist on the iPhone. This bugs power users, but many end-users prefer the simpler interface.

My post should not be construed as saying the iPhone will destroy WM. However, Apple has clearly done some stuff in building a simple-to-use-and-deploy API that Microsoft really ought to take some lessons from.

--janak

[virain]

As a Windows Mobile developer for 7 years and also an iPhone owner (through my wife), I can tell you all that stuff is great and for someone like you its really good. But a normal user simply has no patience for setting all that stuff up.

The truth is that people I know who are tech geeks are simply tired of all the customization, hand-holding, and so on that is required to get a Windows anything (Desktop Windows or Mobile Windows) device to work as well as a Mac or iPhone works out of the box. I can name quite a few engineers whom you would know as top Windows Mobile developers who use iPhones now exclusively. I can tell you that my wife has used every kind of phone from a RAZR to Symbian Series 60, to WinMobile PPC and Smartphone - and the only the device she has ever loved was the iPhone. And that is with me helping her set things up.

So it matters not what you can in the end do. All these devices are programmable - they can do it all. Its the interface, the design, and how things work consistently.
I guess we look at it from a different angle. Did I mention that my background is a finance/investments, not a high tech? And I can assure you it wasn't that difficult to install ActiveSync, connect my device to a PC, few clicks and it was ready to go. Customization is the other story, and it is not a technical difficulties, but number of different options available. I went thru handango, pocketgear, and few others, read reviews, blogs, to find something that I could use, and also my phone could handle without freezing and lagging. And it is not a bad thing, I can say. It just people so used that someone else think for them, that they forget that they have brains too.
And as for you as a developer for WM, I can say that instead of complaining of all the imperfections of WM take the opportunity and cash in on it! That what I would do, if I see a profitable situation that others overlooked, I would take it without hesitation. But that's me, and thats financial fields. In high tech I've noticed completely opposite trend. If someone comes up with a good idea that takes off, others jump on a ban wagon, making the same thing with a few differences, "customizing it" so to speak. And no wander. The Greatest success in the field - Microsoft made a killing ripping off someone else's thoughts - let's see: Netscape vs. EI, Palm vs. WM, just to name couple. But now, it looks like Steve did the Job on Billy the Gates. Kicked his behind in his own game. Took all the experience form years of mobile device development by MS, Palm, and others, improved it for average user's needs, made it simple, finger friendly, and sold it to us with a big bang. If you remember when first Windows CE devices came out big selling point by MS was that it is just your regular desktop, no need to learn hoe to use it, it's just that simple. But back on a subject of WM development. I know there are really talented people out there that can do miracles with all those codes, C#, C++, Java and what ever is there. If you out of ideas, make something that anyone can use! Let's say make WM more finger friendly, I know HTC try to do it with its "Touch", I don't know how successful they are, I don't use HTC, but I did try SPB's Pocket Plus and it sucks. That "smart scrolling" is not that smart at all, and the using of "X" button is too complicated/ I don't want a whole menu there, I want 2 that's two separate buttons, one to minimize and the other one to close an application, It's that simple, just like on a desktop. Another useful thing would be if you could make a hack for conference camera so anyone could use it with VOIP such as Skype. And don't tell me it is impossible, iPhone lock was broken over and over again, with every upgrade and attempt to relock by Apple. If there is a will there's a way. And if there some stupid patent laws that don't let you charge for that, there's always a donation, and people can be very generous. Remember, that 16 y.o. boy who broke iPhone lock first got Nissan and 5 iPhones. Not too bad for a kid.

[virain]

As someone who has used Pocket PCs since they first came out, and ditto with the iPhone, there's only two significant advantages you've outlined there: GPS and the voice command. Of these two, I find the lack of voice command to be the iPhone's greatest weakness; its psuedo-GPS works scarily well. On the other hand, the iPhone's media player and web browser beat WM's hands-down. There's no clear-cut victor. However...


This is a good point, except that I've found plain-vanilla WM to be only somewhat tolerable stability-wise. The last WM device I had that didn't memory leak regularly was my iPAQ 3870 running WM2002. Every single Pocket PC Phone I've owned since leaks memory regularly, necessitating regular soft resets. The iPhone is downright more stable to start. It's not perfect either, but it's really rare that I have to reboot it.

Alex also makes good points: WM is great for the power user who's willing to spend hours setting it up. The iPhone is simpler out-of-the-box, and I think Apple deserves points for considering that kind of ease in the on-iPhone App Store plan. Apple also tends to follow the "less-is-more" philosophy, and tends to opt for UI simplicity over features. Most notable example: cut-and-paste still doesn't exist on the iPhone. This bugs power users, but many end-users prefer the simpler interface.

My post should not be construed as saying the iPhone will destroy WM. However, Apple has clearly done some stuff in building a simple-to-use-and-deploy API that Microsoft really ought to take some lessons from.

--janak
First, I would kill myself if I had to spend more then 20 minutes to set up my device.
Second I, am not trying to put down all the iPhone fans, after all the beauty is in hands of a beholder. But truth is, iPhone is not much better than WM, it has it's strong and weak points as well, as you stated in your post. My point is that iPnone get's more attention, than it should be and as any overhyped product it will be as quickly forgotten as something new comes alone, be it WM7 or Google's Android, or something completely new.

[dommasters]

Windows Mobile is a GREAT platform, but as a developer it is becoming less and less attractive because:

1. The Carriers insist you sign your applications
2. Microsoft insist you certify your applications.
3. WM is aimed at business which will cause WM to become more of a niche market as is already happening. Games are what drove the PC tech, not business apps ....
4. Handango take up to 60% and are the only reseller shifting high volumes.
5. It's time consuming creating special 'buy from xxxx' versions for all the other resellers and very expensive if you're certifying and signing.
5. Windows Mobile comes in 50 different flavours and you have to be compatible with all of them. Touch screen, non touch screen, 240x240, 320 x 640 etc etc.
6. Visual Studio is expensive (yes I know you can program with other tools).
7. Piracy is rife on the WM platform.
8. One minute we're hearing that there is no need to have a touch screen anymore, then the next we're told we're all moving to touch screen.
9. Apple haven't done much on the iPhone but what they have done is near perfect ... that is a rather good starting point. Remember it is their 1st Phone.

I could go on and on but it's depressing. I will continue to code for WM as I have since Windows CE but ... if I don't jump the curve a little then I will end up like the dinosaurs.

[midtoad]

I bought a Touch recently and recently developed a small web app for it. In order to do this I just installed web.py on my desktop PC, opened a text editor, and started writing code. When my web app was running satisfactorily on my desktop, I started up WinSCP and copied the files over to my iPhone and started up the app. No .Net Compact Framework required, no bloated Visual Studio multi-CD install required. The Touch is a full *nix computer and a delight to work with. I think there's going to be a tidal wave of apps available come June.

[jimtravis]

I find it interesting how many are already burying WM even though it sold many more licenses than the iPhone sold devices since the iPhone was introduced. Yeah, it is nice to finally have a SDK, but the iPhone firmware available to run true 3rd party apps is at least 3 months away. There may be great apps available for the iPhone in the future, there are already great apps for WM now.

I respect other posters' opinions about liking the iPhone's interface, and disliking the WM interface. I did not buy an iPhone because it was missing too many features that are critical for me in a smartphone. I did buy an iPod touch so I could get extensive time using the highly advertised multi-touch interface. I know many like the multi-touch, and are excited over the only true multi-touch gesture, the pinch zoom. Personally, after using finger scrolling, and pinch zooming extensively, I dislike them. For me, finger scrolling is designed to impress, and is not the fastest way to scroll. I'll take a navigation control, and/or a page down button any day. In addition, with text zoomed to a readable level, you are scrolling every 12 lines or so, and the scroll finger is covering the reading area. Pinch zooming seems cumbersome, and again designed to impress. I realize many have different opinions, I respect your opinion, please respect mine.

I have used Opera-Mini 4 with IBM's JVM on VGA, and QVGA WM devices as well as Safari on the iPod touch. After extensive use, I believe Opera-Mini 4 does as good a job as mobile Safari displaying full internet pages, and the navigation controls on the WM devices make it easier to scroll/pan the page than the finger navigation on the touch. Opera-Mini does a better job than Safari in displaying some older, single column webpages. With some single column pages, Safari does not respond to the double tap zoom, and you have to pinch zoom to enlarge the text to a comfortable reading size. Problem is the page does not word wrap after pinch zooming, and you have to horizontally scroll to read each line which gets old after about 2 lines. If you are using Opera-Mini 4 on the same page, it too may require horizontal scrolling when set to normal view. However, Opera-Mini has a mobile view setting. If you go into settings, check mobile view, and refresh the page, you can now read the single column page at a comfortable text size without the horizontal scrolling required by Safari. The enabling mobile view causes a word wrap on the page. The webpage developer can include a Viewport metatag that will cause Safari to display fewer words per line, but most older, single column pages will never have the new metatag added. Hopefully, Apple will add a similar mobile view setting to Safari in a future update.

I have tried numerous virtual keyboards in addition to the keyboard on the touch, and just don't like them. I want a device with a physical keyboard.

CorePlayer is an excellent media player that natively plays more codecs than the iTunes/touch combination. If it's not mp4 or h264, a long conversion is usually needed for the touch. With CorePlayer, most codecs play fine without conversion. Since I have so many gadgets, I store most files on NAS drives. With WM and built-in file explorer, transferring files to/from NAS is painless. I also regularly stream video files from the NAS drives to CorePlayer on WM, which is not possible with the touch.

Finger navigation is receiving quite a bit of hype since the iPhone was introduced. Finger navigation is nice on the iPhone/touch, but I have been using finger navigation with my WM, and Palm devices for years. It may be easier on the touch/iPhone because of the larger icons, and increased spacing between menu entries, but it is not new. I rarely use a stylus with my devices. I also find it is easier to do one handed navigation with WM than the touch. I hold the WM device in the palm of my hand, select icons/menu items, and use the navigation control with the thumb/thumbnail on the same hand I am holding the device with. I have found it very difficult to do one hand navigation with the touch, partly due to the extremely slippery back on the touch.

When applications are available for the iPhone, I'll check again, but for now, WM is the best platform for me. Yeah, Apple has all the buzz, and hype. It is hard to go one night watching network TV without seeing at least one iPhone commercial, and more than likely, a Macbook AIR, or iPod commercial. When is the last time you saw a commercial for a non-Apple phone or media player on network TV? Apple did the same thing with the original iPod. Non-technical people equated portable music with Apple exclusively because Apple was doing all the music player TV commercials, and outdoor advertising they saw. When it came time to buy a player, they did not think of anything but iPod. Congratulations to Apple for an extremely successful marketing campaign. Unless the other manufactures start a successful TV advertising campaign, non-tech consumer will think the iPhone is the only mobile device that can do things like internet browsing because they only see mobile internet browsing in the Apple commercials.

I know many have different opinions, and I respect that. Just wanted to post an opinion that has a different take on the iPhone, and Apple hype. This post reflects my personal opinion like every other post on the net, and is based on my needs/wants for a device which may be different than your needs/wants in a device. BTW, I own many Apple products, and Apple stock, so I am not an Apple basher. Competition is good, and all manufacturers will offer better devices when there is credible competing products.