Steve Jobs: Apple Will Open iPhone to 3rd Party Apps in February

In responding to my previous post, PE-DW said:

ex ped: At the World Wide Developer’s Conference in June, Jobs told the developers in the audience that the tools for writing in Safari (AJAX, etc.) constituted the SDK for the iPhone. To offer an SDK for native apps is a reversal of that policy. –Philip Elmer-DeWitt

But I watched again the video of Jobs’s speech, and he said no such thing. What he said was you can develop Web apps using “Web 2.0 + Ajax.” To create Web apps, quoth he, “No SDK required.” (Look at the big slide projected on the screen behind him!) He most certainly did NOT say that the tools for writing in Safari “constituted the SDK for the iPhone.”

Then yesterday, he said that a few months from now an SDK will be available for iPhone. He didn’t say that it would no longer be possible to develop Web apps for the iPhone. How is that a “reversal”? At iPhone’s release, there was one way for developers to create apps for the device; 8 months after its release, there will be an additional path for developers to take.

It’s a shame that your superiors haven’t convinced you to correct the errors of fact in your post. That convinces ME that their idea of journalism has nothing to do with reporting information. Rather, their goal seems to be to drive up Web site traffic by encouraging the posting of outrageous claims unsupported by facts.

ex ped: Thanks for the clarification. The point I was trying to make was that initially Jobs didn’t want programmers outside Apple writing native apps and now he does. The 3rd party developers I’m hearing from consider that a reversal — and they’re delighted. –Philip Elmer-DeWitt

“At the World Wide Developer’s Conference in June, Jobs told the developers in the audience that the tools for writing in Safari (AJAX, etc.) constituted the SDK for the iPhone. To offer an SDK for native apps is a reversal of that policy.”

This is not a reversal, it’s a new feature. Everything said as WWDC (and since) remains true regarding iPhone app development. Safari/AJAX remains a viable SDK, even preferable for some apps. Developers are just being given an additional option. I’m not aware of any Apple statement that there would never be a native SDK for iPhone app development, only that there wasn’t such an SDK available at the present time, without any commitment one way or another regarding the future.

Providing documentation for how to develop apps “now” lead to the development of hundreds of web-based apps. If at the launch of the iPhone Apple only said that there would be a native SDK in 7 months, then many of these terrific tools would not have been developed, and that would have made the iPhone a less valuable product for Apple’s customers. In holding back the SDK announcement until now, Apple acted in the best interests of its iPhone customers.

“I don’t care what Apple does to make themselves llok good. I am going to hate and be bitter no matter what” - Typical Apple critic.

I think Apple is doing a good job by letting third-party developers create applications for their devices. But no matter what this company does, people will always protest and complain about the devices they make. The fact that they are branching out and attracting a wider fanbase has caused a great deal of backlash among people that are loyal Apple customers and newcomers who don’t quite understand the products. Hopefully, Apple will begin to ignore the critics and continue to provide great products for those who will not complain and scream at every turn.

At WWDC, Apple encouraged developers to use AJAX, etc for iPhone development. It was never said that this was explicitly the iPhone SDK. To be fair, people can say that it was the implication. Nor was there any statement about whether their would or would not be an iPhone SDK. But frankly, after the keynote Apple did not say much more during WWDC.

The AJAX announcement was one that is fairly self-evident. This is what you can do now. While there was some developers who were annoyed, I did not get the feeling that was true in general. But I know that many (including me) would like to have one, and I am sure Apple engineers got an earful later at the conference.

Given the iPhone is a new platform which looks to be derived from the Leopard codebase, it is not surprising at all that it has taken some time to do an SDK. Things have to be documented and considered stable in order to be well-supported into the future. Even the original Mac did not have an SDK upon launch.

Apple did give warning about bricking possibilities with the most recent update. It is unfortunate that bricking has occurred for some, but the fact is that the 3rd party developers were touching undocumented stuff, modifying firmware, etc. Of course the point of an SDK is to be able to provide some assurance that you are insulated from underlying changes that Apple makes. I am not going to go experimenting with my production device. If I had another iPhone that was considered expendable, then I probably would have tried some of the 3rd party stuff.

Though they’re plentiful on the web, let’s hope lazy thinkers like Dan from Boston don’t prevail. Yes, Dan, grammar matters. So does spelling. This is a news article printed on a reputable site. Authors should spell check. Authors should proof read. So go back to your Xbox and let the grownups talk.

I’m with Navin Jain. Apple NEVER said there would not be an SDK for the iPhone. Unless, perhaps, Steve Jobs said it in a private conversation with Mr. Elmer-DeWitt, in which case, why has the latter been sitting on this intel?

But the latter scenario seems highly unlikely.

Therefore, this is NOT a reversal of policy. Steve Jobs has changed no tunes. It’s not an admission of anything.

I can’t wait to see Mr. Elmer-DeWitt’s revised post, in which he resigns himself to reporting based on facts, rather than imagined events.

ex ped: At the World Wide Developer’s Conference in June, Jobs told the developers in the audience that the tools for writing in Safari (AJAX, etc.) constituted the SDK for the iPhone. To offer an SDK for native apps is a reversal of that policy. –Philip Elmer-DeWitt

Apple fans we may be…

But Apple’s share price has risen from 75 bucks to 173 bucks in a year. Microsoft? 28 bucks a year ago today… Today? 31.08

Do the math kids… Microsoft has nowhere to go - with just copy and paste techniques to take over the world. Apple however has opened three new markets at least with full OSX on the Mac, the Apple TV, and the iPhone and IPod. These are not cut down kinda works like our operating systems copies. These are full blown Mac OSX machines in their own right.

Look at the development, look at the progress, look at the improvement.

Vista anyone?

>>>programmers who risked brisking <<<

Did you mean “bricking”??????

Ex ped: Yes, thanks. Although brisking has a ring to it. Maybe it should be a verb. — Philip Elmer-DeWitt

Yeah fan boys…Apple drops DRM music to 99 cents, but wait, it was not competition from Amazon. Do not believe everything you read.

Kudos to the grammar police who jump all over every typo and misspelling, as if a grammatical mistake invalidates any point being made. Nitpick away, Apple fanboys.

Come on apple fans, can’t you just admit when Steve messed up. It is not like he is your first born child. They messed up, and are making moves to correct it. Simple.

I might actually buy one if a few simple apps are created like TODO lists and memos and a good calendar.

>>> It could also a long way to repairing relations<<<

Is this English?

Must be Fuddish.

Took long enough. Sounds like Apple’s iPhone is trying to become the FaceBook of the mobile phone community.

What happens when a developer gets brisked? No dictionary I could find had “brisking”.

I think this was more of a realization to Apple that it can’t continue to do anything it wants and have their new customer base simply eat it and be happy.

I don’t get it—Apple never said that they would not release an SDK. So why is this a reversal?

Until now, they have said very little about third-party development. Beyond encouraging webapps, they never confirmed if they would or would not offer an SDK.

When the iPhone was released, I had felt that a SDK would eventually come. They were simply waiting for everything to be in place — let the iPod Touch and Leopard get out the door, then work on the SDK.

The problem is that everone wanted an SDK before Apple could deliver—they don’t have unlimited resources!

Perhaps at launch if Apple had said “Use webapps and stayed tuned“, they could have better set expectations.

It seem a lawsuit and competitores like Nokia, do work !!!.

typical Elmer Spin…

Couldn’t have anything to do with the release of Leopard to bring the OS’s in Sync can it?

It had to be “Jobs’ reversal is a tacit admission on his part that Apple’s programmers can’t do it all.”