Why Apple Will Dominate Next Gen Computing
Last week Steve Jobs took the stage at the Apple Town hall meeting and announced
two major things for the iPhone: 1) support for Microsoft Exchange and 2) the iPhone SDK.
The Exchange support was a relatively unexpected move, but in retrospect it makes perfect sense.
In order to unseat Blackberry as the number one wireless player in the US, Apple needed to have an enterprise story. What's more, Apple has realized that the days when people carried two phones are over.
With support for the enterprise (one device for both home and business use), together with its utility as a music player, camera, and web browser, the iphone is well positioned now to be that 'one phone'.
No matter how cool the exchange support and the enterprise play is, that news is dwarfed by the other, much more important announcement - the iPhone SDK. The powerful platform that Apple uses to create beautiful applications for MacOS and iPhone is now completely open. Over a decade in making, this Objective-C based stack is complete with interfaces for operating system, sockets, graphics, audio, motion control and UI components; just to name a few. The platform comes with complete iPhone simulator, XCode development environment and 1-click compile/build/deploy process. This platform is a game changer.
A premier venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins, agrees. They sent John Doerr to announce the 100 million dollar iFund, a fund to focus on iPhone startups. Mr. Doerr is one of the most well respected venture capitalists ever. He called the release historical and even claimed that the iPhone is bigger than the PC. Think about this, he said: a device that travels with you everywhere and brings the world's information and applications to your finger tips. It is indeed a powerful thought.
It's the libraries, stupid!
Let's be clear. It is not the language, but the libraries that matter. Every time I hear developers
talk about a new language and say it is by far the best one, I just shake my head. A new language is not going to be usable
in today's world unless all of the libraries are in place. As the complexity of our software increases, so do demands on libraries.
Microsoft learned it the hard way with years of set backs when it rolled out .Net. Had it simply embraced and optimized Java, it could have been years ahead instead.
Apple choose a different path. For the last decade Apple has been wowing the crowds and investors with its flawless and lightning quick execution. Every new Apple announcement, we keep thinking that they won't top it. But every time, Jobs and his crew pulls another trick out of the hat. Clearly, Apple is a well-oiled machine that has perfected the art of execution. But beyond that, Apple's secret sauce has been its software. While others have been inventing new languages and frameworks, Apple kept perfecting and building up its code.
Since the early days, Apple embraced a language called Objective-C - an object-oriented flavor of the popular procedural language. When Jobs returned to Apple, one of the early smart decisions was to ditch the old operating system in favor of Unix. This moved allowed Apple to instantly tap into serious programmers while retaining a beautiful and simple UI. When Java came along, Apple was unmoved, because it was just too slow. In general, over the years Apple has ignored new languages and just stuck with its platform. Smart, disciplined and mature.
The iPhone Platform
The Apple iPhone platform shares a lot with the MacOS developer stack. Brilliantly, Apple made its operating system run on iPhone, instantly leveraging its entire code base on a new device. The one exception is the UI libraries, which had to be designed specifically for multi-touch screen, motion, unique graphics and sound on iPhone.
Beyond rock-solid APIs, developers get an end-to-end set of development tools. XCode is the studio for developing applications (not free) and it includes a modern editor, debugger and source code integration. It also features a drag-and-drop UI builder, which has all the standard iPhone controls available as widgets. For profiling and diagnostics of iPhone, Apple offers a set called Instruments. And the most impressive piece of the tool set is a fully-fledged iPhone simulator. Developers can write and immediately test the code right on their Macs, without deploying it to iPhone.
Apple's platform is so good that a bunch of companies were able to develop demo applications in just two weeks. Some of the companies sent developers that were not even familiar with Objective-C - the core language for writing the platform code. The platform is so easy to use and so complete, precisely because Apple developers use it themselves to build iPhone applications. Much like Amazon uses its Web Services, Apple's has embraced the 'eat your own dog food' strategy and it is about to pay off in a big way.
Why This Platform is Different
We have been hearing a lot about platforms and APIs recently. But not all platforms are made equal.
First compare this offering with what Microsoft offered for Windows a while back. Redmond's convoluted APIs,
COM, OLE, and ActiveX still make developers shake their heads. Instead of cultivating elegance and simplicity, Microsoft pushed for complexity. Why? Because it kept exclusivity, kept people learning new weird stuff, kept
people getting new certifications. But Apple's culture and code is rooted in elegance and extreme simplicity.
And this offering is very different from platforms like Facebook or Open Social. Facebook's merit is in the fact that it created a platform for social applications, but it cannot rival what Apple rolled out. Facebook's PHP, Flash and JavaScript with a restricted, primitive UI doesn't even come close to the beauty and elegance of the iPhone SDK.
In a lot of ways, web applications have been playing catch up with Desktop apps. Now, a handheld device has lept forward, years ahead of what is available inside any modern browser. The sheer power of Apple's graphics, motion and sound APIs just opened the door for things that have not been possible before on the web.
A DIFFERENT Road Ahead
When the App Store launches in June, there will be thousands of applications. Companies are rushing to build apps using
this great new platform. Developers are rushing to the stores and are creating Objective-C books. This language is having the last laugh now.
Like JavaScript, which bubbled up because it was the only choice in the web medium, Objective-C is not a language of choice
in this new and powerful platform.
Apple has made this play flawlessly. The enterprise and SDK solutions will go hand-in-hand to propel the iPhone to be THE handheld device of the future. Ironically, the PC just got its final blow not from a MacBook (which has been on the rise too!), but from a small new computer. Apple got its revenge elegantly, relentlessly and creatively. The next era of computing will be dominated by Apple. Is this a good thing? Likely yes, and it is surely better than one dominated by Microsoft.
And now, dream on! Tell us what applications you cannot wait to see/build on your iPhone.
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This is a really great post, very insightful and in depth look at what Apple has been refining and tweaking for years, while all around them everyone kept making it all more complex. The iPhone SDK puts them at least 10 years in front of Microsoft in mobile development. Let the countdown begin, in less years then they realize, I'll be able to walk around to most of the people I know and say, "I told you so."
Great post Alex, I totally share your opinion about the future of Apple.
I think they've just done with the iPhone what they did with the iPod; I'm so glad it happened. Both the music and mobile industry needed a revolution, but people inside where too happy to have status quo to keep the demand under control.
I'm also impressed to see how perfectly executed was the Apple strategy. They've build it step by step, service by service without getting too much attention. Now that all the pieces fits together, you can see what they have accomplished.
The App Store is a great revolution in mobile content distribution. The SDK will be a huge success and the platform will attract a tons of developers.
This is a great in depth analysis of the SDK launch. I had been thinking along the same lines. I think the Xcode development environment is the secret sauce in creating a new halo effect for the Mac.
I wrote about this here:
http://ekive.blogspot.com/2008/03/apple-and-iphone-sdk-multiplying-halo.html
"Redmond's convoluted APIs, COM, OLE, and ActiveX still make developers shake their hands."
I think you mean "heads" - big difference.
Openness is the future, which Apple don't have and don't want. So you are wrong.
If the platform is that mature, why are there so few native Mac apps compared to Windows? When is the last time you saw a web site running on Objective-C?
It's entirely possible that all the success described will come. The iPhone is a great device. But I see an absence of understanding what other platforms actually offer. A real competitive analysis would be welcome.
Your tone in this article suggest Apple has already won, meanwhile iPhone firmware version 2.0 still hasn't launched, the 10 million iPhone mark still hasn't been crossed and back to what SNTS said, closed never wins, ever. The Apple ecosystem, while profitable, will always stay small.
Ian, fixed :-) Although no reason why they can't shake their hands too... ;-)
I have to agree that the future of next-gen computing does not involve developers asking one company or another permission before being able to develop or sell their applications to consumers. No matter how compelling the platform may be.
My phone will know where I am, what food I like, how long it's been since pay day, how hungry I am, and tell me where is good to eat!
You have propably forget how Apple II fail and PC domainate!
Jobs show that the same pattern: without willingless to open up the platform!
Some how I feel the history will repeat here for Apple.
Yes, they still have time to correct it, but I doubt that Jobs can.
It seems to me that you've never heard of Symbian or Windows Mobile?
I agree that the iPhone is a great device & brought a revolution to the mobile world, but no one likes the close Apple-only system.
& speaking of the OS being the next-gen era of computing... can anyone tell me which modern OS doesn't have multi-tasking?
Location aware apps are where it's at. Great post.
Xcode isn't free? I have it on my Mac and don't remember paying.
I guess you meant you have to register as a developer.
Great post!
I hope Apple does not become the next Microsoft and keep producing "different" products.
I think the most positive thing here is that other companies are imitating Apple's culture, making products easy to use.
Easy => Sell more
Great article!
Alex
Even if I consider myself a bit of an Apple fanboi, I think that the author here drank some serious Kool-Aid. Claiming that Apple will win without taking a serious look at competitors offering is ignorant.
A couple of examples:
"First compare this offering with what Microsoft offered for Windows a while back."
Why should we do that?
"As the complexity of our software increases, so do demands on libraries. Microsoft learned it the hard way with years of set backs when it rolled out .Net. Had it simply embraced and optimized Java, it could have been years ahead instead."
You could easily argue that frameworks and libraries were actually first class citizens in .NET, whereas languages were second class
"When Java came along, Apple was unmoved, because it was just too slow. "
But Microsoft should have adopted Java instead of having their own platform?
"Developers are rushing to the stores and are creating Objective-C books. This language is having the last laugh now. "
And all other languages are forgotten now, or? I will take a while before Objective-C reaches critical mass.
"Apple has made this play flawlessly. The enterprise and SDK solutions will go hand-in-hand to propel the iPhone to be THE handheld device of the future. Ironically, the PC just got its final blow not from a MacBook (which has been on the rise too!), but from a small new computer. Apple got its revenge elegantly, relentlessly and creatively. The next era of computing will be dominated by Apple."
Pure speculation. There is no argumentation in the post warranting this conclusion.
Don't take the language for granted. While the Cocoa framework is the gem of Apple's dev tools, Objective-C IS the language that enables it. If Cocoa were written in Java or C++, it would not be Cocoa.
"If the platform is that mature, why are there so few native Mac apps compared to Windows? When is the last time you saw a web site running on Objective-C?" - Matt S
There are fewer Mac apps because there are fewer Mac users and thus Mac developers, not because the platform isn't mature. Additionally, I believe on average Mac applications tend to be higher quality than Windows apps.
Objective-C was created in 1986; an eternity before Java, .NET, etc. Cocoa has it's roots in OPENSTEP and NeXTSTEP, also created in the late 1980s. It's a very mature and excellent framework.
As for web sites running on Objective-C, Apple's WebObjects framework originally used Objective-C, but unfortunately they killed that off back when Java was being hyped.
Current website that use Objective-C? Well, I know of at least one...
For heavens sake go llok at Windows mobile SDK!! and the Open C Symbian SDK. Cut the crap Microsoft & Symbian have offered this for the last ten years
There are few inaccuracies and contradictions in this post.
> "Since the early days, Apple embraced a language called Objective-C"
That's not true. Objective-C came with Next and Mac OS X. The X stands for ten, and there were 9 iterations of the "Classic" Mac OS, staring in 1984. Before that, in the very early days, there was the Apple II and the Lisa, each with their own platform.
> "When Java came along, Apple was unmoved, because it was just too slow."
Since its launch, Mac OS X made Java part of the core API, running Java apps at the same level as Cocoa apps. Apple even contributed to the development of the JVM and Swing, IIRC. From http://developer.apple.com/java/ : "Mac OS X is the only major consumer operating system that comes complete with a fully configured and ready-to-use Java runtime and development environment."
> "Apple is a well-oiled machine that has perfected the art of execution. But beyond that, Apple's secret sauce has been its software."
I believe they're also selling quite a bit of hardware. I hear people are all over their industrial design :->
> "In a lot of ways, web applications have been playing catch up with Desktop apps. Now, a handheld device has lept forward"
Uhm, you are comparing ASP-like scripting languages with a actual hardware platform with its own OS. That's beyond apples-and-oranges.
Anyway, there are too many enthusiastic false assumptions to take this seriously. The damn thing need a usable keyboard in the first place.
-- GR, happy iPhone user.
I'll agree there's a little too much kool aid drunk in preparation of this article, but it does nail a number of things correctly.
1. The SDK & Enterprise features will be the game changer that puts Nokia & RIM onto the back foot. Why do i ignore the rest, well they've already been knocked or knocked themselves out of the game.
2. The elegance of the environment is paramount for developer adoption. Java had it, then blew it by miring its performance on the desktop and its development at the hands of self serving commitees. .NET was and still is a disaster which no one took seriously. Silverlight seems to indicate that MS have learnt a few lessons but its still to prove itself. Objective-C whilst not a buzzworthy as the rest, when combined with Cocoa is a formidable development environment.
3. The feature set of this SDK is pretty much complete, i'm hard pushed to think of something they've left out or not thought about.
A lot of people whinge about the openess of this platform. Well openness is not a guarantee of success. Linux has yet to show some chops on the desktop or handheld platforms. Apple is pragmatic, they get involved with opensource projects were its advantagous, ie. Safari with KHTML project, Darwin (their own BSD variant) and on the server side with numerous projects, ie. sendmail, cyrus, apache, Jabber & MySQL. What they don't opensource is the front end, and the applications they build on the front end. Why? because for the most part opensource applications with a GUI have been failures at taking market share. Due to numerous points of view of what a good GUI looks like.
If by openness you mean licensing the operating system to other manufacturers, well they tried that before and it was a failure, why? Because Apple builds the complete widget, hardware works in tandem with software, as soon as they hand HW design to someone else, it dilutes the brand. Unless there's a partner who's massively in another market, ie. Enterprise, there's no point in doing it. In this case Apple's having a go at the enterprise itself. If it doesn't succeed then, i'd say partner with someone like IBM. But from what i saw last Thursday, i think they have a reasonable stab at it.
Sorry for the verbosity.
M.
In the end software users don't care about OS and API. They want useful ( saves time and money ) and fun, simple to use and beautifully designed tools. Any platform that can deliver will win with software uers. Think Wii versus Playstation 3.
The release of the iPhone SDK is an important change of Apple's software politics. It's another step out of a closed-box and offers us unforeseen mobile possibilites. However they shouldn't forget about the consequences of that opening: There will be a lot of third-party applications that may bring a look of unprofessionalism in their system.
What i want to see on the iPhone would be:
- a full featured time tracking software: It's a business instrument, no challenge, so let's use it like one.
- a rapid web site layouter: That would be a great toy to show a customer different layouts and color combinations, let him modify it with his fingers. It's a device for calls, so why can't i use it for a diverse way of communication?
- several translation tools: You can use the camera to photograph a menu or some kind of text, the application reads and translates it. This has been already around, but i haven't seen it for the iPhone admissible accomplishment. Another one would be a translation tool by voice input and voice output.
Anyway, i agree with Lars Hansen, who criticized some aspects of this article: At first, Objective-C and the iPhone SDK are not the cream of the crop, right out of the nursery. Let's talk about that in a few weeks again, when everyone tried to work with it. Give it a load test. ;-)
Also, no one killed the PC. The iPhone is indeed a big shot, but doesn't replace any desktop. It extends it in a way we primary know for a few years, maybe outstanding in his niche. So, ask yourself: Can you substitute your whole production system (e.g. the tower under your worktable and the 2 19" above) with a 3.5"+8GB device? Neither this nor any other mobile device will supplant it in the next years. So, come down to earth and enjoy your new ways of mobility in a way that supports and extends your current workflow.
Best Regards,
Stefan
Wow, Mobile NeXtStep! This is very interesting. I remember the really great thing about NeXt was that it brought both users and developers together. Users loved the UI and developers loved the speed of development and ease of maintenance.
Is this a ploy to get Apple to sponsor RWW? I can't imagine why you would otherwise print such ill-informed, unsubstantiated opinion by someone with so little clue about either development or business of selling software.
For starters, what is an incentive to develop native software that will be neutered and price-fixed to $6 and require distribution through Apple? This makes the device worthless for enterprise LOB use as no company will allow its proprietary code to be sent to iTunes and distributed to others. So as far as enterprise means "checking email and calendars" the iPhone stands no chance against millions of Windows Mobile devices that have custom software deployed on them.
So both from the enterprise development/use standpoint, iPhone is a dud.
Also, please fact check your articles a little, EAS was licensed by Apple at iPhone launch and has been a very expected and demanded feature by its users.
Long time reader, this article made me lose all respect for RWW. Please consider reviewing one sided love letters in the future.
-Vlad
The iPhone, in Europe anyway, is simply too expensive as a device, and the tarrifs too punitive for people to shift over to it in very large numbers. In the UK, the sales figures weren't even announced over the Xmas period and it is believed that they were will below 100,000, probably close to 50,000. Minuscule. The short term strategy of going with single operators in each territory is poor, antagonises the also ran networks, and gives the other handset manufacturers the scope to compete even more aggressively on price.
The 'punters will pay because it's a premium tool' argument will be proved false. And the iPod experience of having new, better versions come out onto the market so quickly makes the empoverished punter even more wary.
Geek chic the iPhone may be, but for the foreseeable future, ordinary European mortals won't care, in large numbers until it is really, really cheap.
The iPhone SDK and XCode are free. I know, I'm using both of them and I haven't coughed up any money. XCode comes with every copy of OSX, look on your distribution disk, it's an optional install. There is a $99 fee for having your iPhone/iPod Touch app distributed through Apple.
> When Java came along, Apple was unmoved, because it was
> just too slow.
This and a lot of the other stuff written about Java here are misguided. Apple has heavily embraced Java at various points. WebObjects was moved entirely off Objective C to Java and remains there and makes most of the OpenStep platform available to Java developers to this day. At times the API has been opened up to make access from Java straightforward.
Also, comments that Java is 'slow' are very blunt. Once a modern JVM is running, it's very fast - comparable to objective C. There's no particular reason that someone couldn't have written a java silo which ran up with classloader sessions in the breach and then accepted applications via IPC commands if they wanted fast launch times and security between applications. The points about libraries earlier in the article are a better way to look at the situation: Java doesn't have an effective footprint in the desktop world. The issue isn't Java being 'slow'.
Apple has offered respectable scripting interfaces to its platform in the latest API release. Raw execution speed isn't a strength of those languages. But I expect us to see a serious application development community start up in this niche.
I agree that the iPhone SDK is a big step forward for Apple. The announcement was perfectly timed and it will definitely create an ecosystem of applications and developer.
Unfortunately, this article was too enthusiastic, full of unfounded predictions, irrelevant comparisons and unchecked facts. Thanks for the detailed info, but you need to be more unbiased in the future and be able to see through the hype.
My god, I can't remember the last time I read a post with this much hype in it.
Starting with the title. Next-gen computing? Give me a break; the iPhone is in no way "next gen;" it offers largely the same feature set as competitors with a better interface. Polished, yes; next-gen, no.
The rest of the post, as some have pointed out, relies on a number of assumptions which aren't backed up by reality.
This is something I'd expect to read on MacRumors, not ReadWriteWeb (what does this have to do with the web, anyway?).
I think you mean "Objective C is now a language of choice" rather than "not".
Some here have written: "but no one likes the closed Apple-only system"
Consumers like it because it guarantees quality and consistency. The Apps Store will let programmers focus on the quality of their software and leave the marketing and distribution to Apple. Again, Apple is correctly putting the concerns and interests of the consumers front and center.
Some here have written: "Unfortunately, this article was too enthusiastic"
Obviously the buzz isn't being generated by Microsoft or Linux so it can't be real.
It's hard to change focus when you've been fixated in your own world.
There were some interesting points made in this post. Too bad it wasn't edited though. A few things that should have been caught:
"years of set backs"
"lightening quick"
"Every new Apple announcement, we keep thinking that they won't top it." (is that supposed to be a sentence?)
"Apple's has embraced"
Wrong! XCode comes free with the Mac. The iPhone SDK comes free. Thus you can design apps for the iPhone for free. This is hugely different from Microsoft - where you have to pay for their development software.
Only if you want to distribute the software to others do you pay $99 a year to have Apple host and sell it for you on the iTunes music store.
"closed never wins, ever."
Wow, so the Sony PS1 and PS2 never won anything?
The entire videogame console industry never won anything?
4 Billion songs sold over iTunes, 2nd largest music retailer, yet thats not winning, ever?
Typical closed-minded open-source thinking :p
And, well done article, Alex. Looking forward to seeing what fun stuff comes out this June and beyond.
What is missing from this article is the fact that Apple has centered all of their devices around OSX; Mac, iPhone, Touch, AppleTV, and eventually the iPod.
This allows Apple to leverage OSX across all of their hardware and software development, while using the least amount of resources and making programing much simpler for developers by using the same tools and libraries.
This is a very efficient and effective on so many levels. Microsoft could only dream of a model like this.
I examine 10 factors that put Apple in an unassailable position in the mobile platform wars and review the weaknesses of iPhone competitors in:
Who can beat iPhone 2.0?
http://counternotions.com/2008/03/10/iphone2-competitors/
@-Vlad said: For starters, what is an incentive to develop native software that will be neutered and price-fixed to $6 and require distribution through Apple? This makes the device worthless for enterprise LOB use as no company will allow its proprietary code to be sent to iTunes and distributed to others. So as far as enterprise means "checking email and calendars" the iPhone stands no chance against millions of Windows Mobile devices that have custom software deployed on them.
So both from the enterprise development/use standpoint, iPhone is a dud.
Here are the facts:
-- The developer sets the price to any amount he wants!
-- The enterprise will have an in-house tool (maybe a private version of an app like iTunes Store) to distribute their apps to their users only-- nothing needs to go through the public iTunes Store.
These facts were presented by Apple, during the Mar 6 announcement, and at the press session afterwards.
Lastly, If the writer of an article can be slammed for "fact checking"... doesn't that also apply to those who post comments :)
"Openness is the future, which Apple don't have and don't want. So you are wrong."
You are right but wrong. Openness is the future, but not in the old way you are thinking about it. The old arguments about monopoly/control and vertical vs horizontal platforms don't apply anymore. The market is much faster now. Instead of a 20-year PC evolution wave to ride, companies have only a few years to either get it or not! The iPod, FaceBook, YouTube, Wii, Ajax and Web 2.0, blogging, are all examples of this faster-paced world.
Openness rules when it comes to the medium itself or the tech behind the medium. The end-user (market) doesn't care one bit if a single or small group of companies monopolize a market -- especially and significantly if the product is free or very affordable.
What still matters is that "eco-systems" will continue to have an impact around early successes (eg: iPod, Facebook, MySpace) and so what we are learning is that there are now significant advantages to "first movers" in new emerging markets.
Apple will continue to win big for several reasons. 1) its a fast-moving company 2) it utilizes open-standards (H.264, MPEG4, OpenGL, HTML 5) rather than inventing its own stuff like it did in the past, 3) they can fully integrate software and hardware, 4) they are great designers and great marketers, and lastly 5) people love Apple. Only Baby Boomer MS Fanboys rant on about Apple anymore.
"Bigger than the PC" is accurate, but only if the PC is an 8088 powered by Windows 1.0.
The iPhone doesn't let you run applications in the background, meaning that although services like VoIP are theoretically possible, they won't be available to handle incoming events (like calls).
But who really cares about VoIP ... more concerning is that this limitation prevents anyone from "pushing" data to the handset. It's a limitation enforced by the carriers for years. Until they open up binary SMS to third-parties or allow applications to sleep on the phone in the background, we're limited to browser-style applications that "pull" data.
That's not how we use mobile devices today. We receive more calls and text messages than we send, statistically. Mobile devices are notification-centric. They're not devices where we browse and search things.
It's not the PLATFORM, stupid. It's the use-cases.
Apple's just as clueless as the rest of the mobile industry.
Welcome to the APPVERTISING age. Your typical iPhone user is a tech savvy, design conscious, zealot, with a wife, a lover, a frequent flyer card and wheat intolerance.
Value added applications, brought to you by Nike etc.
A great article, as ever Alex.
Reading this article reminded me of a piece I read about a year ago. While somewhat prescient at the time, it seems even more relevant today:
http://www.paulgraham.com/microsoft.html
Enjoy!
The other thing to remember that in recent interview with Tom's Hardware Tim Sweeney(of Epic games) hinted that apple was on the right track for making pc games. He congratulated them for standardized hardware and a better platform that wasn't confusing to developers.
"Openness is the future, which Apple don't have and don't want. So you are wrong."
You are right but wrong. Openness is the future, but not in the old way you are thinking about it. The old arguments about monopoly/control and vertical vs horizontal platforms don't apply anymore. The market is much faster now. Instead of a 20-year PC evolution wave to ride, companies have only a few years to either get it or not! The iPod, FaceBook, YouTube, Wii, Ajax and Web 2.0, blogging, are all examples of this faster-paced world.
Openness rules when it comes to the medium itself or the tech behind the medium. The end-user (market) doesn't care one bit if a single or small group of companies monopolize a market -- especially and significantly if the product is free or very affordable.
What still matters is that "eco-systems" will continue to have an impact around early successes (eg: iPod, Facebook, MySpace) and so what we are learning is that there are now significant advantages to "first movers" in new emerging markets.
Apple will continue to win big for several reasons. 1) its a fast-moving company 2) it utilizes open-standards (H.264, MPEG4, OpenGL, HTML 5) rather than inventing its own stuff like it did in the past, 3) they can fully integrate software and hardware, 4) they are great designers and great marketers, and lastly 5) people love Apple. Only Baby Boomer MS Fanboys rant on about Apple anymore.
I'm most interested in the level of "Exchange Support" that Apple is really going to be able to build into the new IPhone. As a heavy user of both an IPhone, and a Windows Mobile phone (personal/work), the only way I can see the IPhone even coming close to being comparable to the WM phone (at least in terms of exchange feature sets) is if Apple can completely copy the WM exchange integration. It's not just about mail anymore. I'll need complete integration with my exchange calendar (online free/busy, shared calendars, resource scheduling), access to the Global Address List, as well as my contacts, as well as complete access to my e-mail. AND, all those things will have to work as well as they work on my WM phone. That's a pretty tall order, even with the SDK and the avid (but relatively small) group of apple developers. Additionally, Apple and their carriers (CINGULAR, I'M TALKING TO YOU) will have to put forth a cheaper phone. $299 IPhone that I can't insure and has a more expensive unlimited data plan, or a $49 (or god forbid free) WM6 phone that I can insure for $5 a month, has a cheaper data plan, etc. Which of those costs would you like to try and justify to your CFO? Overall, I just don't think the IPhone, even with all the changes, will ever be thought of as a good WM6 / BlackBerry alternative.
I've always associated Apple with closed, cult and quirky, and I have never owned a Mac.
Words like "Apple's culture and code is rooted in elegance and extreme simplicity", if it is true, really resonates with me, so maybe I have to reconsider my position.
But a crucial question: Do I really have to own a Mac to develop for the iPhone? That would mean a closed door for many a poor developer.
/Jonas
(Testing OpenID login via phpMyID)
Posted by: impl.emented.com
|
March 10, 2008 11:30 AM
A small developer who has been doing shareware for Windows or Mac often doesn't get paid for his work. Shareware developers are a bit like beggars.
They should love the iPhone SDK. Gives them a chance to really get paid for their work.
I also expect Apple to come out with a larger format device (the rumored Safari Pad) which would run these same apps with minor modification.
In two years there could easily be a market of 20 to 40 million iPhone/IPod Touch/Safari Pad users out there.
This really all goes back to the NeXT machine, which was built on NeXTStep, an Objective-C core that now powers everything else in Apple. As usual, Steve Jobs was a visionary, far ahead of everyone else.
BTW, it's worth noting that the worldwide web was developed on a NeXT machine, and the first web server was a black magnesium NeXT cube running on Objective-C. So Objective-C is arguably even more important than the above article aleges.
This article is terrible. The authors grasp of .Net is clearly lacking.
>Let's be clear. It is not the language, but the libraries that matter.
Thats right, .Net supports 25 languages. It has incredebly mature libraries that span almost every area of modern computing.
>As the complexity of our software increases, so do demands on libraries. Microsoft learned it the hard way with years of set backs when it rolled out .Net.
That statement is completley false and strange. What setbacks? Many developers have embraced .Net since its beta days.
>Had it simply embraced and optimized Java, it could have been years ahead instead.
MS tried to embrace Java and was met with tons of flack from Sun. .Net is what Java wishes it was.
>When Java came along, Apple was unmoved, because it was just too slow.
So the author states MS should embrace Java, but Apple shouldn't.
>Beyond rock-solid APIs, developers get an end-to-end set of development tools. XCode is the studio for developing applications (not free)
Strange. .Nets visual studio has free versions that are hardly gimped and provides one of the best development IDEs availble today.
>And the most impressive piece of the tool set is a fully-fledged iPhone simulator.
That is not impressive, its standard these days to have a deveice emulator in IDEs like that.
>Redmond's convoluted APIs, COM, OLE, and ActiveX still make developers shake their heads.
That is why .Net was made, to get rid of most of that stuff. You can't compare a new SDK to technologies from 7 years ago.
>Facebook's PHP, Flash and JavaScript with a restricted, primitive UI doesn't even come close to the beauty and elegance of the iPhone SDK.
The fuck is this guy talking about. Facebook is a web app. It cannot be compared to an iPhone app in this scope.
>In a lot of ways, web applications have been playing catch up with Desktop apps.
No shit. The author clearly doesn't understand why.
developing software on a mac is like trying to win in a nascar race with a 12 old ford taurus, you can, but why?
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