With Apple’s introduction of iPhone 3G S and the upgrades to the iPhone SDK announced at the WWDC on June 8, application developers still on the sidelines might want to look again at the possibilities for iPhone (and iPod touch) development, and brainstorm new apps accordingly. There are several reasons for this.
Usage is growing too fast for developers to ignore. Apple claims 40 million iPhones and iPod touches sold as of June 2009, and with no-brainer distribution via iTunes, it’s hard to imagine your good idea going from concept to sales faster, with a minimum of extraneous effort.
Here’s though, is the game-changer: this is not the iPhone that Steve Jobs introduced In Jan. ’07. I’m not talking hardware. Remember ‘no third-party applications’? Jobs announced a phone with very good auxiliary communications capability and ipod functionality. Apple is not shipping a phone now. With over a billion apps installed over those 40 million devices, they are shipping a platform. Was Jobs sincere in voicing resistance to third party apps initially? Who knows, but calling it iPhone might have been the biggest head-fake ever. It’s obvious now that participating in this exceedingly attractive platform, not a ‘phone’, is your motive to build iPhone apps.
The real draw for developers is that as the SDK expands, with 1000+ additional APIs included in iPhone OS 3.0, in addition to the hardware improvements, one feels synergies inherent in the platform that are not yet obvious, and therein lies profound opportunity. There are so many complementary tools that one senses a critical mass of possibility, worth exploring.
Look here for some of the primary improvements in the iPhone SDK for iPhone OS 3.0. Selling additional content and services from within your app. Maps and location-aware mobile devices integrated for entirely new functionality. Peer-to-peer apps combined with real-time voice chat hold a lot more promise than just better gaming. Add the dimension of mobility and hardware refinements to the experience and the package becomes even more useful and compelling for developers. Video, voice control….there is much, much more.
I wouldn’t disparage the offerings of RIM, Palm, Nokia or devices running Android or Windows Mobile. But none of them have the business model that integrates hardware, OS, and a huge number of independent developers signed on to effectively expand the definition of what a device is with every new app. The integration is key. I admire open source Android but I don’t know that a brilliant platform will match the iPhone package on average devices. RIM’s hardware and software integration comes with nowhere near the number of developers and apps for their devices, etc.
The evolution of mobile-devices-as-platforms won’t stop until everyone is online, connected, and can enhance their lives with computers anytime, from anywhere, using the box in their pocket. IPhone is closest to that destination, and petty platform allegiances aside, it’s a wave all developers should give serious thought to riding.
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And it will be a Tom Tom GPS device as well with the purchase of the car clamp. It is way more than just a phone now. When you add up the value of all the other capabilities, it is hands down the ultimate portable tool for information and data.
There are so many complementary tools that one senses a critical mass of possibility, worth exploring.thanks for sharing and truly admirable.