Did you hear that? It’s the sound of thousands of Mac developers breathing a sigh of relief. Apple has today stated that a true iPhone SDK will be coming in February 2008. From Steve’s communiqué:
Third Party Applications on the iPhone
Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers’ hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users. With our revolutionary multi-touch interface, powerful hardware and advanced software architecture, we believe we have created the best mobile platform ever for developers.
It will take until February to release an SDK because we’re trying to do two diametrically opposed things at once—provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc. This is no easy task. Some claim that viruses and malware are not a problem on mobile phones—this is simply not true. There have been serious viruses on other mobile phones already, including some that silently spread from phone to phone over the cell network. As our phones become more powerful, these malicious programs will become more dangerous. And since the iPhone is the most advanced phone ever, it will be a highly visible target.
Some companies are already taking action. Nokia, for example, is not allowing any applications to be loaded onto some of their newest phones unless they have a digital signature that can be traced back to a known developer. While this makes such a phone less than “totally open,” we believe it is a step in the right direction. We are working on an advanced system which will offer developers broad access to natively program the iPhone’s amazing software platform while at the same time protecting users from malicious programs.
We think a few months of patience now will be rewarded by many years of great third party applications running on safe and reliable iPhones.
Steve
P.S.: The SDK will also allow developers to create applications for iPod touch
Looks like the lack of a true IM client won’t be a problem this spring for iPhone owners.
Category: News
Leopard includes a few new open source underpinnings. Apple trumpets Ruby support in Leopard. Ruby is elevated beyond just a scripting language in Leopard, with a Ruby to Cocoa bridge available to developers in XCode.
Additionally, many open source packages have been updated to much newer versions in Leopard.
Apache: 2.2.6
Ruby: 1.8.6
Rails (New in Leopard): 1.2.3
Subversion (New in Leopard): 1.4.4
PHP: 5.2.4
Perl: 5.8.8
Python: 2.5.1
The one disappointment is that Apple didn’t include MySQL in Leopard (Apple utilizes SQLite for many database related tasks in the OS). However, many developers (especially those in Web Development) use MySQL for obvious reasons. It isn’t difficult to get MySQL running on OS X (there are several binary packages available). The reasons for its omission are obvious, as Apple touts MySQL inclusion as one of the features of Mac OS X Server.
Category: News
Apple has setup a page listing each and every one of the 300 features touted in Leopard. While many on this list are questionable as “new” for Leopard, there is one big one that Apple has left off of the list.
That boys and girls, is that iCal in Leopard finally sports a Dock icon that will correctly reflect the date.
Now, I’m wondering why Apple isn’t touting this as a new feature, considering it’s essentially been broken since iCal made its debut.
Category: News
The Apple Store (online) has been updated with information regarding Leopard. Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard” will be released on Friday, October 26th at 6PM. Pre-orders are being taken now online, and will be delivered on Oct. 26th with free shipping.
Leopard contains over 300 new features, including Time Machine, QuickLook, Spaces, updated versions of Mail, Safari, and iChat, along with Bootcamp.
I’ve been beta testing Leopard since WWDC 2006. It has come a long way since that first public release. Apple has really outdone themselves. I’ve read in a few forums that some don’t feel Leopard offers a whole lot. I have a simple test I use to determine if any software upgrade is worthy. If after 1 week of using it, you are unable to go back to the previous version, it is worth it. Leopard is so good that, even in beta, I was unable to revert fully back to Tiger.
If you’d like to countdown to the release date with our own LeopardCountdown widget (whipped up in the new DashCode), please download it here.
Category: News
Microsoft has posted a new website detailing the new features inside Office: Mac 2008. Among the new features, are a revamped interface throughout the new suite, Document elements (essentially template “parts”), Publishing Layout View, new Chart Wizards/Options for Excel, and MyDay for Entourage. Additionally, the new version of the Microsoft Office suite will use the standard Apple installer, and not the previous versions drag and drop installation method. While some, like Gruber, see this as a plus, I see it as a negative. I will acknowledge that it is nice that the new Office won’t unconditionally stuff your system with fonts you neither need or don’t want. However, the drag and drop installer could have been outfitted with a similar feature.
My problem with the package installation method is that the user isn’t left with any information on what was installed where, unless of course, they are savvy enough to dig through log files. With drag and drop, you knew exactly where everything was going, because you put it there.
I’m sure Microsoft is correct in stating that IT admins will applaud the change. However, for those of us who manage our own machines, I feel it is a step backwards. It’s not a huge issue, but I definitely prefer the drag and drop method.
Category: News
We knew it was coming, but yesterday it happened. From the press release:
Apple Sells One Millionth iPhone
CUPERTINO, Calif., Sept. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today announced it sold its one millionth iPhone(TM) yesterday, just 74 days after its introduction on June 29. iPhone combines three devices into one-a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod(R), and the best mobile Internet device ever-all based on Apple’s revolutionary multi-touch interface and pioneering software that allows users to control iPhone with just a tap, flick or pinch of their fingers.
“One million iPhones in 74 days-it took almost two years to achieve this milestone with iPod,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We can’t wait to get this revolutionary product into the hands of even more customers this holiday season.”
Category: iPhone,News
With October about 30 days away, Apple is still keeping the exact release date for Leopard under wraps. Usually Apple announces the release date for a major OS at least 30 days out. In the most recent seeds of Leopard, a new default desktop background and intro movie have appeared. These are usually the last pieces of the OS to be added, so it’s pretty safe to assume we are still on track for a October release. The only question is, when?
I’m still sticking to October 5th as the release date. I haven’t seen anything that leads me to believe Apple can’t hit that date. The significance of releasing OS X 10.5 on 10/5 should not be glossed over. Plus, it’s a Friday, which is the day all of the other big OS X releases have been on.
If you want to count down the days until 10/5, get your countdown widget.
Category: News
Numbers opens .QFX files. Bitchin’.
Category: News
If you are doing dev work on Mac OS X, you are most likely using Subversion. Well, unless you are stuck on CVS, or are living on the cutting edge with git. Subversion on the Mac works just like Subversion on any other platform. However, Mac users have been looking longingly at Windows users and their TortoiseSVN plugin. TortoiseSVN provides a GUI to Subversion through Windows Explorer. If you’ve used it, you know how well it works and how easy it makes working with Subversion.
Mac users need not be envious anymore. The SCPlugin project, which aims to bring a TortoiseSVN like plugin to the Mac Finder, has hit version 0.7. While not completely finished, SCPlugin now allows you to do everything that Subversion is capable of, including checkouts and password integration. Additionally, a real installer is in place now. The SCPlugin team warns that this is still a beta, and should be treated as such.
If you are using Subversion on a Mac, you owe it to yourself to check out SCPlugin.
Category: News
As soon as the Apple Store got over its shyness, I placed my orders for iLife and iWork ’08. However, later in the day, Apple made the iWork ’08 suite available for download as a trial package. While the iWork ’06 suite was installed on all new Macs, it was never available as a trial download. What’s nice is that you can actually just buy the serial number from within iWork now. Nice. Had I known that, I wouldn’t have opted for the shipped package.
It’s nice to see Apple finally adopting the shareware approach to software distribution.
What’s even nicer is that the education price for the download is $49, while the price for the boxed version is $71. However, there is no download discount for the consumer version. Bummer
Category: News,Software
