I made a number of iPhone SDK statements earlier. Here they are again, in-line with the actual outcome.
- The iPhone SDK will be vastly more open in terms of who gets to use it and how you can use what it produces than the iPod game SDK. Correct.
- The iPhone SDK will let you develop native applications in Objective-C. Correct.
- The iPhone SDK will be tiered, so that Apple’s or close third-party applications can work on a deeper level than your applications. Incorrect.
- The iPhone SDK will let you write applications that can ultimately qualify as freeware. Correct.
- The iPhone SDK will let you redistribute your source code so that other people can compile and run it. (Open source.) Correct.
- The iPhone SDK will let you plug in your iPhone and try out your application live with remote hooks for debugging at your computer. Correct.
- The iPhone SDK will not, Cocoa bridges be damned, let you write applications in any currently existing implementation of Ruby or Python since they use up too much memory. Correct. (No such support has been announced, at any rate.)
Although, if I understand correctly, they won’t be able to run their compilation of your source code on an iPhone or iPod Touch unless they’re members of the (non-free) iPhone Developer Program.
But they can run their compilation in the simulator, and they can run your compilation on their iPhone/iPod Touch.
6/7: kudos.
By pauldwaite · 2008.03.06 21:25
Actually, we have no idea if Apple’s apps are working on a deeper level within the SDK, but the fact that such levels are not public is, I guess, qualitatively equivalent.
By jediknil · 2008.03.06 22:29
Regarding the last point, section 3.3.2 of the (secret) iPhone SDK Agreement (presumably requires you to be logged in to the iPhone dev centre) is of interest.
By http://jens.ayton.se/ · 2008.03.07 03:15
I am considering reverting the only “Incorrect” ruling because we’re obviously not gaining access to the entire API the devices have to offer. But there are two other factors: Applications running in the simulator have access to the very same APIs as those in the real device, even though you can’t exercise them. And no one else, besides Apple, is getting a sweeter end of the stick with expanded API access, which makes the SDK flat and ‘fair’ (in a pretty perverted sense of the word).
So that is why I’ll let my ruling of myself as “Incorrect” stand.
By Jesper · 2008.03.08 21:04