More iphone SDK speculation.
iLounge are reporting that the SDK will be released today & that “Apple will act as a gatekeeper for applications, deciding which are and are not worthy of release”… hmm I really hope they don’t cripple things with a lengthy approval process. No doubt if they do, then jailbreak will live on… I would have thought that one of the goals of releasing an official SDK is to make jailbreaking a pointless exercise.
I wonder if the iLounge source was at apples internal townhall held yesterday.
This is on the back of yesterdays report from macscoop that the SDK will require OSX Leopard & that apple will keep a small percentage of revenue from each app. Hopefully free apps won’t be subject to any charges. Neither of these predictions are surprising IMO - I’d expect that they are applying the same model to apps as itunes applies to music.. i.e. they will take their slice of revenue but ultimately itunes is a supporting site/service that helps drive sales of apple devices (phone, pod, etc).
I really hate to have to say “I told you so,” but there are so many people to say it to. I told everyone who was talking about how the SDK was going to make jailbreaking obsolete that Apple was far too controlling to allow anyone to distribute apps easily. I knew they were going to be controlling the distribution channels and greatly limiting the types of apps out there.
I saw recently that SpicyChicken was waiting for the SDK before continuing Customize development. I’m really, really sure that it’s exactly the kind of app that Apple will absolutely not allow. In fact, I’d be surprised if the SDK even has the capability to do the things that he needs it to do for Customize.
I think MobileCast would actually be a good candidate for the SDK, but I’m worried by the pay-to-play business model that Apple looks to be following with apps. Looks like jailbreak will continue to be king for a while to come.
I “watched” the SDK launch via engadget & tuaw’s live meta-blogging coverage. Overall I’ve very excited & can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of the SDK, emulator etc. It certainly sounds like its going to be a much nicer development experience.
I also think that the store.apps ability to buy, download & install apps directly from the phone over wifi is a direct reaction to installer.app, they are definitely trying to eliminate the need for jailbreaking & installer.app.
I think the limitations of “Some apps we won’t distribute: porn! Malicious apps!” is reasonable.
Overall I’m looking forward to having mobilecast available as an official 3rd party app in time for the launch of iphone 2.0.