Investor in the Wilderness - Latest Comments in Is the iPhone 3.0 SDK All That?

Re: Is the iPhone 3.0 SDK All That?

Patrick — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:32:50 -0000

"if your a developer like me" should be:
"if you're a developer like me".

Re: Is the iPhone 3.0 SDK All That?

neutrino23 — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 23:29:17 -0000

I'll agree with many of the others, the long term and wonderful parts of iPhone 3.0 are the connectivity and the ability to conduct business within the app. Both of these sound simple, which is why they are so wonderful. Apple is doing the heavy lifting behind the scenes.

The connectivity feature alone will be a game changer. Now there are all sorts of sensors out there which include their own displays and storage and whatnot. Now all you need is a sensor and an iPhone app. Want to do environmental logging? Connect the sensors to an iPhone which will log the data, the time, date, location, store the results and send a copy to mothership. Want to make a postage meter, pH meter for the lab, various health monitors? Connect the sensor to the iPhone and write an app. The point is that anyone building a custom device will think long and hard about that as opposed to just connecting to an iPhone. Part of the goodness is the capabilities of the phone. The other part is that iPhones are ubiquitous. Need a replacement? Drop by the Apple store. Expect the customer to supply their own iPhone? Pretty good odds of that. It would not be surprising to see that three or four years all high school and university science labs will have some options to connect to an iPhone. The student comes in, sets up the experiment, collects data and walks away with the data. Possibly the iPhone never left their pocket and just connected by Bluetooth.

Re: Is the iPhone 3.0 SDK All That?

Andy — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 19:11:52 -0000

Whew; bitch, bitch, bitch.

Re: Is the iPhone 3.0 SDK All That?

lmay — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:01:50 -0000

Access to the iPod connector will spawn a whole new class of application and accessories. Now, I do concede that the 30 pin connector is proprietary and somewhat annoying, but that battle was lost long ago when Apple moved from fire wire to the 30 pin connector. I don't think you can really underestimate how huge restriction free bluetooth and dock connector support will be. Wireless bluetooth keyboard? Black berry like snap on key board? How about a cradle that snaps into the dock connector that has a d-pad and b/a button on either side of the landscaped iphone that will make this into a great mobile gaming platform. Possibilities are endless and that is why the iPhone O/S is a legitimate platform for any software vertical - and that is the real story surrounding 3.0.

Re: Is the iPhone 3.0 SDK All That?

dks — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:27:02 -0000

Thanks for the classy response

Re: Is the iPhone 3.0 SDK All That?

blivion — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:16:50 -0000

Really, you can disagree with Zach, but if you don't like his commentary, just go somewhere else. There's an infinite amount of options.

Re: Is the iPhone 3.0 SDK All That?

blivion — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:14:48 -0000

Zach, maybe it's because I've been out of the States for years but I think you're already wrong. Before I left the U.S. I'd go into a Best Buy, and MAYBE I could purchase an iPhone charger. Now, go into any major electronics store, and the first thing you see are iPhone accessories. Now Apple has opened up the ability to make even more and varied accessories than just speaker systems, headphones, and chargers. Imagine hooking up a cheap microscope to the iPhone (for kids, you know?), or maybe program Elmo Live to perform custom actions and speech. How about a pocketable Lego Mindstorms programmer? An that's just in the toy industry.

I know I'm going to pick up one of those glucometers to monitor my blood sugar levels since I am mildly diabetic.

Re: Is the iPhone 3.0 SDK All That?

blivion — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:06:24 -0000

Zach,

Although I appreciate skepticism when it's warranted, in this case, I think you may be a bit jaded to see the forest for the trees. You're looking at the SDK from a consumer's point of view-- not a developer. There are just tons of new APIs that a developer can call to now-- and you only highlighted the ones that a developer will probably use, but not be too excited about. For example, the fact that you can now interact via a USB cable opens up tons of things for both hardware and software developers to create-- and that's just ONE thing you've missed.

Re: Is the iPhone 3.0 SDK All That?

don — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:13:35 -0000

A 3 megapixel camera with a flash is garbage. If you want a camera, get a camera. Video on a phone is such low quality it's a joke. If you want video, get a videocamera.

If this is the depth of your review, people should look elsewhere for any sort of real guidance.

Re: Is the iPhone 3.0 SDK All That?

George — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:05:35 -0000

…weren't we supposed to have that, weren't we supposed to have that… But we didn't and now we do, cope with it. A self proclaimed "Tech Maven" knows that plans change, requirements are altered and technology sometimes is not there when it is needed and sometimes a clunky UI is better postponed.

"The peer-to-peer (P2P) communication with Bluetooth might be somewhat interesting, but didn’t we already have that capability with the built-in WiFi?" Think about it Maven.

Re: Is the iPhone 3.0 SDK All That?

telly — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 09:46:35 -0000

There's a petition given to the SEC about you Zacchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

and a lot of people think you're a know nothing manipulator and no Apple fan or authority

Re: Is the iPhone 3.0 SDK All That?

Chistian1122334 — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:12:25 -0000

Yeah, well good luck with that.

Soon Lifetime will start airing Automotive repair shows, and I hear Fortune magazine is going to start a "Hot Chicks of the Big 8" issue. MTV is getting into financial analysis. Why? Because they can make their channels and magazines into whatever they choose.

Think it'll work?

Knowing you the answer is "yes"

Good luck, Zach-- you're going to need it.

Splintered focus is always SO successful

Re: Is the iPhone 3.0 SDK All That?

Zach Bass — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:48:21 -0000

My blog can be about whatever I choose. If you read my bio above, you'll see I reserve the right to talk about whatever pleases me.

Re: Is the iPhone 3.0 SDK All That?

Zach Bass — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:47:31 -0000

That's the one feature I cited that I believe will be big, especially for new B2B and B2C apps. So, I agree.

Re: Is the iPhone 3.0 SDK All That?

Zach Bass — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:45:23 -0000

The fact that you cite the 30 pin connector as an important feature, worthy of note, leads me to believe you think Apple's shit don't stink. The fact that they've created more vendor lock-in through this connector may have a back-lash. I don't believe it's going to be the reason for a new class of compatible products. I could be wrong.

Re: Is the iPhone 3.0 SDK All That?

pk de cville — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 23:36:35 -0000

"Just give me video and a 3 megapixel camera with a flash, Oh, and longer battery life, and I’ll be happy."

Way off Zach. The new APIs for charging within the app will be huge. Developers will use them to charge for upgrades on the fly. No effort other than coding involved.

Along with the rumored Premium App Store, people will be downloading 1B apps/month within 3 years AND NO ONE IS GOING TO MATCH THAT, ANYTIME SOON.

Re: Is the iPhone 3.0 SDK All That?

Chistian1122334 — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 23:29:57 -0000

Zach, your blog has lost its focus. It used to be some kind of TA blog with APPL thrown in as link bait. Now it seems you fancy yourself some sot of Apple geek (for awhile you were Apple Insider, but that didn't work out so well).

So, are you S&P TA, Apple fanboy, or your latest, "developer".

You may think of yourself as all three, but you're not. Your blog is not-- it can't be. Decide what your blog is and stick with it.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/...

Start with the App store, which is now packed with more than 25,000 applications. Now add the ability to sell subscriptions that regularly deliver fresh content, additional levels for games or new content, all announced Tuesday. Suddenly an iPhone app can be a digital bookstore, or a digital newspaper, or a game that doles out fresh content by the slice. More is more.

Another intriguing new twist: Apple will now let developers turn the iPhone into a control panel for practically any piece of electronics you can plug it into. That will allow users to, say, pair the phone with a set of speakers to turn the screen into a digital equalizer.

Another radical feature: the ability to automatically find and sync up wirelessly with software running on an iPhone or iPod touch. Suddenly, your kids will be able to compete to play a game in the back seat of the car. Or perform a complex duet with a pair of radical new digital instruments. The gizmo's Bluetooth wireless capability, standard on most smart phones, actually makes the thing a better gaming device.

Re: Is the iPhone 3.0 SDK All That?

Dks — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 22:39:19 -0000

The fact that you don't talk about access to the 30 pin connector shows how little you know about the iPhone as a PLATFORM. Please go back and look at the presentation. I thought you were a close follower of Aapl , now not so much.