I was at the WWDC this year and the fact that they presented the AJAX webapp idea as a sweet solution was very disappointing. The target audience were not we developers but instead the business/stock people.

From what I’ve read so far about the iPhone it sure can do much more. And I’m pretty sure that a number of good things are happening in the near future.

Some software parts of the iPhone seem to be unfinished or still a work in progress (basic notes app, no games, …). That’s a good indicator that Apple had simple to much to do to get the thing out on the market.

Wild guesses follow:
At Macworld we will see a revised iPhone (2.0) and until than we will also see a number of software updates. Leopard/iWork/iLife will have special iPhone support and at WWDC 08 we will see a first official way to develop apps for the iPhone. What else could they present at WWDC 08? Talking about Leopard for the third time is a bit boring.

Regarding Java: The major problem of Java for user interfaces is the idea to have an OS independent UI layer. The problem with this is that controls look different on different platforms. Even with SWT there is the problem that user interfaces are more than just the controls. It’s about the UI guidelines a platform defines.
Eclipse on OS X looks and feels like a Windows app and this will never change.

The Java mobile edition is even worse in this respect. There would be the need for a special Java mobile edition that supports the iPhone features like Hires display, touch screen interface, integration with other apps (Cal, Addressbook).
Therefore instead of having an incomplete Java on the iPhone I would prefer a full featured Objective-C API.

And if one argues for Java Applet support - who still uses Applets?

(a) its uses a arm chip manufactured by samsung which supports ARM Jazelle which helps in executing java code….but the iphone doesnt seem to support java for now…will it be in by the next rel?

(b) The Bluetooth chipset and software/firmware can do lot more things than what iphone is presently doing with it. again is something more in the waiting

So, anyone can write code for it, and run it for $99/year for personal use (!). Hopefully, they will work to resolve deployment issues.

“Microsoft used WinNT/Win32 when they kicked off Xbox seven years ago. It was there and it worked, and they damn sure mentioned up front that it was based on the Windows 2000 kernel, but that didn’t mean (and still doesn’t) that just anyone can write code for it.”

The problem is that Jobs explicitly listed Cocoa as an OS X technology that is on the iPhone. Cocoa exists to make it easier for developers to create Mac OS X applications, and by including it as an iPhone feature in the keynote, HEAVILY implies that it will be available to developers. Otherwise, why else even list it? It offers absolutely nothing to the users of the apps. That’s why there’s a debate - it’s the doublespeak that Apple is engaging in. They not only claim that it’s OS X, they make it a point to list all of the APIs and frameworks that are there for the purpose of making it easier for developers to create applications. Then they claim that it is a closed platform, so, in effect, they are saying it’s extremely easy to develop OS X apps for, but only Apple employees (or their partners) will actually be able to.

Martin, you make some good points in this article and I totally agree with you: first spend time on making a good device, then think about what others can do for it.

kind regards,
Matthias

I agree completly with you. The consumers want a phone that finally works. And apple wants to provide it. That’s the first step and has the highest priority. Everything else (probably) comes later.