iPhone SDK Agreement Shuts Out HyperCard Clone 610
Halo1 writes "Demonstrating it's not just about Flash, Apple has officially rejected for the first time another alternative iPhone development environment following its controversial iPhone SDK Agreement changes. Even though RunRev proposed to retool its HyperCard-style development environment to directly expose all of the iPhone OS's APIs, Steve Jobs still rejected its proposal. The strength of RunRev's business case, with a large-scale iPad deployment project in education hinging on the availability of its tool, does not bode well for projects that have less commercial clout. Salient point: at last February's shareholders' meeting, Jobs went on the record saying that something like HyperCard on the iPad would be great, 'but someone would have to create it.'"
Re:question (Score:3, Informative)
yes
if you are a mega corp and buy the idevice enterprise SDK license than you can load your internally developed apps directly to idevices. still a PITA to deploy to thousands of devices compared to running BES. but that is the state of mobile devices today. blackberries suck as devices. idevices are nice but Apple has no idea how to support corporate customers. Android is still too immature and has no corporate IT support
Comment removed (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Was it really Steve Jobs (Score:4, Informative)
This is not about an iPhone app, but about a development environment to create iPhone apps. The company contacted Apple after the SDK agreement changes to determine whether there was any way they could adapt it to the new requirements, and apparently got their final rejection notice from Steve Jobs (see the fine article).
Re:question (Score:3, Informative)
iPad is not a PC - Where is my Prius SDK? (Score:2, Informative)
Apple is not selling the iPad as a PC or even as a computer. It's a device. As others have pointed out, you don't see a lot of complaints about manufacturers of other devices not supporting developers. Microwaves, refrigerators and other appliances have computers in them. How about your cable box? You can hack them if you wish, but we accept the fact that if you do you violate your warranty. We accept the fact that development tools are not provided or supported by the manufacturer, because it’s a device they’ve defined and they support.
Until the iPhone, how many phone manufacturers supported the development of phone applications beyond a few chosen partners? How many carriers or manufacturers allowed you to distribute your applications using their facilities or run on their networks? Apple provided more freedom to developers on their iPhone than you could find from any other major manufacturer. Suddenly it’s your right not only to go further but to also have Apple spend its resources and risk its business and reputation supporting you? Sense of entitlement have you?
Apple isn’t stopping you from doing what you want with your iPhone or iPad, they are just refusing to help or support you.
You have more computing power in a Toyota Prius and many other cars than you do in an iPad. Why aren't slashdotters demanding free development tools, etc. for cars? If you took it upon your self to hack your car; would you expect to be covered by the manufacturer if it was then unsafe, unreliable or inoperative? I want Linux for on my Prius! Open source my BMW!
InformationWeek on Windows Phone 7's app store (Score:5, Informative)
Do you mean to say that Microsoft is now going to force developers to publish through its app store and nothing else?
This appears correct.
I did not know that. Citation needed please.
From this InformationWeek article [informationweek.com]: "All apps must be approved by Microsoft, and can only be distributed via the Windows Marketplace for Mobile."
Re:So they created a product, based on another (Score:3, Informative)
product which pretty much everyone knew wouldn't get approved with the changes ... and now we're surprised?
This might have been news when the changes were introduced, now its just:
Duh, you knew you were treading on thin ice before you even submitted it.
No, this is a company with a business plan that said they would re-do their product to output ONLY for iPhone/iPad (read: not be cross-compilable for other platforms), use 100% CocoaTouch (meaning they look and function like every other app on the platform), guarantee they'd keep pace with the SDK 100%, and have the apps be literally indistinguishable from apps written in Objective-C. And Steve Jobs said no to this business plan.
To recap: they had a product before that was acceptable; with no notice, Apple changed their policies; they offered to redo their entire product to be inline with what the supposed spirit of these changes was; they were told nope, can't do that.
Re:DRM, restrictions, outcry (Score:3, Informative)
Re:DRM, restrictions, outcry (Score:5, Informative)
First, Apple is not a convicted monopolist like Microsoft [albion.com]
Neither is Microsoft a 'convicted monopolist' - the case against them was a civil action, you can only be convicted of something in a criminal court. The term 'convicted monopolist' is nothing more than a slashdot marketing term.
Re:DRM, restrictions, outcry (Score:3, Informative)
Of the 4 Apple is the most cross platform friendly. It supports OpenGL ES, c++ and OpenAL. Sony and Nintendo have c++ and a api similiar to OpenGL ES. Microsoft just has c++.
Re:InformationWeek on Windows Phone 7's app store (Score:1, Informative)
But given that iPhone has leapfrogged them in the market, Microsoft is doing what it always does: Copying.
The main reason iPhone apps are more successful than apps for any other mobile device is because there's a one stop shop for everything, and payment, download and installation is effortless. It's perfectly understandable that Microsoft would want to copy. Android probably never will go down that route, and as a result, no matter how successful Android phones become in the market, Android apps will never be as successful as iPhone apps.
Re:iPad is not a PC - Where is my Prius SDK? (Score:4, Informative)
Are you completely new to the cellphone industry? There have been development kits available before the IPhone or IPod even existed. I wrote my own apps using J2MEE long before Apple decided to enter the market. That is on phones NOT considered smart phones.
Apple is not the first cellphone manufactuer to support dev tools, but they are definitely one of the first to disallow someone who owns a device from choosing what to create or run on it.
They are also a first for dictating what development environments or even PREPROCESSORS a developer can use. XBox, Nintendo, Sony, etc all allow apps to be compiled in C/C++ to their target ABI (Application Binary Interface).
You present a failed comparison. In the world of cellphones, and closed systems, this is a first, and it should anger anyone who thinks they should actually OWN a device.
Re:DRM, restrictions, outcry (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, Microsoft is banning all other environments other than .Net from WinMo 7. That was the reasob cited for FireFox not to create a port for it.
Re:DRM, restrictions, outcry (Score:5, Informative)
The fanboys claimed that they didn't want all of that.
That goes a long way back. For the original Mac, the fanboys were saying "The Mac has resolution; it doesn't need color." (IBM had color. Sun had color. Apple was strictly black and white. Not even greyscale in the early models. Fortunately for Apple, they had Susan Kare [kare.com], who made the Mac interface look good under those limitations.)
Re:DRM, restrictions, outcry (Score:3, Informative)
Why compare apples to oranges? Windows and Mac OS X are comparable, and neither sets any restrictions on what tools you use.
iPhone OS and Windows Mobile/Windows Phone 7 Series is comparable, and both set such restrictions in place.
Re:DRM, restrictions, outcry (Score:4, Informative)
I can attest to laptops failing significantly faster than desktops, being more expensive per performance, being more expensive for maintenance, and being very limited in upgradeability. Desktops will have a place among those with extra cubic feet and a budget for the forseeable future.
Re:DRM, restrictions, outcry (Score:5, Informative)
Hell, I used to have 3G coverage with my iPhone before I moved, but now I've got Edge only when I'm away from WiFi. It works, just not as well. I'd love for AT&T to get 3G in my part of Minnesota, but it's not like I'm going to get rid of a phone just because the provider doesn't offer 3G in my area yet.
Re:DRM, restrictions, outcry (Score:3, Informative)
Neither is Coca Cola a monopoly, and yet they have been restricted from anti-competative actions for decades.
Some competition laws effect companies with lower market share... mostly in Europe. You might note, however, the recent competition law actions against Coca-cola were in the EU where they do dominate the market with over 80% share in some EU countries.
Re:I hate Apple (Score:3, Informative)
Got any evidence to go with that assertion.
Despite Nokia making a profit on every sing bit of hardware sold. Nokia is not big in the US but they own half of Asia and are well respected in Europe and Australia. The E71/72 is one of the best selling business phones in Australia and Symbian phones account for over 60 of ad traffic from Asia whilst Nokia makes up 47% of the market compared to Apple's 16%. What you'll also notice is that Apple's market share includes Ipods. Unfortunately my own nation of Australia has been skewing these statistics and for that I am deeply ashamed. Source Admob Metrics [admob.com](PDF warning)
Nokia also consists of more then just mobile phones, they have significant sales in infrastructure and corporate phone systems (PBX's). Not to mention all the R&D Nokia does into telecommunications, the GSM patents Nokia has alone will keep the company well and truly afloat. Almost any phone you purchase will have hardware developed in part or in full by Nokia (including the Iphone).
So you're wrong on both counts, Nokia enjoys significant sales world wide and they aren't dependent on selling applications (although Nokia is doing quite well with Navigation since they bought Naviteq and started offering it as a subscription service on their phones).
Re:iPad is not a PC - Where is my Prius SDK? (Score:3, Informative)
Really? So other than the iPhone, every other phone on the planet can have apps installed on it from anyone? Thats news to me because I've had several phones from several manufactures that I could only get apps from the phone provider.
You don't know what you're talking about.
Really? Funny, cause last I checked the only way I could get XBox and nintendo to allow me to create apps for their devices was using their approved SDKs which you have to pay 10s of thousands of dollars for and they require approval of the final product.
Sony may have let you run Linux for a while, but that ended too.
You don't know what you're talking about.
You present completely false information that is just bullshit you made up.