Wired

Developers at WWDC Looking Forward to iPhone 3G Platform

SAN FRANCISCO — Judging by the sampling of developers Wired.com quizzed at Apple’s WWDC today, the iPhone will prove to be an attractive platform for both work and play. And, thanks to the iPhone 3G’s low $200 price tag and its corporate-friendly features, geeks embedded deep within the bowels of co
Dylan Tweney 2 min read

SAN FRANCISCO — Judging by the sampling of developers Wired.com quizzed at Apple’s WWDC today, the iPhone will prove to be an attractive platform for both work and play.

And, thanks to the iPhone 3G’s low $200 price tag and its corporate-friendly features, geeks embedded deep within the bowels of corporate America will finally be able to use the Apple phone instead of being stuck with BlackBerry and Palm Treo smartphones.

"I’m excited — I finally get to buy an iPhone," said Michael McDonald, the founder of Animist Notes, an online productivity application, who is looking forward to developing a web- and iPhone-based tool for managing tasks in the style of the popular geek productivity manual Getting Things Done.

"It’s going to be a huge platform," said Victor Barrera Gaviro of Madrid-based Universomac, an Apple services and training company. "It’s going to be much bigger than Palm."

Other developers are excited about the iPhone software development kit’s ability to tie into large enterprise databases.

"With a multi-terabyte database, you can’t put that on a PC or on a handset. But with the iPhone SDK, you can build an app that can access a 3-4 terabyte database," said Lester Knutsen, president of Advanced DataTools. Knutsen also praised the platform’s support for the industry-standard Cisco VPN technology, which will keep data secure as it’s transmitted between a company’s servers and its employees’ iPhones.

Not everyone was captivated by Steve Jobs’ mesmerizing manner, however. Indeed, some observers felt that Jobs looked gaunt and even tired as he delivered an unusually long keynote that was notably lacking in pizazz.

While Apple no longer enjoys a revenue-sharing agreement with AT&T, that carrier is still the sole provider of the iPhone in the United States, a fact which irked Kevin Mitchell of Adobe solutions provider Datalogics, Inc.

"I have a severe dislike and loathing of AT&T. I’d love to see more North American carriers even more than I’d like to see a keyboard," said the BlackBerry-toting, T-Mobile-using developer.

Others had more strategic reasons for being disappointed with the iPhone’s enteprise support.

"They’re missing 50 percent of the e-mail population," complained John Beck, a product manager in IBM’s Lotus division, referring to users of Notes/Domino e-mail servers. While iPhone 2.0 supports Microsoft Exchange mail servers, it lacks any kind of direct connection with Notes.

"The Exchange integration is deep," Beck noted, stating that the iPhone SDK would permit IBM to integrate Notes with the iPhone to some extent, but not as completely as Apple has done with Exchange.

Link: Developers at WWDC Looking Forward to iPhone 3G Platform

Link broken? Try the Wayback Machine.

Share
Comments
More from Dylan Tweney - Storylines
Wired

How Microsoft Researchers Might Invent a Holodeck

My final story for Wired.com appeared August 31. It’s a look at some of the work that the scientists and engineers in Microsoft’s research division are doing to create the computer interface — and communications screens — of the future. REDMOND, Washington — Deep inside Microsoft is the brain of a m
Dylan Tweney 2 min read
Wired

Infiniti Hybrid Is a Green Sedan for Silver Foxes

If you’re old enough to remember the energy policies of the Carter administration, green enough to have donated to the Nature Conservancy and young enough to get a rush of testosterone from dusting that polo-shirt-wearing jerk in his BMW, Nissan has the car for you. And though its styling walks a fi
Dylan Tweney 1 min read
Wired

How to Make a Clock Run for 10,000 Years

High on a rocky ridge in the desert, nestled among the brush, is the topmost part of a clock that has been ticking for thousands of years. It looks out over the ruins of a spaceport, built by a rich man whose name was forgotten long ago.
Dylan Tweney 28 min read

Storylines

Subscribe to my newsletter on writing & storytelling

Great! You’ve successfully signed up.

Welcome back! You've successfully signed in.

You've successfully subscribed to Dylan Tweney - Storylines.

Success! Check your email for magic link to sign-in.

Success! Your billing info has been updated.

Your billing was not updated.