Random Musings about iPhone Software Roadmap
After a long wait, the iPhone software roadmap is finally revealed. For those who have been waiting for the iPhone software development kit (SDK), the keynote presentation today by Apple today has been interesting, particularly the launch of the iFund (US$100M) by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has totally blown me away. While some of us might be ogling at the Facebook applications after the Developer Garage in Microsoft last Wednesday, the iPhone software roadmap has now triggered a new wave of applications coming out from entrepreneurs pretty soon. The full release will come out in June that will be during the Apple WWDC 2008 event. For now, you have to contend with a beta as a developer. Here are some of my random thoughts after watching the presentation of the keynote.
When the iPhone was introduced last year, most people was ecstatic about the multi-touch interface and how it redefined the realm of smart phones. However, there is an interesting change behind the Apple move. For a long time, there exist two camps of developers: the web developers and the mobile developers, each sitting on their own silo. There has not been a movement to adhere to a common standard. Of course, Google's Android is an attempt to allow developers to access core mobile device functionality through standard API calls. iPhone has changed one thing: it removes the issue of a mobile OS by putting in a stripped down version of Mac OS X (a UNIX free BSD system) and creates new APIs on the multi-touch interface that brings the web developers to develop apps on a platform dominated by the mobile developers. Now the web developers can bring in better design form factors for user experience on the whole to phone users.
From the presentation, there are a few interesting points to take home:
- The stress of iPhone moving in the enterprise direction: Taking cues from the smart phones like the blackberry, the first salvo is fired at the enterprise side of the smart phones. In the coming iPhone 2.0 software beta, support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and industry-standard corporate security standards will integrate iPhone for the professionals into their enterprise environments. So, they are listening to their customers. Already, in the Macworld Keynote, Steve Jobs introduced the multi SMS feature for the iPhone users. So, they are taking a step further to add in the iPhone the following features: push email, push contacts and push calendar, global address list, certificates and identities, WPA2/802.1X, enforced security policies, VPN protocols, remote wipe and device configuration. Apple is well aware that most smart phone users are locked in Microsoft Exchange, and hence having a way to sync their emails will convert more smart phone users towards the iPhone, and create more competition for the other smart phone vendors.
- The Apps Store triggering a wave of interesting innovations within the iPhone and iPod Touch: I thought Apple did an interesting thing by inviting developers from top notched software companies to make something for the presentation two weeks before the actual event. CNET has an interesting roundup of the apps introduced in the presentation. The focus seems to be on games, given that Electronic Arts (EA) demonstrated a mobile version of the popular game Spore and SEGA showing the Super Monkey Ball. Of course, they also give emphasis to niche markets like Epocrates (a software catered to medical professionals) and also Salesforce for their management applications. The final call from Steve Jobs to open an apps store for developers to sell their apps with a profit sharing scheme (70-30) and free (if the app is for free) will trigger a lot of interesting apps soon on the iPhone.
- The launch of the iFund: And one last thing, the iFund (US$100M) launched by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has generated a bigger wave than the online social network developers for platforms like Facebook and Linkedin. Obviously, KPCB looks at the iPhone not just a phone but a mini-computer that can deliver new value to consumers out there with a different perspective. This is something perhaps that the Singapore government (IDA and MDA) might need to learn from the US: just put the money down without conditions and that will bring the brave and bold to the cause.
Speaking of which, if anyone is interested in developing an iPhone application in Singapore, you can definitely contact me for funding through Thymos Capital (but you have to be based here). By the way, I am now downloading the SDK beta to see what I can do already.
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