Apple's iPhone runs Mac OS X Leopard - report

[AppleInsider]

Apple's new iPhone, which isn't due to begin shipping until June, runs a version of the company's Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" operating system slated to ship around the same time, a published report said Thursday.

Writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, renowned Mac columnist Andy Ihnatko said he recently had the opportunity to spend 45 minutes with the iPhone, which features the "most beautiful freakin' display" he's ever seen on a cellphone of PDA "in range of color and level of detail."

"Everything I've learned (both in official briefings and 'you and I never spoke, all right?' sort of discussions) says that it truly does run Leopard, the upcoming 10.5 OS that will be released for the Macintosh late in the spring," he added.

Ihnatko went on to say that the spiffy user interface animations seen during Apple chief executive Steve Jobs' introduction of the device and subsequent demonstration all "come courtesy of Leopard's Core Animation suite."

Contrary to other first hand accounts, the columnist claims that the device's virtual keyboard "is a huge improvement over the mechanical thumbpads" found on the Treo and any other smart phones.

"The buttons are significantly larger, you don't have to hit them dead-center, you lightly tap them instead of punching them down, and the software is smart enough to know that you meant to type 'Tuesday' instead of 'Tudsday,'"he wrote.

"After 30 seconds," he continued "I was already typing faster with the iPhone than I ever have with any other phone."

Ihnatko's claims raise the possibility some of user interface attributes present on the iPhone could make their way into the version of Leopard that will ship for Apple's Mac line of personal computers.

Apple has maintained that Leopard is on track to ship later this spring.

For dozens of high-quality iPhone interface close-ups, check out our iPhone software photo gallery, iPhone hardware photo gallery and other galleries in our Macworld coverage news archive.

A glass-enclosed iPhone runs a UI demo at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[bitman]

I was hoping someone like Andy would do a little more indepth review.

[EruIthildur]

I bet that keypad is going to be great... Once we all get off our Treos and Blackberry habits. That's what I see as the bar. Personally, I like the shallow touch, I bi**h if I have to use a keyboard that makes me press down more than a half an inch... That is TOPS I'm willing to do. I also like that flat feeling. The only think I am going to miss is not have the 'feel' of the keys... That's going to be tough to get over...

[DeaPeaJay]

Finally, someone who's actually USED the keyboard offering their opinion on it. Maybe this will shut up those who claim it sucks before even touching it.

[melgross]

I'm amazed he got it for so long. Even Pogue only had it for ten minutes. He thought the keyboard was a bit difficult, but he might have felt he had to rush through because of the time limit.

[TenoBell]

Seems obvious to me if it runs a full version of OS X, by June that will be Leopard.

I think easy use of the keyboard is relative.

I'm sure when tiny Blackberry keyboards first came to market people found typing on those tiny buttons awkward and difficult. But people eventually got used to it.

The same is likely with a virtual keyboard. It may be awkward and difficult at first but people will get used to it.

[kim kap sol]

Ballmer reviews the iPhone...

http://www.informationweek.com/story...ed_IWK_Windows

I think it's awesome that he keeps downplaying Apple's threat...one day it'll bite him and MS in the ass GOOD.

[addabox]

Originally Posted by DeaPeaJay

Finally, someone who's actually USED the keyboard offering their opinion on it. Maybe this will shut up those who claim it sucks before even touching it.

Not much chance of that. The orgy of "the iPhone that won't ship for 6 months and which I have never so much as seen up close, much less use, sucks and is completely worthless and will be an abject failure in the market because of x,y and z" is unstoppable.

[MacTel]

The current iPhone on the market sucks. Ya know the one from Linksys?

[mr O]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Contrary to other first hand accounts, the columnist claims that the device's virtual keyboard "is a huge improvement over the mechanical thumbpads" found on the Treo and any other smart phones. "The buttons are significantly larger, you don't have to hit them dead-center, you lightly tap them instead of punching them down, and the software is smart enough to know that you meant to type 'Tuesday' instead of 'Tudsday,'"he wrote. "After 30 seconds," he continued "I was already typing faster with the iPhone than I ever have with any other phone."

Okay, I am very sceptical about this one. Got to get my little potatofingers on it! But as JeffDM allready mentioned, Universal Access (system preferences) could be my guardian angel.

Ihnatko's claims raise the possibility some of user interface attributes present on the iPhone could make their way into the version of Leopard that will ship for Apple's Mac line of personal computers.

Great! So, I'd love to see the new multi touch gestures applied on the new MBP's trackpad. And as Multi Touch is gonna be the next evolutionary thing after the mouse and clickwheel, why not getting rid of Mighty Mouse and have a standalone trackpad instead! Something iPhone sized!

Oh yes, it's gonna be the end of running short of desk space as you don't have to physically move the mouse on your desk. Just use your fingers on the wireless trackpadcontroll!

[kmoney]

Originally Posted by addabox

Not much chance of that. The orgy of "the iPhone that won't ship for 6 months and which I have never so much as seen up close, much less use, sucks and is completely worthless and will be an abject failure in the market because of x,y and z" is unstoppable.

Do you know the English language and did you ever hear of the phrase run-on sentence?

[MacCrazy]

Well as it isn't really running OS X, just a mobile version, they could attach any name to it! Calling it Leopard is pretty irrelevant.

[jbella]

Among my favorite comments that I've seen is:

- The iPhone is nothing more than windows mobile with an apple logo pasted in. MS should sue!
- My 4 year old x phone can do everything the iPhone can do.
- the iPhone is a bad copy of the Linux based OpenMoko phone (nevermind that it only has GPRS, no WiFi, no bluetooth, and only 128MB of memory.. it has a touchscreen!)

People are crazy.

[mazola]

AppleInsider: Last week called, they want their news back!

[Gmac]

Originally Posted by kmoney

Do you know the English language and did you ever hear of the phrase run-on sentence?

People from all walks of life post here. Nit picking on gramar isn't a useful contribution to the discussion.

Besides I think you meant to say:

Do you know the English language and have you ever heard of the phrase run-on sentence?

[gregmightdothat]

Originally Posted by kmoney

Do you know the English language and did you ever hear of the phrase run-on sentence?

The run on sentence you speak of was contained within these things called "quotes." You may have heard of them. They're an essential part of this English language that you speak of.

Besides, Addabox is probably one of the most elegant speakers on this board.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by MacCrazy

Well as it isn't really running OS X, just a mobile version, they could attach any name to it! Calling it Leopard is pretty irrelevant.

If it's not running OS X, then what is it running? Did they port Core Animation to some other OS instead of merely eliminating the parts they didn't need for their mobile device? Of course not, it's a FULL version of OS X Leopard in that it uses the same kernel and core frameworks that the Mac uses. Not having the same UI veneer does not make it a different OS.

I really can't wait until this thing is dissected and how Apple trimmed the fat on OS X Leopard to make it mobile. I'm guessing that the iPhone will not have every language installed by default--like with OS X for Mac--I think you'll have a restore DVD with the option to choose your language during setup.

[maimezvous]

I have a question. This multi-touch technology. Is it a hardware or a software innovation?

[Kickaha]

Originally Posted by MacCrazy

Well as it isn't really running OS X, just a mobile version, they could attach any name to it! Calling it Leopard is pretty irrelevant.

No, we've been over this: http://forums.appleinsider.com/showp...5&postcount=25

[gregmightdothat]

Hardware. It works completely different than the stuff they have on ATM machines.

[Johnny Mozzarella]

Originally Posted by EruIthildur

I bet that keypad is going to be great...The only think I am going to miss is not have the 'feel' of the keys... That's going to be tough to get over...

I'm hoping it has the internal "clicker" like the iPod so you can "feel" the keys.
The "clicker" inside the iPod allows the user to feel the interface moving and reacting to your touch.

[addabox]

Originally Posted by gregmightdothat

The run on sentence you speak of was contained within these things called "quotes." You may have heard of them. They're an essential part of this English language that you speak of.

Besides, Addabox is probably one of the most elegant speakers on this board.

Why, thank you , gregmightdothat.

For the, um, grammarians: using a lengthy descriptive phrase within quotes as the putative title of a phenomena is by way of being droll.

[Johnny Mozzarella]

Originally Posted by maimezvous

I have a question. This multi-touch technology. Is it a hardware or a software innovation?

MultiTouch was invented and patented by a company called Fingerworks. Apple acquired this company and it's patents.

Here is some information from their FAQ:

Q: Isn't the MultiTouch Surface just an oversize touchpad?

A: No. The technology used in our MultiTouch surface produces images of the hands and fingers as they approach the surface. In effect, a video is created that records the complete motion of all fingers and the other parts of the hands. Furthermore, our MultiTouch software can track and interpret the motion of many hands (and their corresponding fingers) at a time. Touchpads can only sense the position of one finger, or if more than one finger is touching the surface the touchpad senses their centroid.

[TenoBell]

Well as it isn't really running OS X, just a mobile version, they could attach any name to it! Calling it Leopard is pretty irrelevant.

Apple took a different route than Windows did.

Instead of cramming an OS built for the desktop into a 3.5" screen. Apple completely redesigned a UI that made sense for a 3.5" screen.

People cannot wrap their mind around a full OS X if there is no dock, finder, and desktop folders.

[delreyjones]

Originally Posted by Kickaha

No, we've been over this: http://forums.appleinsider.com/showp...5&postcount=25

Good point, Kickaha; thanks for the link. I'm definitely in the camp that says the iPhone is OS X, but if anything, I think it's more important than people understand. I think Andy Ihnatko got it right when he used words like "perfect" and "liquid". Jobs has been aiming for perfection in his software since he was NeXT. So it was a long-term investment that is now paying off in spades. OS X is modular and portable whereas Vista is not.

From what I hear, Vista's Aero is visually comparable to OS X; I'm willing to believe it. But look at the misery M$ endured getting to to work on high-end PCs. Any bets as to how long it'll take them to get the Aero look on cell phones? Any doubt as to whether or not they've already started the effort?

[Inkling]

It'd be marvelous to see many of these touch features on a compact, 12-inch MacBook. Enlarging, shrinking, selecting, and scrolling all done with fingers rather than a clumsy track pad.

Not everyone knows the QWERTY layout though and even those who do don't necessarily consciously know where keys are. Apple needs to allow an alphabetical keyboard as an optional layout.

And they really should consider letting users input letters by writing them as large letters on the screen. It'd be faster for some.

[Feste]

Originally Posted by kmoney

Do you know the English language and did you ever hear of the phrase run-on sentence?

Ironically, the quote above is a type of run-on sentence, because there's no comma between the two independent clauses. (It should be "...language, and did you..."). By contrast, the sentence being criticized is *not* a run-on sentence. It may be long, but it's (mostly) grammatically correct, and the errors it does contain have nothing to do with its length...

[maimezvous]

Originally Posted by gregmightdothat

Hardware. It works completely different than the stuff they have on ATM machines.

Ok. That's what I thought, but when someone mentioned bringing this technology to the trackpad I got my hopes up. The demos of multi-touch on YouTube are incredible to watch. I can't wait for this to be exploited to it's full potential.

[Ireland]

I'm one kilometre from the Eiffel Tower, keepin' it real guys. See you all soon, in the spiritual sense of course. You're all lookin' great! Amsterdam here I come, the story continues..

[Gmac]

Originally Posted by Johnny Mozzarella

MultiTouch was invented and patented by a company called Fingerworks. Apple acquired this company and it's patents.

Here is some information from their FAQ:

Pretty cool stuff, so does that mean the fingers don't actually have to touch the screen? I guess that's how Steveo did the gestures to move through the address book when doing the iPhone demo. It was hard to tell if he was actually touching the screen or waving his fingers close to its surface.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by Ireland

I'm one kilometre from the Eiffel Tower, keepin' it real guys. See you all soon, in the spiritual sense of course. You're all lookin' great! Amsterdam here I come, the story continues..

Pictures. If you're going to give us a running tour, let us in on some of the fun as well.

[fuyutsuki]

Originally Posted by delreyjones

OS X is modular and portable whereas Vista is not.

Yep. And if it weren't for the fact that most the world is cosy buying hardware with OEM Windows (NT 5.X) and OEM Office preinstalled, Microsoft would be in the most serious sh!t you can easily imagine.

I think the two really sweet things which underly the iPhone furore are:

1. Multi touch technology *finally* being elegantly used
2. The maddening portability of OS X coupled with Apple's ability to reinvent the GUI for item 1!

If someone had said something like that would be unveiled as the new full screen video iPod / phone / internet appliance that it is, we would all have rolled our eyes and said "nice dream you have there", but it's true! The iPhone is looking to be a real tour de force and it's only because Apple have such a serious inner capability to weild such technologies as one single force.

MS will keep ticking over and dominating the OS stakes for a decade or two yet with no need for innovation whatsoever as long as Apple stays Apple and refuses to aim for the bargain basement bin of the market and so long as Linux remains a mess from the desktop standpoint. But goodness me if MS haven't the heinous task on their hands of one day having to truly redo Windows from scratch. They are late 1996 Apple without Be yet alone NeXT on their shopping list. If only the world weren't so accomodating for them!

The day IBM hired MS to make PC-DOS was the day their future was guaranteed for a generation. But it won't last longer than that.

[THT]

Originally Posted by fuyutsuki

MS will keep ticking over and dominating the OS stakes for a decade or two yet with no need for innovation whatsoever as long as Apple stays Apple and refuses to aim for the bargain basement bin of the market and so long as Linux remains a mess from the desktop standpoint. But goodness me if MS haven't the heinous task on their hands of one day having to truly redo Windows from scratch. They are late 1996 Apple without Be yet alone NeXT on their shopping list. If only the world weren't so accomodating for them!

Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista is fine. From a technological standpoint, it's comparable to Linux, OS-X, and other PC/Server class operating systems. There are tradeoffs, but it can do the job.

In fact, there is even a embedded version of XP designed to run on ATMs, set top boxes, any sort of box with limited hardware. All those DVD rental boxes in grocery stores and McDonalds could be running NT for all we know.

As had been said before, MS has the technology, is able to do the tech, but they are boring and rather industrial or corporate. Apple on the other hand tries to exciting and consumerish.

[MacCrazy]

Originally Posted by TenoBell

Apple took a different route than Windows did.

Instead of cramming an OS built for the desktop into a 3.5" screen. Apple completely redesigned a UI that made sense for a 3.5" screen.

People cannot wrap their mind around a full OS X if there is no dock, finder, and desktop folders.

No I mean it is not Mac OS X as it is not open to developers and is basically a stripped down OS. I don't think it should be a fully-able OS by any means it just seems futile to state that it is Mac OS X.

Incidentally, Windows Mobile is a very different version of Windows and has been optimised for those small screens. It is also open to developers, similar to Palm. No-one suggests that WindowsMobile is XP.

[Kickaha]

The only people saying that the iPhone OS is MacOS X are folks outside of Apple who are just misinformed. Apple has been VERY VERY CAREFUL to always refer to the iPhone OS as "OS X". No "Mac". The distinction? The OS on your Mac is, officially, "MacOS X".

The iPhone runs a suite of technologies from the OS X toolbox. The kernel, almost certainly, WebKit, QuickTime, CoreAnimation, Cocoa, etc... plus some specific items for that hardware, such as touch screen drivers, etc. It's not MacOS X, but it *IS* OS X. OS X just became the new branding for a family of technologies that can run on a variety of hardware platforms. *One* of those is the Macintosh. Another is the iPhone. It wouldn't surprise me in the least bit to see the iPod come under the umbrella, or the Apple TV, etc, etc.

[MacCrazy]

I agree it is OS X, my original dispute was the OS being called Leopard. It is just that the connotations of this make little sense. I'm sure they're using the technologies Leopard has improved on over Tiger but calling it Leopard is meaningless.

[TenoBell]

In my opinion iPhone is not analogous to Windows Mobile or Palm, iPhone is analogous to Origami Ultra Mobile PC. Origami is literally a desktop PC scaled down to miniature. You run any XP software on its tiny screen.

Origami likely has not been successful because there has been no coherence between software and hardware fully utilizes the advantages of the device. Microsoft and partners made it without much thought for what would people actually do with it in the real world. Because its essentially XP on a tiny screen with XP apps on a tiny screen there is little incentive to use it.

As far as we can see the iPhone is spirit the same device as the Origami. Only Apple has a plan for how to make it successful. The touch screen interface brings an entirely new paradigm to software development. Apart of that plan is for Apple to have full control of the user experience with the iPhone.

The tight control is likely from Apple wanting to insure third party software adheres to Apple's own guidelines of how they should work on the device. Apple surely does not want software designed for the desktop on the iPhone. They want software on the iPhone designed for a 3.5" touch screen.

Which is a more comprehensive plan to maxmize the real world usability and success of the device.

[Kickaha]

Originally Posted by MacCrazy

I agree it is OS X, my original dispute was the OS being called Leopard. It is just that the connotations of this make little sense. I'm sure they're using the technologies Leopard has improved on over Tiger but calling it Leopard is meaningless.

Well that depends... does Leopard refer to MacOS X, or OS X? To date, we've just assumed it meant MacOS X, but if you think about it, if the iPhone uses the kernel and other pieces from the OS X 10.5 bundle (and I think it's safe to assume it does), then the iPhone *IS* running the iPhone build of the Leopard version of OS X.

But not MacOS X.

Which means that the headline is wrong, of course...

[melgross]

Originally Posted by Kickaha

The only people saying that the iPhone OS is MacOS X are folks outside of Apple who are just misinformed. Apple has been VERY VERY CAREFUL to always refer to the iPhone OS as "OS X". No "Mac". The distinction? The OS on your Mac is, officially, "MacOS X".

The iPhone runs a suite of technologies from the OS X toolbox. The kernel, almost certainly, WebKit, QuickTime, CoreAnimation, Cocoa, etc... plus some specific items for that hardware, such as touch screen drivers, etc. It's not MacOS X, but it *IS* OS X. OS X just became the new branding for a family of technologies that can run on a variety of hardware platforms. *One* of those is the Macintosh. Another is the iPhone. It wouldn't surprise me in the least bit to see the iPod come under the umbrella, or the Apple TV, etc, etc.

Not according to Apple.

http://www.macworld.co.uk/ipod-itune...m?newsid=16927

[melgross]

Originally Posted by Kickaha

The only people saying that the iPhone OS is MacOS X are folks outside of Apple who are just misinformed. Apple has been VERY VERY CAREFUL to always refer to the iPhone OS as "OS X". No "Mac". The distinction? The OS on your Mac is, officially, "MacOS X".

The iPhone runs a suite of technologies from the OS X toolbox. The kernel, almost certainly, WebKit, QuickTime, CoreAnimation, Cocoa, etc... plus some specific items for that hardware, such as touch screen drivers, etc. It's not MacOS X, but it *IS* OS X. OS X just became the new branding for a family of technologies that can run on a variety of hardware platforms. *One* of those is the Macintosh. Another is the iPhone. It wouldn't surprise me in the least bit to see the iPod come under the umbrella, or the Apple TV, etc, etc.

It can't be the MAC OS X because the supporting hardware isn't there. different chip, different form factor, different purpose,

But tha t doesn't mean that it isn't OS X as Apple says it is, ported over to this hardware, but with modifications required to make it run on theiPhone..

I'll go by what Apple says onthis.