Apple to hold "iPhone Software Roadmap" media event next week

Posted:
in iPhone edited May 2014
Apple Inc. will hold a special event for analysts and members of the media next week, March 6th, to formally announce plans for its much anticipated iPhone and iPod touch software developers kit (SDK).



"Please join us to learn about the iPhone software roadmap, including the iPhone SDK and some exciting new enterprise features," the company wrote in a digital invite distributed by email.



The event is set to take place at 10:00 a.m. sharp Pacific time at the "Town Hall" on Apple's Cupertino campus -- the same venue used for the introduction of the Intel-based Mac mini and iPod Hi-Fi in February of 2006, and the aluminum iMacs this past August.



Per usual, seating for the event will be extremely limited due to the size of the Apple Town Hall, which appears to hold only a couple hundred at best.



Apple chief executive Steve Jobs had previously announced plans to unveil the iPhone SDK later this month, but true to recent rumors, delays forced the company to push out the unveiling by a couple of weeks. (Earlier information obtained by AppleInsider suggests that Apple had originally intended to present the SDK at an event on Thursday, February 21st.)



"Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers? hands in February," Jobs wrote in a posting to Apple.com back in October. "We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users."







In addition to outlining the procedures developers will need to follow in order to author and distribute their own applications through iTunes, Apple in its invite on Wednesday also promised to reveal some "exciting new enterprise features" of its own.



The Apple Town Hall Auditorium



The iPhone's lack of enterprise friendliness -- specifically is limited support for Microsoft's Exchange email platform -- is commonly cited as one of the primary barriers to adoption by businesses. Some industry watchers have even gone as far as to suggest that as a result, the iPhone has no place in the business world.



However, as AppleInsider exclusively reported in December, Apple has been hard at work to discredit that notion, and has formed a team whose primary objective is to test future Exchange and Outlook functionality with the touch-screen handset.







In addition to its presentation in Cupertino on Thursday, Apple will also relay its message to developers around the globe through a series of "Key Customer Briefings" and other presentations, AppleInsider has been told.
«13456

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 109
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Apple Inc. will hold a special event for analysts and members of the media next week, March 6th, to formally announce plans for its much anticipated iPhone and iPod touch software developers kit (SDK).



    "Please join us to learn about the iPhone software roadmap, including the iPhone SDK and some exciting new enterprise features," Apple wrote in the digital invite.



    Article explaining in more detail:



    http://bigtech.blogs.for tune.cnn.co...es-on-march-6/
  • Reply 2 of 109
    tednditedndi Posts: 1,921member
    ...mmmmm Enterprise!



    mmmmmm!
  • Reply 3 of 109
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TednDi View Post


    mmmmmm!



    GOOD!



    Wait a minute, 'Mmmm Good' is Campbell Soup's tagline, I believe.



    Anyway, should be an interesting summer. Can't wait to see "Authorized" Native iPhone apps!!!
  • Reply 4 of 109
    Horray!
  • Reply 5 of 109
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rot'nApple View Post


    GOOD!



    Wait a minute, 'Mmmm Good' is Campbell Soup's tagline, I believe.



    Anyway, should be an interesting summer. Can't wait to see "Authorized" Native iPhone apps!!!



    I would guess that the "authorized" native apps won't be that different than the current apps already avail for jailbroken phones. They will probably just be free. However, anything to move the iPhone towards being a real enterprise phone is a step in the right direction.
  • Reply 6 of 109
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Something I've brought up before is what effect this SDk might have on the current, non-authorized developers.



    As this current software is supposedly based on a security hole in Safari, one that Apple could have fixed along with the others it fixed—but didn't, the question comes up as to what Apple's thinking about this has been, and will it change.



    Why hasn't Apple fixed this loophole. If it did, it could have resulted in shutting down, completely, the development of all the software that has so far been done. Without the hole, no software could be installed.



    Has Apple used this hole to "allow" third party development? If so, have they used it to "encourage" development while they assessed the market? Could they have used it to have apps ready for when their own SDK came out, thus speeding up the appearance of programs that might require just a bit of tweaking to get them to work with the SDK?



    If so, will they make a deal with these developers so that they would have to discontinue their current development if they want to be allowed to develop under the SDK?



    And lastly, with the release of the SDK, or somewhat afterwards, once enough developers are onboard, and sufficient programs are available, will they then, finally, shut down that security hole?
  • Reply 7 of 109
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post


    Something I've brought up before is what effect this SDk might have on the current, non-authorized developers.



    As this current software is supposedly based on a security hole in Safari, one that Apple could have fixed along with the others it fixed?but didn't, the question comes up as to what Apple's thinking about this has been, and will it change.



    Why hasn't Apple fixed this loophole. If it did, it could have resulted in shutting down, completely, the development of all the software that has so far been done. Without the hole, no software could be installed.



    Has Apple used this hole to "allow" third party development? If so, have they used it to "encourage" development while they accessed the market? Could they have used it to have apps ready for when their own SDK came out, thus speeding up the appearance of programs that might require just a bit of tweaking to get them to work with the SDK?



    If so, will they make a deal with these developers so that they would have to discontinue their current development if they want to be allowed to develop under the SDK?



    And lastly, with the release of the SDK, or somewhat afterwards, once enough developers are onboard, and sufficient programs are available, will they then, finally, shut down that security hole?





    Good point. Could it be that Apple has been allowing "beta" testing of applications to see how they will run on the iPhone? I bet the developers have a stack of 3rd party apps on their phones.
  • Reply 8 of 109
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sapporobaby View Post


    Good point. Could it be that Apple has been allowing "beta" testing of applications to see how they will run on the iPhone? I bet the developers have a stack of 3rd party apps on their phones.



    Yup. This has really made me wonder. I've been saying from the very beginning that Apple would have an SDK. It just seemed too obvious. There was no other reason to put that much of an OS on a phone. Everything Apple has on the phone now, could have been implemented with a fraction of the OS.



    Fairly wide open development would be the only reason for over 700 MBs of OS.
  • Reply 9 of 109
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by forefun View Post


    Article explaining in more detail:



    http://bigtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com...es-on-march-6/



    I fixed your link.



    I'm hoping the details are all good for everyone, such as an infrastructure to tie into for paid software (at reasonable applet costs), but also a way to allow free & no cost software too.
  • Reply 10 of 109
    Did anyone else notice the roadmap is a "Google Map" in the upper left corner? Nice touch
  • Reply 11 of 109
    tenobelltenobell Posts: 7,014member
    Quote:

    Has Apple used this hole to "allow" third party development? If so, have they used it to "encourage" development while they accessed the market? Could they have used it to have apps ready for when their own SDK came out, thus speeding up the appearance of programs that might require just a bit of tweaking to get them to work with the SDK?



    Very good point. The iPhone now essentially has a healthy and growing developer community. It just needs the SDK to bring it all into organized alignment.
  • Reply 12 of 109
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post


    Yup. This has really made me wonder. I've been saying from the very beginning that Apple would have an SDK. It just seemed too obvious. There was no other reason to put that much of an OS on a phone. Everything Apple has on the phone now, could have been implemented with a fraction of the OS.



    Interesting points.



    Quote:

    Fairly wide open development would be the only reason for over 700 MBs of OS.



    I believe the OS is only 160MB. The 700MB people seems to reference is the 10^3 to 2^10 differences in calculating capacity for the 8GB iPhone.
  • Reply 13 of 109
    Is anyone else puzzled (and possibly frightened) by the fact that they will be showing a "roadmap"? Does this mean we don't actually get the SDK on March 6, we get to see the roadmap for it?



    I'm sure they'll deliver *something* on the 6th, but the way this invitation is worded, I expect a long and complicated iPhone app development process...
  • Reply 14 of 109
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nevenmrgan View Post


    Is anyone else puzzled (and possibly frightened) by the fact that they will be showing a "roadmap"? Does this mean we don't actually get the SDK on March 6, we get to see the roadmap for it?



    I'm sure they'll deliver *something* on the 6th, but the way this invitation is worded, I expect a long and complicated iPhone app development process...



    It's a roadmap on software development. It doesn't necessarily refer to the SDK itself.



    In any event, a couple of weeks, more or less, doesn't matter. Leopard was late by months, but it's here now, and the lateness has been discounted.
  • Reply 15 of 109
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nevenmrgan View Post


    Is anyone else puzzled (and possibly frightened) by the fact that they will be showing a "roadmap"? Does this mean we don't actually get the SDK on March 6, we get to see the roadmap for it?



    I'm sure they'll deliver *something* on the 6th, but the way this invitation is worded, I expect a long and complicated iPhone app development process...



    You may be correct. Apple certainly has a history of creating buzz to rekindle a dying fire..
  • Reply 16 of 109
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post


    It's a roadmap on software development. It doesn't necessarily refer to the SDK itself.



    In any event, a couple of weeks, more or less, doesn't matter. Leopard was late by months, but it's here now, and the lateness has been discounted.



    So true and most developers interested in developing for the iPhone already have a jump on developing apps. It is just an SDK, not the Grail.
  • Reply 17 of 109
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nevenmrgan View Post


    Is anyone else puzzled (and possibly frightened) by the fact that they will be showing a "roadmap"? Does this mean we don't actually get the SDK on March 6, we get to see the roadmap for it?



    I'm sure they'll deliver *something* on the 6th, but the way this invitation is worded, I expect a long and complicated iPhone app development process...



    I think because Steve had promised something by February, and now that's not going to be possible, they want to give us *something*. So they'll let out whatever super secret stuff it is that they're working on.
  • Reply 18 of 109
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post


    It's a roadmap on software development. It doesn't necessarily refer to the SDK itself.



    That's true. Still, more worrying than the delay is the idea that there *is* a "roadmap" at all. Apple doesn't have an "OS X roadmap" or an "iPod roadmap." To me, this implies a tiered development process of some sort - perhaps allowing Apple's partners full access to the platform and giving smaller developers a more restricted sandbox. Either that or features will be rolled out gradually - it wouldn't be a roadmap if it didn't include more than one step in the process.
  • Reply 19 of 109
    olternautolternaut Posts: 1,376member
    Yes, I too think that the use of the word "roadmap" by apple might mean that the actual SDK launch itself might be some date in the future.

    All that matters ultimately though is when a large number of powerful useful officially sanctioned apps will become available on itunes...at a reasonable cost. That exchange support announcement and how it actually works will be extremely interesting.

    On a side note....I KNEW it was going to be a mini media event for the SDK launch and not a simple announcement.

    Yup, as far as 2008 is concerned Apple is just getting warmed up.
  • Reply 20 of 109
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Olternaut View Post


    Yes, I too think that the use of the word "roadmap" by apple might mean that the actual SDK launch itself might be some date in the future.



    I can't help but think that Apple's going to abuse the term if they aren't already. They tend to not tell anyone what's next, whereas product roadmaps are generally used to tell what products are scheduled, and when they should be released.
Sign In or Register to comment.