Coming to iPhone: Instant Messenger, EA's Spore, SEGA games
During its iPhone Software Roadmap event on Thursday, Apple invited several developers on stage to demonstrate work-in-progress versions of some of the first third-party native iPhone applications that included Instant Messenger (AOL), Spore (EA Games), and Super Monkey Ball (SEGA).
AIM for iPhone
One of the most warmly received announcements came from AOL, which managed to develop a working version of its Instant Messenger software for the iPhone after having been provided with a beta of the iPhone SDK just two weeks ago.
The application includes a full featured Buddy List that integrates with Address Book and the iPhone's contact list, displaying the name, status and icon of each buddy. It also supports multiple simultaneous conversations. Switching between them requires just a 'swipe' across the iPhone's touch-screen.
"No question the powerful tools and APIs in the iPhone SDK made it easy to develop a feature-rich mobile application for the iPhone," said Kevin Conroy, executive vice president, AOL. "The rapid development cycle for this application was very intuitive, and when you add the App Store, it?s an unbeatable combination for development and distribution of mobile applications."
Via a new application programming interface (API) offered as part of the iPhone SDK, applications like the AIM client are able to interface with the iPhone's Photo Library. As such, users can select custom buddy list icons from their iPhone's Photo Library or create one on the spot via the handset's built-in camera.
EA's Spore and SEGA's Super Monkey Ball
On another front, it became clear that the iPhone's built-in three-axis accelerometer is going to unleash a new chapter in handheld gaming unparalleled by anything in the industry thus far. Apple began by demonstrating a Photo editing application that lets users "undo" changes simply by shaking the iPhone like an "etch a sketch." EA Games' Travis Boatman was then introduced to perform a demo of "Spore" on the iPhone, also ported to iPhone in just two weeks. Like the photo editing app, game-play is based purely on tilting and maneuvering the orientation of the handset.
"The animation technology in the iPhone OS enables us to build awesome games,? said EA chief executive John Riccitiello. "I think iPhone consumers are going to be blown away by the games we create for this platform."
Similarly, SEGA's Ethan Einhorn showed off a version of his firm's Super Monkey Ball title that leveraged the iPhone's Accelerometer, and like Spore was also ported to the handset within two weeks. To move the monkey around the screen, all players have to do is tilt the iPhone.
"It's gonna be really hard to go back to a traditional game controller," he said.
Salesforce.com and Epocrates
Also demonstrating applications at the SDK event were representatives from Salesforce.com and PDA medical software developer Epocrates.
Salesforce demonstrated an application -- written by a single developer in less than two weeks -- that will allow sales representatives to view graphical representations of their monthly sales goals on the iPhone. Chuck Dietrich, who spoke on behalf of the company, said the iPhone SDK will allow his firm to repurpose data for the iPhone, which could then be distributed wirelessly to those sales reps.
Shortly after, Glenn Keighley of Epocrates demonstrated a new medical reference application for the iPhone that will allow physicians to reference and identify various different kinds of medicines (pills).
"By putting so much computing power into such an elegant mobile device, Apple has opened up tremendous opportunities for application developers,? said Kirk Loevner, Epocrates's chairman and CEO. ?The technology and software in the iPhone OS will allow us to create new and innovative applications that help improve patient safety and provide healthcare professionals with an unsurpassed user experience."
Available only on the Apple App Store
All these applications and hundreds more will be distributed exclusively via Apple's new App Store beginning in June. The App Store application will ship as part of iPhone Software 2.0 and allow users to download and install applications and games wirelessly over EDGE or WiFI, Apple said, or via iTunes on a Mac or PC.
The store's landing page will feature the Top 50 most popular applications and include a search function for the remainder of the offerings. Developers must register with Apple ($99 fee) to obtain a digital certificate and the right to publish their games on the store. Developers will set the price of there applications and see 70 percent of the proceeds from sales while Apple will garner the remaining 30 percent to cover server, marketing and other costs.
There will be a slight vesting period between the time developers submit their applications to Apple for inclusion on the App Store and when they are actually made available for download, said Apple Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, who declined to elaborate further.
More news from today's Apple event
Apple's iPhone takes on the Enterprise
Apple posts iPhone Software Roadmap event stream
Apple announces iPhone 2.0 software and SDK beta
Notes from Apple's iPhone Software Roadmap event
AIM for iPhone
One of the most warmly received announcements came from AOL, which managed to develop a working version of its Instant Messenger software for the iPhone after having been provided with a beta of the iPhone SDK just two weeks ago.
The application includes a full featured Buddy List that integrates with Address Book and the iPhone's contact list, displaying the name, status and icon of each buddy. It also supports multiple simultaneous conversations. Switching between them requires just a 'swipe' across the iPhone's touch-screen.
"No question the powerful tools and APIs in the iPhone SDK made it easy to develop a feature-rich mobile application for the iPhone," said Kevin Conroy, executive vice president, AOL. "The rapid development cycle for this application was very intuitive, and when you add the App Store, it?s an unbeatable combination for development and distribution of mobile applications."
Via a new application programming interface (API) offered as part of the iPhone SDK, applications like the AIM client are able to interface with the iPhone's Photo Library. As such, users can select custom buddy list icons from their iPhone's Photo Library or create one on the spot via the handset's built-in camera.
EA's Spore and SEGA's Super Monkey Ball
On another front, it became clear that the iPhone's built-in three-axis accelerometer is going to unleash a new chapter in handheld gaming unparalleled by anything in the industry thus far. Apple began by demonstrating a Photo editing application that lets users "undo" changes simply by shaking the iPhone like an "etch a sketch." EA Games' Travis Boatman was then introduced to perform a demo of "Spore" on the iPhone, also ported to iPhone in just two weeks. Like the photo editing app, game-play is based purely on tilting and maneuvering the orientation of the handset.
"The animation technology in the iPhone OS enables us to build awesome games,? said EA chief executive John Riccitiello. "I think iPhone consumers are going to be blown away by the games we create for this platform."
Similarly, SEGA's Ethan Einhorn showed off a version of his firm's Super Monkey Ball title that leveraged the iPhone's Accelerometer, and like Spore was also ported to the handset within two weeks. To move the monkey around the screen, all players have to do is tilt the iPhone.
"It's gonna be really hard to go back to a traditional game controller," he said.
Salesforce.com and Epocrates
Also demonstrating applications at the SDK event were representatives from Salesforce.com and PDA medical software developer Epocrates.
Salesforce demonstrated an application -- written by a single developer in less than two weeks -- that will allow sales representatives to view graphical representations of their monthly sales goals on the iPhone. Chuck Dietrich, who spoke on behalf of the company, said the iPhone SDK will allow his firm to repurpose data for the iPhone, which could then be distributed wirelessly to those sales reps.
Shortly after, Glenn Keighley of Epocrates demonstrated a new medical reference application for the iPhone that will allow physicians to reference and identify various different kinds of medicines (pills).
"By putting so much computing power into such an elegant mobile device, Apple has opened up tremendous opportunities for application developers,? said Kirk Loevner, Epocrates's chairman and CEO. ?The technology and software in the iPhone OS will allow us to create new and innovative applications that help improve patient safety and provide healthcare professionals with an unsurpassed user experience."
Available only on the Apple App Store
All these applications and hundreds more will be distributed exclusively via Apple's new App Store beginning in June. The App Store application will ship as part of iPhone Software 2.0 and allow users to download and install applications and games wirelessly over EDGE or WiFI, Apple said, or via iTunes on a Mac or PC.
The store's landing page will feature the Top 50 most popular applications and include a search function for the remainder of the offerings. Developers must register with Apple ($99 fee) to obtain a digital certificate and the right to publish their games on the store. Developers will set the price of there applications and see 70 percent of the proceeds from sales while Apple will garner the remaining 30 percent to cover server, marketing and other costs.
There will be a slight vesting period between the time developers submit their applications to Apple for inclusion on the App Store and when they are actually made available for download, said Apple Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, who declined to elaborate further.
More news from today's Apple event
Apple's iPhone takes on the Enterprise
Apple posts iPhone Software Roadmap event stream
Apple announces iPhone 2.0 software and SDK beta
Notes from Apple's iPhone Software Roadmap event
Comments
Overall it's great to have Sega on board. Hopefully we'll also get stuff like Chu Chu Rocket further down the road.
I'm 3/4 done with the download. FINALY got in.
I can definitely host a mirror if you can send it to me (fast speeds)? PM me if you can.
Will all of this stuff like AIM and the two new games work on the iPod touch too?
It sounds like it will. Because of the iPhone being a subscription-based accounting thing and the iPod Touch not, the 2.0 update will cost money. Probably not much. People will howl anyway, nevertheless
ha ha ha... that's funny...
Sounds like we're going to have our selves a WiiPhone...
ha ha ha... that's funny...
Y'know, I jokingly mentioned Wii a few days ago... now it came true! I better go buy some Lotto tickets.
Amazing! Apple has done it again.... I have no doubt the 3rd party apps will cement the iPhone as THE mobile platform. I love my Palm Treo, but once the 3rd party ecosystem is up and healthy, I'm off to buy my iPhone. Well done Mr. Jobs! AND Monkeyball to boot, man that does it for me, I'm on board. June can't come soon enough!
That is exactly what I believe 100%. Up til this point I thought the iPhone was a great device, but that it could never truly compete with other smartphones on a large level with its current feature set.
It now has an enterprise Exchange experience that I personally think blows away the experience of interacting with Exchange data on Windows Mobile devices, plus the limitless possibilities of 3rd party Business and Entertainment apps.
I agree fully. The iPhone has cemented its place in becoming THE mobile device that most everyone has because what other device can be a full-fledged mobile gaming platform that is integrated with cell/photo/web/IM/etc for the youth/entertainment consumer and also be a complete enterprise/Exchange/limitless business app device for the enterprise/business consumer?
Apple has done it. They have created the first mobile device that is truly 100% flexible in how how it is perceived and used by its owner through the use of a completely versatile mobile software platform and interaction system.
I am stunned.
What do you guys think? Is this something that Microsnot will want to provide quickly to this platform?
I am wondering if MSN messenger will become available? It's not my favorite messenging service, by any means, but most of my friends and colleagues use it.
What do you guys think? Is this something that Microsnot will want to provide quickly to this platform?
I wouldn't be surprised if Adium comes out with an iPhone app which would support IM across Yahoo/MSN/AIM/etc.
I wouldn't be surprised if Adium comes out with an iPhone app which would support IM across Yahoo/MSN/AIM/etc.
That would be sweet, I love Adium
only if I had and iPhone or and iTouch...
Duct tape mobile phone to iPod touch ala flamethrower+assault rifle (Aliens2: in the future, Duct tape is still the most essential technological tool....)
Amazing! Apple has done it again.... I have no doubt the 3rd party apps will cement the iPhone as THE mobile platform. I love my Palm Treo, but once the 3rd party ecosystem is up and healthy, I'm off to buy my iPhone. Well done Mr. Jobs! AND Monkeyball to boot, man that does it for me, I'm on board. June can't come soon enough!
Just the enterprise features had me, but with the SDK and all the possibilities I'm left wanting an iPhone like never before.
Why doesn't Apple just release iChat?
Maybe they are trying to encourage 3rd party development. I mean Adium for the iPhone is almost a certainty. We saw AOL with the AIM client yesterday. Apple should just sit back and let 3rd party developers do their magic.
Maybe they are trying to encourage 3rd party development. I mean Adium for the iPhone is almost a certainty. We saw AOL with the AIM client yesterday. Apple should just sit back and let 3rd party developers do their magic.
I wonder if this will prompt AOL to update aim for mac
Thats why I switched to Adium, because AIM sucked.
Please Steve! Give us gooood games, and not about one year after they are released on Windows.
We could also use more choice, plus power for graphics cards too. My 2007 Q-core PMac is a graphic weakling.
Pathetic.