MacNewsWorld Talkback

Re: iPhone Development: Go Web, Young Programmer
Posted by: Andrew Reutter and Andrew Trent 2008-02-19 09:15:59

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iPhone owners have been eagerly awaiting the month of February -- that's when Apple has promised to release its software development kit, allowing developers everywhere to create new applications that will run natively on the smash-hit handsets. Yes, the iPhone SDK might well be the keys to the kingdom. Then again, it might just prove to be the shackles that bind your development future to Apple's fortunes. You see, if you as a developer build your applications using the official iPhone SDK, then those apps are bound to the platform.

Re: iPhone Development: Go Web, Young Programmer
Posted by: g3rd 2008-02-19 11:05:43 In reply to: Andrew Reutter and Andrew Trent

I agree with the other post. The Edge network isn't fast or 100% available. It would be nice to have a program(s) that works offline than syncs later. Yes this limits your audience, but as a business you probably wouldn't limit to only the mobile phone audience. It would be smart to make mobil apps that (for iPhone and others) that enhance and accompany your main web application.

Re: iPhone Development: Go Web, Young Programmer
Posted by: macguier 2008-02-19 09:21:00 In reply to: Andrew Reutter and Andrew Trent

There is one huge issue that everyone always seems to forget with iPhone Web apps. It must be nice to live in a cosmopolitan city filled with free WiFi and strong Edge signals, but not all of us in the major part of the country are so lucky. You may be surprised to hear that I'm not always near a Wifi signal, and there are even parts of my day where I don't even have a good Edge signal (slow as it may be). I want the versatility of having programs on my phone that I can access and use no matter what, whether I have a connection to outside world or not. Therefore, Web apps are basically useless to me. I'm not asking you to change your mind, just remember to think of things like this in your pros and cons section, because you kind of left it out.