Two months with the iPhone
September 28th, 2007 : Austin SmithSo, full of anxiety but pumped about iTunes on the iPhone, I ran the iPhone update 1.1.1. I was anxious because I had hacked my phone to allow me to install third party applications. It worked fine, but it removed all my previously installed stuff.
I’m not going to hack it again. I realized, as it was reloading (and I was nervously waiting) that I didn’t use hardly any of the crap I had installed. Yeah, some of the stuff is neat in premise… but just not as useful as I had hoped. Peer to peer GPS? It’s nice, but it doesn’t work. Etch a sketch? Also very cool… but after the “oohh that’s neat” feeling of drawing on an iPhone with your finger, it loses its luster too. Even “useful” apps like terminal and Python saw no use. The things I use on the iPhone are the things that Apple sold me. Safari, Mail, Phone, iPod. That’s what I use. That’s why I have an iPhone. I wish there were more things I could do with it–REAL GPS for instance would be cool, but won’t happen. Document editing, though, would be even better.
I’m just happy not to own a new iBrick.
October 1st, 2007 at 3:05 pm
I appreciate constructive criticism and a collaborative spirit from those that had 3rd party apps and truly want Apple to consider 3rd party/SDK support, however there is exaggerated useless flaming going on right now. Your post was refreshing as you seem to confirm what I suspected, that many of the apps were “shiny toys” but didn’t offer sustainable value. Contrarily, think what outsiders could do with a support SDK.
October 2nd, 2007 at 12:47 pm
The thing I miss about an SDK is people who play and come up with novel ideas which are otherwise not possible. Take CoverFlow. It was developed on the Mac for your iTunes library. Apple noticed it and bought it. Now, CoverFlow is everywhere. iTunes, iPhone, iPod touch and soon, Leopard. A novel idea which is fundamental to the latest iPods.
Why not have a true SDK? Yes, there is lots of useless stuff. On the other hand, someone probably has an idea floating about and could make an already great phone beyond compare.