The Engadget Interview: Phil Schiller, Apple Senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing
By Ryan Block 
posted September 6th 2007 5:01PM
posted September 6th 2007 5:01PM
At this week's Apple event we got a rare chance to speak with one of the most well regarded and tight-lipped veeps in the biz, Apple's Phil Schiller. It's never fun knowing you have to throw half your questions right out because of how good these guys are at keeping mum, but we did get Phil to tell us a little about what he thinks of the iPhone unlock market, 3rd party iPhone apps, the future of hard drive based iPods in an increasingly flash based world, and how he expects iTunes to fare after the departure of NBC. Read on!Thanks for meeting with us.... So let's get into the product stuff. Steve on stage today kept insisting that the iPhone is still the best iPod that you guys make.
Yes. It's the top of the line.
Well, the touch now has more storage, sans the phone. I mean it's basically exactly the same device. It has all of the same media software and has the browser and YouTube and all that. So why is the iPhone now still the best iPod?
Because it also has the phone. So you get the internet device and an iPod and a phone all in one thing. So you're right. Its not that it can do anything more than an iPod, except that you can certainly do your internet surfing also on the cellular network in addition to WiFi -- so that you have that part of it. It does a little bit more in terms of an internet device because of that access and it has a phone and both they are both as capable in terms of iPods. So, for that reason it's still the top of the line. But if your focus is primarily a touch iPod then sure we have something that's just as good and has added benefit of being amazingly thin. Look at the thinness!
Do you see these two products developing in unison with each other? When one gets a new feature the other gets that new feature? How does that work?
So I'd rather not go there. I'd rather look at what's here today because it wasn't yesterday. Which is, now people have this choice of this amazing touch experience on the iPhone which I think is an incredible revolutionary product. It was when it came out a couple of months ago and it still is today. And we have this other revolutionary touch product that builds on the same technology called iPod touch, that gets it into more people's hands. It starts at a lower price, it's for those people who aren't ready or able to get a phone and a contract with a carrier -- they can still get an iPod touch and I think most importantly it lets us go global with it now -- you saw all countries, all the languages that we can put it out in. When it starts to ship it will be around the world. We'll have the iTunes WiFi Music Store around the world. This is an exciting thing to go from. We look at it all here from the US, but if you're sitting in Japan or Italy or France or wherever there is an exciting new touch product you can get before this month is over, and I think that's really powerful.
Speaking of taking these products around the world, especially these touch screen devices, what do you make of the iPhone software unlock, um, "market"?
[Laughter] I'm not really sure there is a market there at all or yet. So, I'd really rather not make a comment on it. But I don't think there is a "there" there.
So, I think that in addition to having an unlocked iPhone that will work on other carriers' networks especially worldwide, the thing that people really want in iPhone is 3rd party application support. Obviously we didn't see an announcement about that today, but people are doing it anyway and there is actually a lot of really great iPhone applications out there that will also probably work on the iPod touch.
I think the really great stuff that has been happening is the Web 2.0-based stuff. For example, you know Steve demoed the Facebook app on screen today. That's a killer app! They did a gorgeous job on it. So I use a lot of the web 2.0 apps that I've seen out there and I think there is incredible work going on there. I've worked with a lot of developers that are working on those things. So I think the body of work is actually happening on the Web 2.0 space.
I think there is definitively more going on there. But there is something so much better about being able to load a proper software app onto an iPhone and maybe, say, play Nintendo. Do you guys feel that this is something that should just be a natural progression of where you are going?
No. I'm not sure that it needs to be. I won't predict about anything that we may or may not do in the future. But I think that there is a lot to do with these Web 2.0 apps and that's where my focus is. Our developer relations team is hard at work with lots of companies helping them to bring to market some pretty amazing things and that's what I'm trying to help enable right now.
So the iPhone ad campaign was really different for Apple because it took on a utilitarian function. It was really explaining the features and how it works and how it does. And then the touch, which is for all intent and purposes a very similar device is not really taking that same route. Its not the dancers, but its not the here's how it works, here's what it does... What's different about pitching this kind of product to people? Especially because its an in-between iPhone, and the iPod that most people are already familiar with.
Well, first of all I agree with what you point out with the iPhone; with the iPhone we were launching a pretty revolutionary product that had quite a different idea, this touch experience. And certainly unlike any phone people had seen before. So one of the great things with that TV campaign that we launched with it did was to show that. Because we could say all the marketing things we want about it, but at the end of the day when you show somebody tapping on things or flicking a list or pinching and zooming a graphic you've got an instant "wow, that's incredible" reaction. So we knew that probably the most powerful thing we could do with the iPhone was to show that to people and let them experience that on TV and that's been very true -- we've got great response to that TV advertising.
Now, we are coming out with iPod touch and we can first of all, build on that. A lot of people, the awareness is extremely high about iPhone and its touch interface, so now with iPod touch we can talk to that. We can say, touch comes to iPod and people will know what that means. We couldn't do that with the iPhone because the touch experience wasn't out there. People hadn't heard about it. So that's one thing. The other thing I hope the ad does is, the devices are a similar size, they share the same 3.5-inch screen, we don't want people to get confused between them, they are different products. So you want to show it off in a little bit of a different way so that people understand that this isn't the iPhone we're talking about -- now we're talking about an iPod. And so it does look a little different than the iPhone ad, but builds on the interface that people have heard about.
So obviously we didn't know that the touch was going to be announced -- at least not today -- but I think a lot of people are expecting that a few years down the road when storage becomes just so cheap and you have an iPhone with 100 gigs and it costs $150 dollars and you can get it anywhere and it's all ubiquitous technology... is there a point where the iPod just becomes a feature and not necessarily a device? Where the ability to play media becomes so commonplace and is just expected to be in your phone that the iPod ceases to exist in a way.
Oh I don't think so. Not at all. I think we're confusing a couple of points by the way the question is set up. Hardware will continue to move forward. At the end of the day, it always does. We started with a thousand songs and now we are up to 40,000 songs. It's incredible! But with that 40:1 increase in capacity, the product itself is still an iPod and it still does all the things the iPod does and even more. So we've already seen an incredible increase in capacity and prices coming all the way down -- all the way down to the shuffle, and so we know those variables don't change the fact that we want an iPod in our life and it does these cool things for us. So to me the real core essence of what is an iPod is more about the software than even the hardware -- as amazing as the hardware is.
So, the work for Apple is to continue to make that software experience so incredible that it defines the iPod, why its so special and why we all love it. I think if you look over the five plus years of iPod, we've just done the biggest thing to ensure that will continue to be the case -- this year -- which was to move the iPod from its original user interface into this new touch interface. This is the beginning of a whole new path for iPod that delivers incredible features and capability and gives even more reason for iPod to exist in the future. So the secret is software and we have a whole new generation of revolutionary software.
I think one of the hallmarks of the iPhone and now the touch is that its flash based and that it doesn't use a hard drive.
True.
I think that's obviously where the industry is going. How important is that to the iPod line to eventually be entirely flash based?
Well again, I can't make future predictions of things but clearly the majority of our customers choose a flash based product and there are a lot of benefits to it. I get the kinda capacity that most customers need -- 4 to 8GB -- is a range that most customers can carry what they want with them and it means that we can make these iPods so incredibly thin by not having a hard drive in there, by having them in flash, and by not having any moving parts in them -- which is great for durability and reliability and get even better battery life with that. Those are all features that matter to people in an iPod. But in the end that doesn't define what an iPod is. Those are just some of the sub-features that are important to us.
How is the Samsung NAND flash shortage situation they've got going on going to affect iPod lines? You guys use primarily Samsung flash, if I'm not mistaken, and they are predicting that they are going to have severe shortages because of the power outage in Korea.
I can't talk to the operational or supply based management of the product. I wouldn't be the right person to talk about that. But we are certainly confident that we have a great operations plan to deliver on a lot of all these new iPods we've brought out to market to have an awesome holiday season.
So, then there is the NBC question. How do you think this is going to effect iPod sales and iTunes moving forward?
I think, things look great moving forward. We have, as Steve talked about today, with the iTunes music store, the most content of anybody in the business. No one has more music, more TV shows, more movies, more podcasts, more anything across it -- there is a tremendous wealth of content in iTunes and we continue to add stuff every day. I think its going to be great going forward. We try to get everybody in it that we can and we try to make it a great experience for the customer, but at the end of the day through the years if you chart what has happened with iTunes it has grown and grown and grown to offer more and more to customers.
So one of the points that NBC really wanted to underscore -- I don't know why -- was that they wanted more DRM. More restrictive copy protection not only on their content but I guess on the iPods in general--
I'm sorry, I'm not going to talk specifically about discussions with any partner, let alone this one in particular--
My only question is, do you think that DRM on video is the future? Because Apple is already moving toward DRM free audio. So it seems like the natural progression there is to kind of go DRM-free everywhere.
Again, I'm not going to make comments about where things might go; I don't think that would be appropriate today. But I think we have worked really hard to make the music store the best place to buy and manage and experience all this content. We've done a really good job of making this really fun and accessible for people. A great example today is ringtones. That here we've added yet another thing we can do with content on iTunes. We've made it more fun and more usable by everybody. And that content, there is a price associated with it. There is DRM around it. But it works really well as a way that a customer would want it to work, and that's always what we've been about.
[Indicated that we have to wrap the interview.]
Sure, but we do have a few more quick quesitons -- on that topic, is there a particular reason that users can't select ringtones that they've ripped from CDs or content that they already own?
Well, we've worked with content owners to make sure that the content that you purchase a ringtone for has the proper rights associated with turning it into a ringtone. And, so--
So there are different rights if you want to make it a ringtone?
Sure.
If you want to make it a ringtone you have to go through a different set of rights?
Sure, the labels and publishers get the rights for songs to be remade into a ringtone. So part of what we do is to work with those content owners to make sure that there are rights in place for every piece of content to be made into a ringtone.
A little bit of an non sequitur. The Google phone is coming. Do you guys see it as a threat? What do you think of it?
I don't know what it is. Ask me when it's... out.
Eric Schmidt hasn't shown you his Google phone yet?
[Stares]
[Laughter] Yeah, I know, you can't say anything. Thanks for your time!
Update: Some non-product-related banter removed for brevity.
conclusion? This guy's a lowly stooge. He did not give ONE piece of information that wasn't given by Jobs, and frankly his stupid "i can't talk on that" got REAL annoying...
something tells me that you don't understand how business works
something tells me that you think that ANY companies that make money are PURE EVIL
something tells me that you still believe in santa claus checking his list twice
There's nothing wrong with saying 'I can't talk about that'. Plenty of folks don't care and just make up stuff, or say things they would regret. I think lower level apple folks seem to have this down pretty well, must be drilled into them. I don't ask, but i hear people ask questions and i think, i know what the response will be..
"This guy's a lowly stooge."
You're kidding me, right? Do you even understand what Phil DOES at Apple and where he ranks in Apple's hierarchy? Do you have any idea what the marketing department at Apple (or any company for that matter) does? It's no coincidence that he's the only regular fixture in a Stevenote. When a new product idea is discussed, you can bet that Phil's made apart of every decision. You can have the greatest product in the world, but without someone to determine who would want to buy it, who should be targeted and how to raise your new device above the fray to make people want it above all others, ESPECIALLY in the overcrowded, crap-stuffed tech sector, the product might as well not even exist.
As has already been mentioned, the reason he didn't answer many of the questions is because that's his freakin' job! Answer benign questions. Push new product. Make sure people keep coming back for more. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Are most of Apple's products anywhere near as exciting without the mystique and secrecy surrounding them? Probably not, but you can bet that Phil isn't going to test that theory by changing a working formula now. If Ryan had scored an interview with the "head stooge" do you honestly think that "The Steve" would've given up any more details? Come the f**k on...
Great interview Ryan. Though, and I think I remembered hearing this on the Grammar Girl podcast, one of the best questions to ask when wrapping up any interview is, "Is there anything else you think our readers/listeners should know?", which sounded like really good advice to me. In this case, however, asking a question that produced nothing but a blank stare from Phil was the better choice. ;)
He said "At the end of the day" 3 times.
God, I hate that phrase.
You can't read an interview or watch TV for more than a few minutes without someone saying it at least twice.
If I had a dollar for every time someone said that then, at the end of the day, I would be a very rich man.
emmmm...question....iphone....europe....launch date ???
Apple continues to wow me - great products and insanely amazing marketing. I'm forever entertained by watching this company work. Phil's the man! Missed you in the last keynote.
Hey NBC
"I'm sorry, I'm not going to talk specifically about discussions with any partner, let alone this one in particular--"
somebody (important) doesn't like you!
So does the ipod touch have the deeply recessed earphone plug like the iphone???
excellent questions, so many media outlets dance around the issues and sugarcoat their questions but you were quite direct, shame he couldn't be more candid and express his own questions rather than promote the company line.
good stuff though, keep it coming!
Good stuff. Thanks for this!
wow, great interview guys! werent afraid to dish out the tough questions even though he was cold on some of em. awesome read.
Personally, i wouldnt mind for the iphone/touch to be thicker and have a hard drive with some nice storage. I still feel obliged to keep my ipod (classic now) cuz it actually holds ALL my media, so i STILL have to carry around more than ONE device.
Just another reason to hate Apple. Tell him there is a contingent of people who are waiting for native OGG/FLAC support before they ever buy an ipod.
Man, that interview really got on my nerves...not the Engadget side, but the Schiller side. I felt like I was listening to Guiliani in the Republican debate last night ("let me tell you all about what I did in New York...we'll talk about what I'll DO when I actually DO it"). Actually turned me off to Apple. I know the uber-secrecy isn't anything new, but some of the questions could and should have been answered. And the absolutely lame answers to the unlocking and the native application development stuff ("all the really great apps are Web 2.0...yah, riiight...gimme my NES simulator over facebook any day) really sickened me. Ah well, I'm sure nobody cares so I'll stop whining.
wow, great interview
= ]
It was a really good interview. The only thing that bugged me was how much he was pushing web apps and pushing native apps to the side. Web apps are great, but some things just need to be native and take advantage of the hardware. Not to mention that you need to be online to use web apps. There is obviously a want and a market here. I'm sad Apple doesn't see that.
Nice interview. It's good to see somebody else from Apple speaking instead of seeing Jobs all of the time. Ok, So lets get down to the nitty gritty!
This is what I think is going to happen.
. iPhone will be taken apart AGAIN. Hardware wise and software wise.
. The new Touch iPod will be taken apart. Hardware wise and software wise.
. comparison time for hackers and Engadget... what really is the difference between the 2?
. OS software will be remove on the iPhone *reengineered* and installed on the new Touch iPod *legal reason*
. Touch iPod OS software will be hack to run the phone part on it!
in paragraph 12 when Phill is speaking about the iPhone being the best iPod.
He states... "It does a little bit more in terms of an internet device because of that access and it has a phone and both they are both as capable in terms of iPods." I think what he really is stating that they both are capable in being phone devices. There is NO question that they are both capable of being iPods. Perhaps the iPod is nothing more than a crippled iPhone with more storage? Hackers will inform us later on this.
In paragraph 14 Phil states...
"now people have this choice of this amazing touch experience on the iPhone which I think is an incredible revolutionary product. It was when it came out a couple of months ago and it still is today. And we have this other revolutionary touch product that builds on the same technology called iPod touch"
--Same technology??? Is the iPod Touch really the same technology or different technology, as towards, you couldn't hack around with it turning it into a iPhone?
in paragraph 26 Phil states...
"So, the work for Apple is to continue to make that software experience so incredible that it defines the iPod" *IF* it is only software that defines iPod from iPhone. Apple might not like the end result of what hackers and the rest of us want/get. Everything in 1 package for the cheapest price, of course with some serious hacking for a while. If something like that happens, *Hackers gone wild!* :D Then Apple might have been better off creating 2 completely separate hardware devices?
In paragraphs 18 & 20 Phil talks about web 2.0.
Why is Phil not talking about the internet as a whole and specifically talking about web 2.0?
I think Apple is looking down the road and they are going to attempt to bring a really good *internet in your pocket* feeling to the consumer. Web 2.0 will lead the way for this. The iPhone/touch iPod will lead the way for an upcoming device that we all keep forgetting about. Tablet MAC! And to make a really successful Tablet MAC you have to do a lot of testing. And these certain sites on the internet needs to be something that everybody always with them, besides google maps. These certain sites needs to help push the sales of the Tablet MAC, most of those site will be Web 2.0 base!
In paragraph 25 when Phil was replying to storage size. He states...
"Hardware will continue to move forward. At the end of the day, it always does."
For Apple the storage size of 4gigs & 8gigs jump to a quick 8gigs & 16gigs in just 2 months; *at the end of the day.* I think Apple wanted the iPod to definitively sell no matter what! The storage size of 8 & 16 gigs compared to the current classic iPods are just to small to brand the iPod name, touch screen or no touch screen. However 8 & 16 gigs is what Apple/the industry has to offer and they can't make it any higher anytime soon. So what do you do to make sure that the iPod sales take off? You release a 4 & 8 gig device! Everybody mindset gets accustom to those sizes and then *SPRING* you release something double the size! With similar technologies according to Apple. You always have to have an adversary somewhere to make yourself look good and I think Apple adversary was the iPhone!
The iPhone might be nice, however Apple keeps their eyes on the prize... The iPod!
No. The iPod touch does not contain phone components. This is easily proven by looking at the back of the iPod touch vs the iPhone. The iPhone has a plastic area covering the bottom quarter of the back of the unit. Under that plastic is where the antenna array is. The iPod does not have this same plastic area. It has a smaller 'corner' plastic area which is for WiFi signal.
Schiller did not indicate in any way that the iPod touch has the capability to be a phone. There is no external speaker or microphone built into the iPod touch, either.
Damn, you really let him off easy on the ringtones.
The scheme they have in place basically assumes that you're a pirate, and doesn't let you add your own ringtone even if you *made it yourself*. You can't even record yourself saying "ring! ring!" and make that your ringtone.
Weaksauce. This interview wasn't much more than a dressed-up press release.
Geez, everyone is bitching about the level of secrecy from Phil's end. Grow up. Apparently none of you have worked for or done contract work for huge, huge-ass companies, where you sign NDAs, and you have to watch EVERY single public word you say about what you're working on, because said company is, did I mention, huge-ass, with a large team of lawyers. Huge companies' future plans are almost ALWAYS under tight lockdown, period.
Obviously Phil was not in a position where he could divulge details about future plans. Until you're in that position, you probably won't understand.
I love Engadget and you do a great job, but interviewing him (or even someone like him) seems like a colossal waste of time. Why not just ask the CIA or NSA director for a tour or to comment on the newest technologies his guys use? They'd be about as forthcoming, less likely to spew the latest press release talking points, and possibly willing to speculate about new trends in the field they're in.
Uh. No. NDA's are a great excuse up to a point, but that was ridiculous.
Apple is just a company with a big mouth leaded by 50 something that don't have any ideas of it needed to market a proper GSM phone/smartphone:
- The first element is unlocking, it must be obligatory. When you're paying a device $599 you expect to be able to use it with any prepaid SIM card.
- The ringtone feature is BIG BS !!! You already own CD and after that you have to pay to make your own ringtone !!! Are you kidding me ? Just go to phonezoo.com to make it happen freely on any cell or smartphone and voila you have your ringtone on your cell/smartphone.
- You need to support third party application and not WEB 2.0. I'm pretty sure Steve Jobs had a b**er while showing facebook and what ? It is only a website application !!! They must start quickly develop third party application.
- Reducing the price of $200 is a big move and you'll have many user pissed at Apple. For me this price reduction only shows the world that Apple didn't match its expectations for the iPhone.
Right now I'm pissed at the Apple and I just can't wait the new Nokia N95 (US specs)
Apple is legally bound by their CONTRACTS with the music companies to charge for the ring tones. Figure it out. It may very well be BS, but it is more BS from the CONTENT providers, trying to nickle and dime you to death.
The real question is, leopard.
Apple has lost focus. It shows. Late delivery of operating systems, minimal upgrades on various products (like the mini), missing middle of the line machines, back-to-the-past "chiclet" keyboards, STILL stuck with one button on a laptop (yeah, I know about the emulation, it is incomplete)...
Sure. iPhone. iPod. i-everything *except* the darned line of computers.
Heck, I still can't even refresh a network share. Or get my folders listed first in Finder without screwing up my file listing. These things have been done deals in other operating systems for DECADES.
I sure love my Macs (all four of them), but I'm beginning to get pretty annoyed at Apple. :-(
Nice interview, but I got only one question...why does the touch not have a wifi voip phone app...ie. Wif-Iphone...add a sync with email, calendar, and contacts and you got a near perfect device.
I have to disagree with you guys. I thought Phil was doing exactly what he was supposed to do, and said some decent stuff. Though I am a big engadget fan, I thought Ryan's questions, well, they weren't questions. Re-read the interview - Ryan just stated his technical knowledge of a particular area and expected Phil to comment on it.
There were very few real questions. Case in point, Ryan says: "they are predicting that they are going to have severe shortages because of the power outage in Korea." Yeah Ryan, he's a VP of Apple. I'm pretty sure he knows that the iPod is important to their product lineup and that if there will be a particular component shortage they will find another supplier.
I will give you props for prodding him on the ringtone issue, but you guys should stick to posting about new gadgets, let's leave the interviews for people with journalism degrees.
Um, no. Did you even READ it?
"... have you seen the Schiller-mania website?"
"There is this, this insane rabid, kind of cultish view of Apple. What do you make of that?"
"So why is the iPhone now still the best iPod?"
"Do you see these two products developing in unison with each other? When one gets a new feature the other gets that new feature? How does that work?"
"...what do you make of the iPhone software unlock, um, 'market'?"
"Do you guys feel that this is something that should just be a natural progression of where you are going?"
"... What's different about pitching this kind of product to people?"
"... is there a point where the iPod just becomes a feature and not necessarily a device?"
"How important is that to the iPod line to eventually be entirely flash based?"
"How is the Samsung NAND flash shortage situation they've got going on going to affect iPod lines?"
"How do you think this is going to effect iPod sales and iTunes moving forward?"
"My only question is, do you think that DRM on video is the future?"
"... is there a particular reason that users can't select ringtones that they've ripped from CDs or content that they already own?"
"So there are different rights if you want to make it a ringtone?"
"If you want to make it a ringtone you have to go through a different set of rights?"
"The Google phone is coming. Do you guys see it as a threat? What do you think of it?"
"Eric Schmidt hasn't shown you his Google phone yet?"
Another pansy Apple-boy ;)
Ryan - full credit for the interview, and for even trying to ask the difficult questions.
I doubt that Phil or anyone would read these comments - but here's the deal (not that it even really matters). This fall, I was *considering* moving to an iMac as my next computer upgrade, after being PC since 2001. But it's corpspeak like this that makes me not want to have anything to do with buying from this company. And just to be clear, it's Phil's corpspeak, or it's Phil not answering questions at all (ie, refusing the interview).
Consumers have a lot of power that they don't realise. But corporations and the corpspeak mentality have just been steamrolling for a decade or more, and so a little "think different" company like Apple develops people like this. And like sheep, we just go on with it - fanboy or not. Meh, move on. Lust the products they have, that's good enough.
Don't get me wrong. I understand the need to keep certain business secrets, and keep projects under the wraps. And I'm very aware of Apple's particular lust for secrecy. But this interview reads like some 1950s "father knows best" kind of boss, just dancing and jiving, instead of giving respect to his customers, via an outlet that many of his customers read every day. Phil showed absolutely no respect to his customers with this interview. He probably thinks he did by thinking "well, I better speak to this Block guy..." but no, he didn't. It's just as bad as if he didn't speak at all, and just said "no comment".
In the industry I'm in, we're experiencing this thing right now called the '3rd wave' which means basically as much transparency in the product and the relationships behind the products as possible. There's many companies in my industry who are still acting the same way Phil did in this interview. But the ones on the new wave... these are the ones seeing the most growth at the moment, and more importantly, being very much in tune with their customers.
Anyway, sorry for the rant. This is my long way of saying that I'm not a fanboy one way or another, and was just considering a new iMac and other Apple products this fall for some video work I need doing. But I was so on the fence, believe it or not, this interview was the swayer. I'm more in the 'general public' buyer category for tech, less of a "total early adopter, bleeding edge type" and I felt maybe I should chime up, should Apple PR ever read comments like this to see what this kind of corpspeak does to consumers like me. I expect a company selling a product to provide a little respect to their customers along with it... instead of just expecting fanboys to drool for... ever.
I have 155 gb of music (~26,000 songs). I'll be using my $100 credit to get a 160 classic. My iPhone will be used for video and a few songs for when I don't have the classic with me (which will be most of the time) most people I know only have about 200 songs on their iPod like my roommate. Yet he still got a 30 gb video. I think the nano fits the average users need. 8gb is more then enough capacity for most people. I am an aception as are most users here.
Phil's answers were well rehearsed and scripted in my view. Practically autonomous.
I find it interesting, or should I say disappointing, that this long interview with Phil Shiller does not have the word "mac" in it once.
I personally would at least have asked about the overdue Mac Pro update. But then again, the press and mainstream audience doesn´t really care about the Mac Pro.
quote about iPhone / iPod touch
> they share the same 3.5-inch screen
Is it the exactly the same screen and the same real glass cover?
Office politics blow!!! especially apples tight lipped policy... I want to know whats coming out next!! :-p
Between Phil sidestepping every question the interviewer already knew he couldn't answer and the pushy, annoying way he continued to press anyway, all that resulted in was about 2 sentences worth of useful information. I'd be very surprised if Schiller doesn't start avoiding anyone that looks like they might be from Engadget at future events. That is, if he doesn't just decide to make sure they aren't at the event to begin with.
@ Ben
I argee, OS X is at the back of the queue for Apple nowadays. As for the interview, I can understand why Phil Schiller did not wan't to give much infomation out that may end up causing problems for Apple or their bussiness partners, Who in their right mind would. In that context and knowing this may happen, why bother with the interview in the first place.
"load a proper software app onto an iPhone and maybe, say, play Nintendo"
This is the best you could come up with as an argument for a native SDK? An NES emulator that uses ROMs of dubious legality?
MobileDeliciousLibrary please! I'd also like a proper scientific/programmer's calculator. I'm porting Nonpareil because it'll be a nice quick proof-of-concept (like the NES emulator is), but eventually I'd like a Cocoa-ized calc.
If they're going to stick with JavaScript, how 'bout providing some local storage for "web" apps and punching out the sandbox to allow iTunes library, photo and mic/speaker access? Give the user some switches in Settings to limit the features (esp. mic & camera), defaulted to off.
is it just me or are they using the word "thin" just to piss off the anorexic groups. I swear steve said it like 5 times on wednesday and Phill said it twice during the interview.
Read this article:
http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2007/09/07/iphone_developers_lock_out/
Major developers like SAP have built their own native iPhone apps.
They don't WANT to use web 2.0 BS. They want to be native apps.
Apple needs to provide an SDK for their phone. Schiller is being disingenuous about Safari, being the answer fo applications. It is one avenue, but it should not be the only one. Apple needs to fund up a team to develop an official SDK, one that wires off the phone functionality to keep it secure, and allows the apps to run. And hey where's our Flash support in Safari by the way?
PDF/eBook/mobi-pocket Reader cannot be made using web 2.0, also a navigation system not useable by web 2.0 ... NO APPLE! Define an API and open OS X (Pod) for 3rd party!