WebApps library launched for Apple's iPhone / iPod touch

Folks hoping that Apple would be so kind as to allow developers to craft their own 3rd party applications and have Cupertino accept 'em with open arms can now commence sulking, as a new WebApps directory unveiled today by Apple is nothing more than a dressed up version of Apple's bookmark list. Essentially, Apple has neatly brought together a selection of company-approved apps (listed here) that should function fine in Safari, but alas, there's absolutely no new functionality. So although iPod touch / iPhone users now have a central hub to go to for links to web applets, Apple is still leaving us high and dry when it comes to native 3rd party application support outside of its browser.

[dj-kenpo @ Oct 11th 2007 3:50PM]

I still don't see 9especially with the term web app) why java is not supported on these. that would be a safe little operating area and allow for more than a simple ajax app. offline webapps that rely on aps or php clearly won't work here....

it's one of those, good idea, but too early things.
we coverage is either too spotty, or too expensive at the moment.

[Jay @ Oct 11th 2007 3:56PM]

Isn't it ironic that the official Apple webapps directory isn't a webapp and isn't even optimized for the iPhone?? It isn't very easy to browse via your iPhone!!

[Justin @ Oct 11th 2007 4:28PM]

I agree. Who's gonna look at this if their not on a iPhone

Also, iPod Touch now has AT&T! YAY!

http://images.apple.com/webapps/images/webapps_hero20070927.png

[joe23521 @ Oct 11th 2007 4:55PM]

And Blue Tooth!

[Frank @ Oct 11th 2007 6:59PM]

I was just thinking the same thing. That is the dumbest thing I've seem Apple do in a long time.

[nntpgrip @ Oct 11th 2007 3:57PM]

Directory ain't even tweaked for mobile safari. I just love zooming in real close to jump to the next page.

[rkny @ Oct 11th 2007 3:57PM]

"...iPhone users now have a central hub to go to for links to web applets."

Now? We've had this practically since day one. Leaflets. Plusmo. MockDock. iPhoneAppr. Etc.

Not only do those repositories offer far more links, they're nicely optimized for the iPhone, unlike the Apple page.

[njfuzzy @ Oct 11th 2007 4:06PM]

The fact that you named four, plus "etc." pretty much clarifies for me that there wasn't a central one. That sortof implies on single site, not a bunch of third party options.

[rkny @ Oct 11th 2007 4:15PM]

Every link on every one of Apple's pages is to a "third party option" And none of the repositories, including Apple's, contain every single "app" out there. Apple's is no more centralized than the rest. In fact, many of the other ones allow you to customize and store your own links.

[rudebo @ Oct 11th 2007 4:00PM]

basically stop looking for 3rd party apps and use what daddy sez

[len @ Oct 11th 2007 4:02PM]

Careful, now. That almost sounded like criticism of Apple.

[peternj @ Oct 11th 2007 5:09PM]

Yeah (smile) we couldn't say anything about about the Great Pocket Pool Player, "one dollar" Jobs.
I can hear the apologists now, "he has saved us from ourselves!"
The best operating system in the world for a phone and Apple cripples it! Only Apple could do this. Even Windows mobile is wide open.

All tech support will ask for a default install, that's clear but to deny 3rd party is crass. To only allow it one day when Jobs can make 200 bucks profit off us, then 30% off AT&T for every dollar we spend and then 30% for official apps!

There's a limit to greed. Only the core Apple user base are happy their Supreme Being has a private jet. Oh blessed be the Apples for they never fall far from the tree. Verily we are happy our Father has protected us from full bodily function. Now we can live as one with the tech Peewee Herman in his little kiddy phone full of bright colors and it spins, oh how it spins!

Shame it can't take a simple call!

[Justin @ Oct 11th 2007 7:02PM]

To compare OSX Mobile to Windows Mobile is both naive and ridiculous in my opinion. Windows CE has existed roughly since the summer of 1992! I doubt it was open source then and I doubt it was stable in it's infancy either. OSX's mobile platform is in it's infancy and Apple is trying to protect it by locking it down. There will come a time that an SDK will be available, but until then...NO!

Your jab at consumerism is cute and everything, but you're forgetting one thing...we make the choice to pay money for a product or not. You make it sound like we're tossing loads of money into a well! This poor consumer has an awesome phone that DOES recieve phone calls and does a pretty good job at entertaining me. I'm sorry that your ethics (fanboyism) prevents you from allowing others to enjoy their products in peace.

[Scott @ Oct 11th 2007 8:52PM]

WindowsCE was launched in 96 and while you can kind of shake some trees to get it to be called since 1992, it is rather like claiming OS X goes back to the AppleDos.

While it was a rocky start (MS pushed the HW harder and further then 1996 was ready for) it always had open and well documented APIs. Granted development wasn't easy way back when, but it was doable (and the problems were more of some key missing API calls), certainly easier then the backhacking to get apps to run on the iPhone. The past 7 years have seen development for windows CE devices become very very easy.

[Jared @ Oct 11th 2007 4:02PM]

Lame. I'm holding out on getting an iPhone until Apple opens up the 3rd party app support.

I don't really mind the lack of 3G being that Western NY has no coverage, and probably wont for some time. However, the remaining limitations (MMS, Bluetooth GPS, Tethering, Doc Creation and Editing, etc) of the device could very easily be over come with 3rd party apps.

In the meantime, those HTC devices are looking sexier and sexier, especially if Google comes out with an OS replacement for WinMo.

[pmow @ Oct 11th 2007 5:13PM]

I just snatched up a ATT Tilt yesterday...and it's sexy as hell. Native Skype, streaming TV, Native Youtube, mobile youtube, GPS on board, 3MP camera with autofocus. Touchflo seriously narrows the gap between the WM6 and the iphone interface...it can tell the difference between your finger (to scroll) and your nail or stylus (to select). Brilliant.

[Steven Haskayne @ Oct 11th 2007 4:07PM]

It's pretty weak, just a bunch of links to web portals, not native apps. Come on, you can't tease us with these things, sure im looking forward to using the facebook link when the iphone is actually released in the uk, but there are some plain stupid links (Weather.....hello the iphone has a native app already for this, why are you even bothering?)

Give us freedom!!!!!!

[Qin Zhi Lau @ Oct 11th 2007 4:20PM]

For iPod touch users (like myself) who don't have a weather app on the iPod.

[talon1898 @ Oct 11th 2007 4:32PM]

Honestly, I find myself tapping that little regular site link quite often for facebook.

[Sahil Malik @ Oct 11th 2007 4:11PM]

How come the webapps page itself is not iPhone optimized??

[Chris Collins @ Oct 11th 2007 5:49PM]

Ya, really. The WebApps Library is a horrible WebApp. I was getting ticked at the tiny page buttons and no viewport set which makes the page teeny tiny.

[Steven Haskayne @ Oct 12th 2007 2:34AM]

oh yeah, oops, but still, you have to admit its still a poor attempt to stop people hacking the devices!

[prokanda @ Oct 11th 2007 4:21PM]

Like you guys expected any less from apple... c'mon now. Apple making you use their proprietary "awesome hardware/awesome software awesomeness combination of awesome" is nothing new. People don't go to apple for customizable, unlocked, upgradeable hardware... stop whining. You knew what the iphone was, you knew apple's take on what you could do with it, and you knew it would be locked down and "protected" from the beginning. If you want something that you can put apps on, if you want something that you can upgrade the hardware on, or if you want something that you can take to another carrier... then next time get something that says so right on the box.

[Andrew Harrison @ Oct 11th 2007 4:23PM]

So, Apple launched a part of their website that is specifically made for being viewed on an iPod touch or iPhone, and they chose NOT to design it specifically for being viewed on an iPod touch or an iPhone? What's the point?

What's going on up in Cupertino?

[Waruwaru @ Oct 11th 2007 4:24PM]

Did someone seriously think that AAPL would share a slice of Apple pie with us? How can Apple innovate if all the pesky 3rd parties get there first?

[g2 @ Oct 11th 2007 4:26PM]

The iPhone is an expensive and very good entertainment iPod, but not much use as a productivity tool. It's basically a rip-off on Apples customer base.

[talon1898 @ Oct 11th 2007 4:28PM]

Yeah, I just tried a few off the great "offerings" from Apple here at work, and I can say is, the sooner we have Installer.app back, the better. This is just plain ridiculous. This nice, grown-up device with child's play apps. Man, talk about egg on the face.

[Boynamedsue @ Oct 11th 2007 4:32PM]

whatever, they had their chance and offered something half assed.

I'm hacking mine this week.

[bugmat @ Oct 11th 2007 4:51PM]

AAPL continues to make the iPhone a PALE version of what it could be. They could have everyone eating out of their PALM if they would just free up the darned system. Instead they continue to SLAP loyal customers in the face by not allowing 3rd-party APPS - did you see how I did that Apple? It's an real-life anagram called progression! Try it out sometime ;-)!

[EJ @ Oct 11th 2007 4:52PM]

Cool (although, yes, bizarrely unoptimized for iPhone) - I didn't know about the Fandango site. It's much more readable and intuitive than Fandango's other mobile site. The wonderful Edge data speeds definitely leave room for sites that are less data intensive than standard websites, yet richer and more iPhone friendly than normal websites.

[Whitedevil @ Oct 11th 2007 4:53PM]

Ok this atleast a start, but i have a question. Once you get the app on the itouch/iphone does it show up on the front screen as a button, or do you have to access the app through a bookmark??

[insertAlias @ Oct 11th 2007 6:29PM]

It's just a web page. Nothing else. So no, it doesn't show up on the SpringBoard.

[Bizo @ Oct 11th 2007 5:07PM]

Blome Apple

[Mikeg @ Oct 11th 2007 5:07PM]

Anyone else notice the complete lack of any IM webapps?
Obviously done on purpose, maybe they will come out with a SW version?

[abomb @ Oct 12th 2007 9:13AM]

try meebo.com

[kludge @ Oct 11th 2007 5:10PM]

I told ya many times already!

Go for Windows Mobile or Symbian if you want to use 3rd party applications !!!!

Don't you get tired?

Just accept iPhone what it is for God sake!

Steve Jobbie will not let you install those 3rd party apps and he will patch it sooner or later if it does!

Doh, stupid fanboys ... iDiots!

[Justin @ Oct 11th 2007 7:14PM]

once again, Windows Mobile (Windows CE) and Symbian have been around for years...this phone has been out for months. you and the rest of these creatons expect this phone to be open source, full of patchouli and splendor right out of the box.

you want to call me an iDiot? feel free.
i don't get checks from apple to defend their brand. if you get paid by microsoft to troll on messageboards slamming the iPhone you pine after then that's just fine with me.

but if you don't get paid for it...well...that's sad. you should probably go outside and make a real living. and no, SecondLife doesn't count.

Siooma.

[john @ Oct 11th 2007 7:52PM]

Accept the "i"phone for what it is NOT.

[kludge @ Oct 13th 2007 3:56PM]

@justin

I think you want that iPhone crap to be like an open source or such :)

Because you iDiot expect to be able to install 3rd party apps, and then cry like a fool when Steve el Jobso patched that ability ... lol!

Me? Nah, I just feel sorry to iPhone owners :P

[Bazza @ Oct 11th 2007 5:12PM]

....and yet you still suckle from the teat of this unloving mother. *sigh*

[Jake @ Oct 11th 2007 5:15PM]

I've got a touch and an N95, and although the touch is cool it sits at home while I use my 2nd Gen Nano instead. I have all the features of the touch on my phone that I need and all the music I want on my Nano, so just no need for the touch at all.

[Dave @ Oct 11th 2007 5:50PM]

As an owner of the iPhone, Nokia N95 and N800, all I can say is that if you want a flexible system with lots of application choices, the iPhone is not for you.

No matter how nice the UI and design is, the lack of apps and the mess with hacks (and the cat & mouse game) on the iPhone may not be what you want.

If you want something simple that lets you browse some websites with missing content once in awhile, listen to music and watch some video, the iPhone is not bad.

On the other hand, if you want VoIP, Adobe Flash, Skype, Slingbox Player, GPS, good camera with good video capture, 3.5G, full Bluetooth support, media streamers, word & idea processors, full Linux open system...etc., get a N95 and N800.

[Glenn Gore @ Oct 11th 2007 5:54PM]

Like Mikeg I noticed the lack of any IM app listings such as FlickIM, Beejive, and Mundu, etc, all of which are great-looking and work perfectly either on EDGE or WiFi.

While the list Apple provides here is incomplete, as are all the other aggregator sites, I have seen no so-called "third-party apps" that provide any more real functionality than this list does. Most are toys, games, or do-nothings, with a couple of exceptions. I am perfectly happy with my stock 1.1.1 iPhone and will wait and see what Leopard and Apple have in store in the future.

[Snitch @ Oct 11th 2007 6:15PM]

on my god as much as I love my iPhone, I have to admit these web app could not be worse than they are, most of them don't even work right even on WiFi I really don't know what's on apples mind but I just hope that when they decide to release the SDK for native apps it wont be to late because although the iphone its worth every penny people are starting to give up on it, this thing could be a major hit if the SDK was release but, it looks like apple is blind

[Aaron Harnly @ Oct 11th 2007 6:19PM]

Actually, I kind of like the Facebook iPhone page better than the ordinary Facebook page:
http://iphone.facebook.com/

It's very clean, yet functional.

[Serhei @ Oct 11th 2007 6:54PM]

I walked into a local reseller and went to the Apple webapps directory on an iPod Touch. I pulled up iChess. It displayed a "Loading" banner. I got bored at staring at the banner ("it's loading a chess engine written in Javascript, it might take a while", says I to myself) and pulled up a graphing calculator in another tab. That one also displayed a "Loading" banner for-fricking-ever.

This was not an encouraging experience for me as a prospective buyer.

[john @ Oct 11th 2007 7:50PM]

LOL Nice job Apple!

[john @ Oct 11th 2007 7:49PM]

Is this enough for your fanboys to finally admit it's lame? C'mon, you can't keep lying to yourselves.

[Chase Hoeppner @ Oct 11th 2007 9:32PM]

I've had a chance to test some of these apps and they are pretty fun. Now you can actually play some kind of "game" on your iPhone, legally!

[Charlie Dancey @ Oct 16th 2007 5:27AM]

"Legally"?? Hah!

So the Awesome and Insanely Great One now also writes the law does he? Judge, Jury and Executioner comes to mind:

"Having found you guilty of installing 3rd party software on your own property I sentence your iPod to be updated by the cable until it is very seriously bricked."

Dancey