I hope iPhone 3.1.1 isn't too far behind.

I can't be the only one afraid to update from good solid 3.0 because of the widespread reports of problems...

The problem with this thesis is that programming the iPhone and programming Mac OS X, interface aside, are really not that much different.

In fact, AppKit (Mac) and UIKit (iPhone OS) aren't really drawing apart but rather back together: if you look at the new NSResponder events, you'll see Snow Leopard implements:

- (void)touchesBeganWithEvent:(NSEvent *)event

which looks straight out of iPhone programming, but is in fact Mac programming.

(This is also, to me, compelling evidence that the rumored iTablet will host Mac OS X...)

The claims of "simple elegance of the iPhone's built-from-the-start-as-Objective-C 2.0-based API is largely missing from Cocoa libraries" is also missing the point, as the Mac API is also benefitting from Objective-C 2.0 conventions. You can say, [legacyObject property] or legacyObject.property just as easily with the old API as new.

Garbage Collection and blocks are new additions to the Objective-C world, available on the Mac, but not yet on the iPhone, though eventually they will be.

I think my attitude is best summed up by saying: "Programming the iPhone and programming the Mac are the same, except where they are different." And those differences are due to the types of the devices: little screen vs big, touch vs mouse clicks (for the momment ;), modest CPU power vs monster cores of raw power.


PS To the guy who "looked" at Objective-C 2.0 and got C++ flashbacks... Hmm, try it see beyond the [squarebrackets scareMe] and @whatsthisagain typography. Cocoa really is very elegant. The patterns it follows are just as state of the art if not more so than any newer dynamic environment, with the benefit of having the power of hardware accessing procedural C there if you need it.

I hope the software has a "send calls to voicemail" mode.

Imagine someone driving following the iPhone's directions, a call comes in, they pick up to answer it...

Just what our cities need: drivers who don't know where they're going, talking on the phone.

That, or a Bluetooth mode, although that's apparently almost as distracting for the driver. http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Danger-of-Hands-Free-Bluetooth-Headsets&id=2152783

They've shown up in Australia too.

Dick Smith Electronics (large consumer electronics retailer, equivalent of Frys) has a catalog entry:
http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/48d1d75d148cea36273fc0a87e0106db/Product/View/A3961

Described as "Limited Release."

4GB is priced at A$169 AUD. (8GB = $199 AUD, 16GB = $279 AUD.)

Does anyone know what O2's policy on unlocking the iPhone is if you buy it on a PAYG basis?

For other phones, I understand O2 requires you to have been a customer 12 months. For the iPhone, I heard that they categorically will never unlock it, but this doesn't seem to be stated anywhere on their website.

Anyone confirm?

Was the shirt actually brown this time, or was it Engadget's useless camera distorting the colors again?

Always think it ironic that self-proclaimed gadget experts can't even work a camera, or choose one that isn't dodgy.

I think Frasier was talking more about the review process as it applies to updates, rather than the initial app.

Generally an update is a minor tweak, so it shouldn't have to be reviewed as thoroughly as the first one.

In these early days, updates are very necessary for many apps, and developers are being frustrated that users are hassling them for not issuing them even when they have been submitted.

Have to admit, I lost a bit of respect for Erica's sense of good app design when I saw the horrible way she polluted the Settings section with nothing but Legal entries.

I found it hilarious.

And to the closet Windows sympathizers, nothing, bar nothing, could be more painful than the Bruce Springsteen "internal spoof" video Microsoft made for Vista.

Apple shipped 1,119,00 iPhones in Q4. Which means...

If it wasn't for the unlockers, they wouldn't have reached the 1 million mark.

Those dirty, stickin' unlockers! Helping Apple to reach their sales goals. Damn them to Hades!