Web-basedApplications
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Financial Times web app debuts for iOS, more tablets to come (video)
It's not often that we get the opportunity to mention the Financial Times and Playboy Magazine in the same sentence, but the two publications do have at least one thing in common: App Store aversion. Today, the FT launched a new, entirely web-based app, designed to circumvent iTunes (and Apple's 30 percent revenue cut) altogether. The paper says its single, cross-platform app will allow it to issue updates with more frequency, while reaching an audience that extends far beyond the iOS realm. Though the subscription service is only available for iPhone and iPad users at the moment, versions catered for Galaxy Tab, Xoom and PlayBook users are coming soon. Perhaps more important, however, is what this move could mean for other publishers -- many of whom haven't taken too kindly to Apple's subscription revenue and data-sharing practices. FT managing editor Rob Grimshaw says his paper has "no plans to pull out of any apps store," but if the system proves viable, it could open the door for others to pursue their own, similarly HTML5-based ventures, in the hopes of retaining full revenues and access to subscriber information. We'll have to wait and see whether this iTunes exodus ever materializes, but in the meantime, iOS users can hit the source link to enjoy the new app, available for free until July 14th. Others, meanwhile, can head past the break to see a demo video, narrated in appropriately dulcet, British tones.
The line between web and "real" apps on the iPhone
Rogue Amoeba apparently wanted to jump in today and be the first devs to thank His Steveness for presenting developers with a complete and terrific iPhone SDK this afternoon. Or-- in their sarcastic case-- the lack thereof.Yes, as you can see in the resulting comments, Mac developers aren't real thrilled that so far, the only way to develop for the iPhone will be to brush up on their AJAX, Javascript, and Ruby on Rails. By saying at the keynote that developers would be able to run web-based applications on the iPhone, Jobs opened a rift that's been widening: OS X developers say that they don't want to create web apps-- they'd rather work on "real apps."Later on in the RA thread, a commenter named Joe gets to the point: web apps are quickly becoming real apps. Even Apple's release of Safari for Windows points to the idea that the ultimate way to be compatible across all systems is to put programs (Gmail, Google Reader, even Twitter) in the browser. Web developers must be thrilled-- they all just became official iPhone programmers today.There's a big drawback, however, and it's not just that Mac devs who want to write for iPhone will have to blow the dust off of their old Javascript books. It's that the trade-off for compatibility is usually quality. If Apple had released an SDK for iPhone today (or when they do-- just because we didn't see it today doesn't mean it won't come next year), Mac devs say they'd be able to make even better applications-- because that's what they do for "real" hardware.
