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Adobe's CEO: Jobs' Flash letter is a 'smokescreen' for 'cumbersome' restrictions (update: video)
There's no official transcript yet, but the Wall Street Journal just live-blogged an interview with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, in which he responded to the Steve Jobs "Thoughts on Flash" letter posted this morning. Substantively, Narayen didn't offer much we haven't heard Adobe say before, but his frustration with Apple is palpable even in summary form: he called Jobs' points a "smokescreen," said Flash is an "open specification," and further said Apple's restrictions are "cumbersome" to developers and have "nothing to do with technology." What's more, he also said Jobs' claims about Flash affecting battery life are "patently false," and suggested that any Flash-related crashes on OS X have more to do with Apple's operating system than Adobe's software. Perhaps most importantly, Narayen reiterated that Adobe is fundamentally about making it easier for devs to write multiplatform tools -- a stance Jobs specifically took issue with in his letter, saying multiplatform tools lead to bad user experiences. Apple and Adobe and the rest of us can argue about battery life and performance all night, but that's clearly the central philosophical difference between these two companies, and we doubt it's ever going to change. That is, unless Adobe absolutely kills it with Flash 10.1 on Android 2.2 -- and given our experiences with Flash on smartphones and netbooks thus far, we'll be honest when we say that's going to be a major challenge. We'll link over to the full transcript when it goes up, but for now, hit the source link for the liveblog. Update: We've now embedded video of the interview for you after the break. Much better than a transcript, don't you think?
iPhone covered front to back with camera-related rumors
Well, here's a nice bit of symmetry to emerge from the Apple rumor mill in recent days -- some new purported details on both the rear and front-facing camera on the next-generation iPhone. The first, and more straightforward of the two, comes courtesy of The Chosum Ilbo, which is reporting that the next iPhone will pack a 5-megapixel camera supplied by LG Innotek. Details on it are otherwise pretty light, but the site says that LG has already started producing the "sophisticated cameras" at its plant in Gumi this month, with mass production supposedly set to begin in the second half of this year. The second rumor concerns the iPhone's front-facing camera, and comes after a bit of digging in the latest iPhone 4 SDK beta. According to MacRumors, the SDK not only includes an unfortunate bit of code that suggests video calls will be WiFi-only, but evidence that video chat will be integrated into Apple's Game Center as well -- exactly how remains unclear, although there's certainly no shortage of possibilities. Dive into the links below for the complete details.
Google Maps Navigation could come to iPhone, other platforms soon
Ooh, goodie! Try as we may, we've yet to really find a (good) free alternative to Google Maps Navigation on the iPhone, and while Navigon's MobileNavigator gets our highest recommendations in the paid GPS department, Google's own turn-by-turn option is just about enough to make any iPhone-toting traveler jump ship and snag an Android handset. Thankfully for us all, it seems as if this predicament won't be nearly as trying in the near future, with the company's own Steve Lee confirming to TechRadar that Google Maps Navigation would be coming to "other platforms" in due time. MacUser specifically mentions the solution coming to iPhone OS, and frankly, we couldn't think of a better app to ship alongside version 4.0 than this. You're good at taking hints, right Goog?
Apple rumor roundup: Intrinsity behind the A4, ARM being eyed
Mama always said that downpours followed Spring showers, and sure enough, the Apple news has been flowing hot and heavy overnight. For starters, an IEEE Spectrum report has people talking once more about Intrinsity; if you'll recall, rumors flared up earlier in the month about Apple nabbing said company, similar to the way it acquired P.A. Semi way back in the naughties. Now, it seems that round two of those whispers are gaining steam, with some analysts suggesting that without Intrinsity's expertise, there was simply no way the silicon within the iPad could've been pushed to 1GHz in time for launch. In related news, we're also hearing that Cupertino is interested in acquiring ARM Holdings, and considering just how much business Apple pushes ARM's way, it's not illogical to imagine Apple wanting to just bring ARM in-house. If the deal went down, Apple would obviously hold a huge amount of control over whether or not ARM chips ended up in rival products, and if it yanked those Cortex slabs out from the market place, you can bet there would be a mad scramble to create a competitive portfolio to serve those suddenly chip-less product makers. Finally, a new iPhone OS 4 (beta 2) video has surfaced, giving the world a solid look at a new circular side-swapped animation that occurs when switching apps -- head on past the break to check it out, and give those links below a visit for more of that succulent nitty-gritty.
Adobe halts investment in iPhone-specific Flash dev tools, has another dig at Apple (update: Apple responds)
Color us unsurprised, but it's still notable to hear that Adobe is stopping investment in its software's capability to port content over to iPhone OS. The company's great hope on this front, Packager for iPhone, will still ship as part of Flash CS5 as planned, but beyond that Adobe is essentially giving up on Apple's mobile OS until further notice. In spite of being repeatedly rebuffed by Jobs and company before, the Flash maker had kept up hope that it could sway (or nag) Apple into validating its wares, but the final straw in this relationship seems to have been Apple's dev tool lockdown. So what will Adobe do now? Principal Product Manager Mike Chambers tells us that Android is doing kind of okay and his company will shift its attentions to it and other mobile platforms. Of course, we're just giving you the cleaned up version -- for the full finger-pointing diatribe against Apple, you'll have to hit the source link. Update: Right on cue, here's Apple's terse response: "Someone has it backwards--it is HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and H.264 (all supported by the iPhone and iPad) that are open and standard, while Adobe's Flash is closed and proprietary."
Thieves snag iPad from buyer, yank a finger off while they're at it
We'll be honest with you -- it literally pains us to write this. If you're the queasy type, we'd probably suggest scrolling on down and continuing about your day. For the hardcore still with us, the story goes a little something like this: a Denver-area man headed out to his local Apple store to pick up an iPad for a colleague (read: not even for himself), and in an interview, he admits to not even really understanding the fascination with Apple's new product. After doing his good deed and plopping down the plastic, he casually curled the strings atop the Apple bag around his hand as he headed for the exits. Unfortunately, a pair of thugs met him along the way, yanking the bag, the iPad and all of the flesh surrounding his pinky finger as they bolted for a getaway. Currently, police are investigating surveillance footage in hopes of tracking down the crooks who pulled off the stunt... and, uh, a bit more than they likely bargained for. Video after the break if you've still got the stomach. [Thanks, Chris]
Boxee seeks iPad and iPhone app developer, bigger slice of Apple pie
Hey there, got any Objective-C experience and a desire to help out a budding young company? You'll wanna hit that source link right quick, as Boxee is presently on the search for a Lead iPad and iPhone App Developer who will be responsible for starting the company's Mobile Applications team. It's no secret that Boxee is keen to get its media streaming software out on any and all hardware possible, and iPhone OS presents the company with an ever-expanding audience for its wares. Additional job requirements include a minimum of a year's professional development experience and that you'll have previously developed an app for the iPhone, though that last bit's not exactly a high hurdle to overcome. We like the added note that Android dev experience is "a plus," which suggests to us that the Mobile Apps team will eventually be spreading its wings beyond Apple's mobile OS as well. [Thanks, Abed]
PhoneGap framework fine for App Store development, sez Apple
Now, we've all been concerned about recent updates to the iPhone dev agreement -- you haven't been sleeping and your parents are, quite frankly, worried for your sanity. And it's a heady subject: "what is the fate of PhoneGap in the wake of the iPhone OS 4 beta SDK?" Well, worry no more, little one -- it seems that Jesse Macfadyen, a contributor to the project, pinged Apple to make sure that users of the mobile development platform wouldn't find their apps rejected simply for using the tool. As you remember, the agreement states: "Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine" (and of course HTML and CSS are cool), so PhoneGap -- which indeed sticks to HTML, CSS and Javascript -- is totally safe. Now developers can get back to having their apps rejected for any number of other silly reasons. [Thanks, Bea]
iPhone OS 4.0 paving way for Apple-branded car kit?
Apple dropped iPhone OS 4.0 on us last week in a big way, and we spent plenty of time breaking down and exploring the details. But, there are apparently a few gems left to be discovered, like dedicated support for in-car use -- possibly even with an Apple-branded mount of some sort. When put into this mode the iPhone generates a simple menu that's fed over video output (demonstrated after the break) while the handset becomes a remote control... which may or may not be a good idea as more and more states ban cellphone use of any kind while driving. The developer hooks for such functionality appear to be in the iPhone API and, while it's all rumorsville at this point, Apple would be blind to not try and cash in on the auto integration market -- even if it is a little late to the party.
Steve Jobs apparently says original iPhone won't be upgraded in the future
Now that the iPad is out and iPhone OS 4 has been announced, it looks like Steve Jobs is taking a little time to catch up on his email -- in addition to taking up the new SDK rules, it appears he's very tersely confirmed what we sadly suspected all along: the first-gen iPhone won't get an upgrade to iPhone OS 4. That makes a certain amount of sense, given that Apple's subscription accounting model for the original iPhone only booked free upgrades for 24 months, but really, that's just paperwork -- we don't see why Cupertino couldn't at least allow for an iPod touch-style paid upgrade, especially since the upgradeable iPhone 3G runs essentially the same hardware. And let's not forget that first-gen iPhone owners paid more or less full price for their devices, so if this is true, Apple's summarily dead-ended a $400 phone just under three years after it launched. Of course, none of this is officially confirmed yet, so anything can change -- we've pinged Apple for comment and they haven't responded yet, but we'll let you know what we find out. [Thanks, Tanzeel]
Apple to drop support for 1st gen iPhone
You could see the writing on the wall when Apple announced iPhone OS 4. Apple said most of the features will run on the iPhone 3G, and all would run on the iPhone 3GS. At no point did they mention the first generation iPhone. Steve Jobs has now confirmed what many assumed. MacStories has published an email a reader sent to Jobs asking if Apple will supply updates to the first gen iPhone in the future. Steve's answer? "Sorry, no." So unless Apple releases another minor point upgrade to iPhone OS 3 before OS 4's release, original iPhone owners can expect to be running iPhone OS 3.1.3 for as long as they keep the device.
Keepin' it real fake: Nexus One clone spotted running iPhoney OS
Well, here's a bit of an extra special KIRF to start the week on the right note. Not only one of the first Nexus One clones we've seen (HTC Desire aside), but a Nexus One clone running some sort of reasonably faithful imitation of iPhone OS (or the iPhone OS home screen, at least). Of course, considering the 550 yuan price tag (or about $80), you likely won't find a Snapdragon at the heart of this one, and you'll have to make do with a slightly smaller 3.2-inch screen compared to the real deal, along with an actual trackball instead of an optical trackpad. Not much more than that go on at the moment, unfortunately, but there are more blurry pictures where this one came from at the link below.
Apple ditches "Rate on Delete" in iPhone OS 4
MacRumors is reporting that Apple has removed the "Rate on Delete" feature from the upcoming iPhone OS 4.0 release. "Rate on Delete" is a pop-up notice that appears when a user deletes an app from their iPhone. The user is able to select a 1 to 5 star rating for the app or to refuse rating it by tapping the "No Thanks" button. "Rate on Delete" was first introduced in iPhone OS 2.2 as a way for users to easily rate apps without having to access the iTunes Store. The feature has been widely decried by app developers; many believed that it contributed to biased negative reviews since the "Rate on Delete" reviews were only coming from users who deleted the app (and hence were presumably unhappy with it) and not the users that chose to keep the app on their iPhone.
Poll: Will you be upgrading your iPhone hardware to take advantage of multitasking?
Multitasking is the number one requested feature since the iPhone launched almost three years ago. With the introduction of iPhone OS 4 SDK, Apple has finally brought multitasking to the iPhone and iPod touch. The catch is that you need to have a 3rd gen iPod touch (released in 32 and 64GB versions last fall) or an iPhone 3GS. Any iPhone or iPod touch before those versions do not possess the hardware capable of supporting multitasking. At least, that's Apple's position; jailbreak users have been multitasking for a long time on that gear. What we want to know is how many of you are going to be updating your iPhone OS devices to take advantage of the multitasking features? Vote in the poll and leave us your thoughts in the comments! %Poll-44275%
Dear Apple, you're half-way there
In January you told Apple what you wanted in iPhone OS 4.0. Did the development team heed your advice? Well, even though iPhone OS 4 is only in its first beta release, Apple has already added 50% of the major features you wanted. What was delivered? Vertical swiping, app switching, background VoIP/audio playback and enhanced abilities for apps to save state and return you to the point where you left off are available in iPhone OS 4 through the new multitasking features. App organization and overall device app capacity has been improved with the introduction of Folders. A new home screen has been implemented with background wallpapers and a new dock. What got left out? Flash (and it's never going to happen, so just forget about it), a new lock screen, support for more codecs, and disk mode are the obvious ones that didn't make the list. However, some of the smaller feature requests are still possible, since they would be relatively minor changes that would be easy to implement as the SDK beta continues to progress. The ability to lock the device to portrait or landscape could still be a feature we'll see, especially considering Apple has already implemented the feature on the iPad via a hardware switch. It's also possible that Apple could allow users to remove or hide Apple-installed apps, though there are so far no hints of that in the SDK according to the devs we've spoken to; however, having Folders means that you can pile them all in one folder and forget about them. As for that universal documents folder, no signs of it yet, but Mail app's ability to select which apps should open attachments in iPhone OS 4 is a good start. Now we wait and see if anyone listened to your hardware wants for the 4th gen iPhone.
Apple blocking Flash-built apps because of multitasking?
Following up on news that the iPhone 4.0 developer agreement prohibits cross-compiled third-party apps, AppleInsider received info that multitasking in iPhone OS 4.0 is the reason for the change. According to their sources, apps built in environments like Flash CS5 won't co-operate well with Apple's multitasking scheme. "The system will now be evaluating apps as they run in order to implement smart multitasking. It can't do this if apps are running within a runtime or are cross compiled with a foreign structure that doesn't behave identically to a native C/C++/Obj-C app," according to AppleInsider. "Apple needs full access to a properly-compiled app to do the pull off the tricks they are with this new OS," one of their readers said. So it's not a grand conspiracy to kick Adobe while it's down, not about arbitrarily restricting developers to Apple's own programming tools, and not about squashing competition. If AppleInsider's sources are correct, banning apps built via Flash CS5 is really about ensuring that all apps run properly in Apple's new multitasking environment.
Apple's iPhone lockdown: apps must be written in one of three languages, Adobe in the hurt locker
Apple's already got a veritable novella describing things you can't do with the iPhone as a developer -- create apps that execute their own code is the biggie, obviously, blocking technologies Flash and Java in the absence of a loophole -- but it seems they've locked down the ecosystem just a little further today with the release of the iPhone OS 4 beta SDK. Check out this snippet from the developer's agreement: Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited). What does that mean, exactly? Well, it means that technologies like Adobe's iPhone compiler in Flash CS5 won't be allowed, simply because the source code of the app that you're writing isn't in a language Apple's comfortable with. The compiler had been seen as a potential boon for Flash devs that had already been blocked out of the iPhone ecosystem for lack of a true Flash player, but Apple's found a way to block even this workaround -- technically you don't need to be using Apple's own tools, but you've got be using one of three variants of a single programming language. It's hard to say why Apple cares, exactly, but we suspect that the company would have to analyze your app pretty closely to detect variances in how the compiler produced your machine code in order to determine that you'd violated the rule. This could be a blow to publishers -- Condé Nast included -- who'd been banking on Adobe Air to lead the digital push, since those guys presumably won't be able to bring their issues to the iPhone (and, more importantly, the iPad) without violating the terms of Apple's agreement. Protectionism is a core element of the iPhone's success, in Apple's view -- but ultimately, this might come out as a decision that's difficult to defend, unnecessarily sours publishers to the platform, and turns Flash devs' heads just a little grayer than they already were.
iPhone OS 4.0 spotlight lets you directly search web, Wikipedia
Apple did quite a bit today bringing its iPhone OS up to feature parity (and sometimes beyond) when compared with other modern smartphone platforms, and here's one piece not discussed today that we've been long wanting: web and Wikipedia search directly from Spotlight. WebOS and Windows Phone 7 have had it since inception, and Android's had it since Donut, and we're pretty happy to say that our OS 4.0-equipped iPhone is now also among the ranks, just 13 months after it first got a search bar. There you have it, folks, iPhone Spotlight is now useful. [Thanks, Randy]
Apple iPhone OS 4 Event now posted for QuickTime streaming
It's been a day of excitement surrounding the iPhone OS 4.0 event, and now you can relive the keynote at your convenience. Apple has posted the iPhone OS 4 Event keynote on its QuickTime site. Watching Steve wax on is always a good time, but be sure to come back here for the latest in-depth iPhone OS 4.0 news! Update: It's also available in the iTunes podcast for Apple keynotes. Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
iChatAgent process shows up in iPhone OS 4.0 -- video conferencing coming?
As expected, Apple didn't introduce any new iPhone hardware today; knowing Steve Jobs & co., they still want to save some surprises when they unveil the 4G iPhone later this summer. Could one of those surprises be a front-facing camera with iChat support? Close TUAW reader AW sent us this screen shot that shows an iChatAgent process showing up in iStat ($0.99 in the App Store) on an iPhone running the new iPhone OS 4.0 SDK. The process is new to iPhone OS 4.0 and it suggests that Apple plans to implement iChat on the phone in some form. It seems unlikely that Apple would merely introduce an instant messaging app without support for video conferencing. Although a front-facing camera on the iPhone has been rumored from time to time and it's one of the most requested hardware features for the iPhone, battery drain during video conferencing is always a concern on a mobile device. If Apple has found a way to support multitasking without significant battery drain, it's possible that mobile video conferencing battery drain has been overcome as well. UPDATE: another screen shot from within Activity Monitor (sent to us by reader Mr. X) after the break.
