Musings from The Software Underground

Third-party development opportunities have been hot on the minds of indie Mac developers everywhere since the keynote. Now, more and more news on the topic of whether or not 3rd party Mac developers will be able to create software for the new iPhone has gradually been trickling out, including comments on the topic from the Man himself:

From the New York Times:

Moreover, Mr. Jobs also appears to be restricting the potential for third-party software developers to write applications for the new handset, like ring tones and word processors ... Mr. Jobs is moving in that direction, too, but it appears that he wants to control his device much more closely than his competitors do.

"We define everything that is on the phone," he said. "You don't want your phone to be like a PC. The last thing you want is to have loaded three apps on your phone and then you go to make a call and it doesn't work anymore. These are more like iPods than they are like computers."

The iPhone model, he insisted, would not look like the rest of the wireless industry.

"These are devices that need to work, and you can't do that if you load any software on them," he said. "That doesn't mean there's not going to be software to buy that you can load on them coming from us. It doesn't mean we have to write it all, but it means it has to be more of a controlled environment."

Software developers at Macworld Expo, the trade show where Mr. Jobs made the iPhone announcement, said they were taking a cautious attitude about the phone. Several said that much of the phone's usability would depend on what added functions Apple decides to place in the version of the Safari Web browser that is part of the system.

If there is an Adobe Flash player available for the iPhone, and if it supports the Internet standards that are being widely used by the developers of a proliferating array of Web services, Apple's decision to restrict software development may not matter. -- Steve Jobs Walks the Tightrope Again

There will also be no Flash and no Java on the iPhone, according to David Pogue, in his Ultimate iPhone Frequently Asked Questions:

Can it run Mac OS X programs? -- No.

Can I add new programs to it? -- No. Apple wants to control the look and feel and behavior of every aspect of the phone.

Does the Web browser support Flash or Java? -- No.

This follows more "confirmation" statements that the iPhone will, at least initially, be a closed system. So what does this mean? Well it means that, unlike the Mac, and unlike a lot of the smart phones on the market right now, there will be no easy 3rd party opportunities for creating applications for the iPhone. The box is "invite only" if even that. No Flash or Java would mean that you can't even work around the limitation by delivering web apps.

As much as it disappoints me, I can sort of understand what their goals are. It's really just Apple being Apple, and this isn't a desktop Mac. The needs of most cell phone users are much more limited in scope (note I say MOST), so it's clearly in their best interest to control the access and the experience.

My guess is that in the future you WILL be able to add apps and widgets, but only at Apple's discretion, and only by purchasing them through the iTunes store. This means that a lot of us will be shut out of the party, like we are now from Apple's retail sales channels. Still, things could change by June or sometime after, we really don't know all of the long-term plans. It's possible that Apple will open channels up for Select and Premier developers and put their apps through a quality and assurance process after which they can sell their apps, but I really don't see the iPhone ever being an open market like the Mac software market is now.

Links via John Gruber at Daring Fireball.