Do you own an iPhone and are disappointed a particular application is not included with the software or frustrated by the speed of WebApps? Or maybe you’re considering purchasing an iPhone with your next cell phone upgrade but worried it won’t offer applications or tools such as a Tip calculator. Well those days of frustration and worry will shortly be behind the iPhone community as last Thursday, March 6th, Apple released the iPhone’s Software Development Kit (SDK) to the public. 
Now you may be wondering, I’m not a hardcore programmer so how does this effect me? For starters, once Apple releases their iPhone 2.0 software update anticipated this upcoming June, all iPhone users will enjoy a unique feature native to every iPhone known as the ‘App Store.’ This nifty feature will allow you to purchase (unless offered for free) and download Apple approved applications for your iPhone instantly just as is currently experienced with the Wi-Fi iTunes store. So now you may be thinking, What if I buy a testy version of an application and a developer comes out with a new and improved version will I have to repurchase the application? The quick answer to that is No! If in the event any application is updated by a developer, the App Store application will notify you and let you know an Application you own has been updated and allow you to choose to update or keep your version all free of charge.
So what exactly will the iPhone SDK provide software developers? To begin with, the SDK will come with an immense API just as does Apple’s current SDK for Mac applications on Mac OS X. So those used to developing software for Mac using the programs Xcode, Interface Builder, and Instruments will feel right at home using the same tools for the iPhone. However, Apple has now provided developers with a very useful tool known as the iPhone Simulator. 
This amazing tool will allow a developer to run an application through their Mac with a virtual iPhone on their screen. And just to make things better if a developer owns or has iPhone’s as a resource they will be able to test their applications on a docked iPhone to test usability and ensure its a quality application which may then be distributed through the Apple App Store. But now you may be wondering just how you will be able to know how well an application you have programmed is working on your iPhone. 
Well Apple too has covered this within its Instruments application. As an application runs you can watch and record real time aspects of the iPhone’s CPU usage or FPS. Now say you notice your application runs perfectly smooth but you see that during a particular part of your game or transition in your application your FPS drops dramatically from the average. The tools Apple has provided allow you to see at that instant all of the calls and actions that were performed in its Stack so you can go back through your code with Xcode and optimize your application to make it perform as well as possible.
So now, with the upcoming release of iPhone’s 2.0 software upgrade iPhone users will no longer deal with the hassles of connecting to a WebApp which must deal with questionable Internet connections dependent upon your location and will be able to use native running applications with great interfaces that look and feel like Apple created applications. These applications will run with great speed and perform much better due to the fact that they will not deal with the Internet, unless of course it is the application’s central feature.
The iPhone’s application potential is limitless now with third party applications to hit the market this coming summer. Developers will have the freedom to produce whatever they wish to distribute to the masses while it coincides with Apple’s terms and does not convey unethical or inhumane messages and or beliefs. But this release of the SDK is not the only thing to take notice of with the release of iPhone’s 2.0 software upgrade. The new software will feature Microsoft’s active sync capabilities with Microsoft Exchange. 
Now if you are a large corporation that uses iPhones as a tool for your employees you will be able to have company contacts and calendar events pushed to your employees directly from an Exchange server. Instant updates of contacts, events or email from the server greatly enhances the capabilities of corporate and enterprise communications and allows for heightened efficiency. But what if your new employee is a little bit on the forgetful and unresponsible side and leaves his/her new iPhone at a bar one night. All that important information about your company is out for public eyes to see. Is there not a way to secure your companies information so others don’t have access? Amazingly Apple has taken this into account with this through its 2.0 software upgrade and has implemented a Remote Wipe feature which will allow corporations to remotely delete everything from the memory of a lost or misplaced iPhone. And the great thing about this feature is the iPhone will be completely unresponsive during the remote wipe so someone will not be able to stop its remote wipe.
The iPhone 2.0 software upgrade is highly anticipated with many of its new features such as the Microsoft Exchange capabilities for corporations or the App Store. So if you haven’t gone out to get your iPhone because you’re worried it won’t have the applications for you, I’m sure within the next few months there will be plenty of applications for you to choose from through Apple’s App Store that will resolve any issues you come across. In fact, you don’t have to distribute applications you create, so if you want to create applications for your iPhone yourself, the SDK will allow you to do just that and if that’s the case, the API which the SDK provides will offer you all the tools necessary to create some amazing applications for you new iPhone!
If you want to learn more about the future release of iPhone’s 2.0 software upgrade visit Apple and check out the presentation which highlights and demonstrates live the new capabilities of the Exchange upgrade and new SDK features.
*All images taken from www.apple.com and www.mobiletown.com
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Written by Kyle
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March 11th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Sweet newsfeed! I wanna buy an iPhone now!
June 10th, 2008 at 2:11 am
[...] features that will make this a hit is the Enterprise features highlighted in a previous post here and in the March 6th Keynote. Apple has also upgraded the built in calculator by introducing a [...]