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iPhone Not Running OS X

Posted by kdawson on from the but-but-steve-said-it-was dept.

rochlin writes "We know that Steve Jobs has said the iPhone won't accept third-party apps. The iPhone looks to be running on a Samsung provided ARM core processor. That means it's not running on an Intel (or PPC) core. That means it's not running OS X in any meaningful sense (Apple can brand toilet paper as running OS X if they like). Darwin, the BSD based operating system that underlies what Apple has previously been calling OS X, does not run on ARM processors. The Darwin / Apple Public Source licensing agreement says the source would have to be made available if it is modified and sold (paraphrased; read it yourself). A Cingular rep has said the iPhone version of the OS source will not be made available. It will be closed, like the iPod OS and not like Darwin. So if it ain't Darwin, it ain't OS X (in any meaningful way). An InfoWorld article on an FBR Research report breaks down iPhone component providers and lists Samsung as the chip maker for the main application / video cpu. So, that leaves the question... What OS is this phone really running? Not Linux or the source would need to be open."

4 of 476 comments (clear)

  1. Who cares? by zappepcs · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I know the fanboys will have trouble not seeing that as a troll, but who does care? Why do they care?

    At $500+ per unit and a goal of 1% of the phone market, it won't really make itself into THE platform to write apps for, now will it? Its not going to replace the Blackberry or even the Danger HiptopIII.

    So, who and why would care about what OS the iPhone runs on?

    There are already similar phones on the market with the main features of the iPhone sans the iCool name, the finger mode GUI, and the iPrice.

    What is with all the hype? Its just a ifreaking iPhone iFrom iApple. The hype is starting to be more of a liability to this product than being restricted to the Cingular network is.

    meh

    --
    Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
  2. Digg it by UCB1125 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Feel free to digg it up to the front page http://digg.com/apple/iPhone_Not_Running_OS_X/

  3. Anybody NOT from Apple? by feranick · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Confirming that the iPhone indeed is running a full version of OSX? I am very suspicious, simply because I cannot see why Apple would invest so much in developing a (closed) platform whose underpinnings simply do not exist (BSD not running on ARM).

  4. Re:That guys name does my head in by that+this+is+not+und · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    huh??