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Inside the iPhone — 3G, ARM, OS X, 3rd Partyware
DECS writes "After heading off the top ten myths of the iPhone, Daniel Eran of RoughlyDrafted has written a series of articles looking 'Inside the iPhone,' exploring (1) why Apple didn't target faster 3G networks, (2) a substantiated look at how the iPhone is indeed running OS X (contrary to reports that it isn't), and (3) what it means to users and developers, and how ARM is involved, in Mac OS X, ARM, and iPod OS X, and why the supposedly 'closed' system Apple describes for the iPhone won't preclude third party development."
As to the price, my current phone was free with a cheap contract and has 1GB of flash, an ARM CPU and both Java and C++ SDKs. The UI is a little rough around the edges, but I don't think I'd pay $500 for a better UI. It does everything I need a phone to do, and third party applications allow me to use if for things I didn't imagine I would need it for when I got it. Oh, and it does 3G data transfer and lets my MacBook Pro connect to the Internet at a reasonable speed when I'm mobile, which the iPhone doesn't (who buys a device with only EDGE these days? Even a year ago when I got my latest phone it was hard to find one. Buying music from iTMS over EDGE is going to be very painful).
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
As for artificial limitations on development: According to a developer I talked to who apparently worked on the iPhone, it will have secure boot; i.e., the bootloader checks to make sure it's booting Apple's OS, and the hardware won't run any bootloader other than Apple's. Obviously Apple is taking a different approach this time compared to, say, the iPod and their Intel Macs. So, I doubt we'll be seeing iPhone Linux or anything like that unless Apple has done something really stupid.
I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less.
I'm of the opinion that Slashdot's extensive coverage of the iPhone is warranted by virtue of the enormous public interest in the iPhone as a product. While there is really nothing new in the iPhone (although it is a clever combination of existing technologies), the public interest in it is intense, and if it does indeed live up to its promise and deliver a dramatically improved user interface experience for smartphones and handheld devices, it could become an extremely signficant product. What is terrifying about this prospect, is of course, the fact that the iPhone represents a blatant rejection of everything the FOSS community has been advocating: open platforms, open standards, open source, and user choice. If the iPhone promotes the idea that closed source, closed platform monopolies are cool, then that obviously does not bode well for us. Consequently, there is an obvious need for Slashdot to cover the iPhone as extensively as possible, so that we as a community can (a) better understand the threat that it poses, and (b) get a sense of how best to respond.
That same article explained why: Apple wants the iPhone to work reliably, not to be known as a toy that can load various shareware apps, but which freezes erratically and is plagued with spyware and security hazards.
The Orwellian double-speak is mind-boggling. This is the world according to an Apple fanboy:
A device that can be adapted to do anything within the limits of technology and security: a toy.
A device that does only what Apple product managers and Cingular marketers think you should be allowed to do with it: apparantly, not a toy.
Here's a little trivia: the Apple store uses either Symbol or Intermec-based handheld devices to scan products. These devices run either Palm OS or Windows CE. Apple uses toys to manage its invetory.
I have a Treo 650 and can install all kinds of 3rd party apps. Of course, the more running on my Treo the more unstable it is and the more I hate my Treo when it locks up.
Apple's products have been successful because they have controlled a lot of the "freedom" (hardware choices on the Mac OS X, software choices on the iPod) that open products offer. More consistency has kept their users from having to stare at driver errors and the BSOD.
I will replace my Treo - with all it's 3rd party software offerings - with an iPhone the second one is available.
Your excellent list missed this one feature:
8. Random Access Voicemail.
This alone sold me on the phone. I don't even use voicemail because I don't want to wade through 25 messages to get to the one from the caller I just missed. I just call the person up who I see on my caller ID and ask them "what's up?" Being able to mass-delete voicemails instead of having to navigate voice menus is a killer-app as far as I'm concerned.
To support this feature, Cingular had to retool their own voicemail system. I am betting you're going to see this functionality added to the other providers, too. Hate the company for one-button mice and DRM as much as you like, you've got to give Apple credit as being a minority player in an industry forcing innovation on the rest of the players. They did this with USB, too. When the first iMac came out, Steve Jobs refused to include serial ports. It was the first computer to be USB-only. There were no USB printers or scanners at the time, but the strong sales of the iMac inspired peripheral developers to implement USB connectivity to make their products work with the #1 selling computer model.
Seth
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