Cookbook For Third-Party Apps On iPhone

a_skripko suggests this easy step-by-step procedure for adding third-party applications to an Apple iPhone. While the article claims "this procedure can be performed by the average user," it might at least have to be an average user with no fear of the command line.

Comments

I'll wait

[Merritt.kr]

I think I'll just wait until another iPhone type phone comes out. The openmoko, or something along those lines. Because something else with touchscreen and video and etc WILL come out, and I have no doubt it will be better, considering how many people are p.o.'ed about the restrictions on the iPhone (like 3rd party apps, restriction to AT&T, etc). Just a matter of time.

Re:I'll wait

[njfuzzy]

This is the fallacy of the feature list. The iPhone, when it is great (it isn't always) isn't great just for what it can do, but for how seamless it makes doing it. The interface, not the feature. The copycats will look better on paper, and totally miss the point.

Re:I'll wait

[Man On Pink Corner]

Agreed... after Googling it, you're right, it does look like a pretty nice phone, and only about 50% heavier than the iPhone.

But it's a phone for phone geeks, not Joe Sixpack and Jane Boxwine. WTF are all those tiny hieroglyphic icons all over the screen?

And for that matter, what's up with the name? "HTC P4550 Kaiser"? Is that a cell phone, or something that requires State Department approval to export to non-NATO countries?

The comments that point out that the iPhone is more than the sum of its bullet points sound like excuse-making and back-pedalling, but they're not. They're 100% on target. If the Kaiser hardware were available with anything like the iPhone's OS, I'd probably be willing to pay $2000 for it. As it is, if I bought an HTC P4550 Kaiser, I'd just be buying one more gadget full of features I'll never remember how to use.

Re:I'll wait

[bigstrat2003]

But it's a phone for phone geeks, not Joe Sixpack and Jane Boxwine. WTF are all those tiny hieroglyphic icons all over the screen? At $500, the iPhone is also not a phone for Joe Sixpack and Jane Boxwine.

iPhone Hacking End-User Insecurity

[landonf]

Imagine how valuable a smart phone is as a malware target: it's carried on your persons, has access to your home and office, it's always always on, has direct internet connectivity, a decent camera, sensitive microphone, and a great deal of your personal information.

Given the value of this target, why on earth are people installing random binaries on their iPhone when they have absolutely no way of ascertaining whether they can trust the original provider of said binaries?

Writing malware is not particularly difficult when you have a good SDK. The iPhone is, for most purposes, a fully functional and familiar UNIX environment, and the APIs necessary to build a SpyPhone are not a secret. Given the lack of insight the average user will have into the operating system on a handheld device, they'd likely never know of an infection.

While I *very much doubt* we'll ever see a mass malware infection, users need to be careful about what they put on their phone, who made the binaries, and how they verify the source. Even one compromised iPhone would be very valuable to a nefarious malfeasant.

Re:Slashvertisements?

[jamrock]

Am I missing some point, or is Apple just darling du jour?

Yes, you're missing the point, you and everyone else who fails to realize that it's not the feature list, it's the interface. And please don't talk to me about open alternatives; the average consumer doesn't care. Joe Sixpack only wants something that will work without fuss and look good doing it.

Ten years ago, I would have been all hot for something I could poke around and mess with. These days, I have different hobbies and greater demands on my time. I've become extremely miserly with my free time because I want to spend every possible second of it with my kids; they're teenagers now, and all three will be off to college over the course of the next three years. My priorities have changed, and I have neither the time nor inclination to spend hours digging into the guts of a machine or wading through configuration files. It is for this reason that I simply can't be bothered with Linux. I'm Mac user and I have nothing whatsoever against Linux; in fact I admire Linux and the Linux community, and I'm rooting for FOSS in general, so don't think that my personal decision not to use Linux is a rejection of Linux or open software. But when I weigh the time I would have to spend configuring everything to my satisfaction, including finding/testing/learning replacement software, against time I could be spending with my sons and daughter, there's no contest.

I should point out that I apply the same test to pretty much every single thing in the same fashion before deciding whether to embark on it: Is it worth the time away from my children? If I find an alternative that will produce the same result, with less demands on my time, then usually that's the path I take. With regard to operating systems, moral* and technical concerns aside, Linux and Windows both fail to meet that all-important criterion as far as I'm concerned.

* What exactly does "moral advantage" mean anyway, when used in a discussion of technology? How can an inanimate object be immoral? It's the use of that object that is moral or not. Is the iPhone somehow less "moral" than the computer I presume you're using? Does loading Linux on it make it somehow morally superior to a Mac or Windows machine, even if it was produced by a manufacturer with an extremely poor environmental record? If you're so concerned about the immoral nature of a product manufactured by a company that *gasp* doesn't hew to your party line, then how in the name of Christ do you even get through the day without using transportation manufactured by a greedy automaker and fueled by nature-raping oil companies; eating a meal of recombinant DNA patented by monstrous agribusinesses; wearing clothes and shoes bearing the fingerprints of Asian sweatshop workers; and -shocker!- using an evil, soul-sucking ISP to connect to the Internet so you can post your drivel to Slashdot? And if you think that your lifestyle and choices somehow insulates you from contact with "immoral" technology, then you're delusional. Like a right-wing politician seeking re-election, people who preach morality tend to do so out of convenience. Grow up.