Quick iPhone SDK Thoughts
Just read what I could about the iPhone SDK, here's some thoughts.
I was right about the sandbox, though there's a bit more access to hardware than I thought, there's no VoIP over cellular or ability to interact with the Dock, no ability to change the UI. So though it's not a technical sandbox, it's an arbitrary Apple approved one instead.
Also right about the Orwellian doublespeak: Jobs called only being able to distribute your apps via the iTunes store "the best deal going to distribute applications in the mobile space." Uh-huh. Who wants to be able to put downloadable install files on their own websites? Exchanging the carrier-only distribution model for an Apple-only one doesn't do much for me. I mean, imagine if you could only install applications on your computer via Apple or Microsoft... it's the same thing, no matter how "convenient" it may sound.
Why the hell didn't anyone in the Q&A ask about that? Did Apple hand-pick just the most loyal zealots and/or idiots? Must be.
Apple's servers are down, so I haven't been able to see for myself, but it looks like it *is* a nicely done SDK in general - much more complete than what you get from Symbian or Nokia: Libraries, simulator, IDE, GUI-builder, etc. But Mac-only development? Makes sense if you're a Mac head... I'm not though, and neither are most developers. Then again, I'm not a C or Objective C developer, so it really doesn't matter.
$100M iFund from Doerr? Are you kidding me?
-Russ