"Barsodi.John" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote on 03/10/2008 05:43:36 PM:
> http://robert.balousek.net/2008/03/07/iphone-sdk-no-background-processes/ Nice post from a balanced perspective... I find his conclusion specious at best: "If you are running an application such as AOL Instant Messenger on your iPhone, every time you receive a call or browse away from the application you would be signed out, you would lose any unread messages, and your conversations would end." That is just a bizarre conclusion and I would love to know where he got that impression. I also like how he quote's himself to make his thoughts seem more important - gotta love those bloggers. The SDK *actually* points out that when a user switches away, the application quits. It advises the programmer to have the application automatically save it's state. So, if you have a lazy programmer, you will get your blogger's assumed behavior. Again, I don't know of many application developers who wouldn't account for this - if you didn't, your user experience would be pretty crappy and people wouldn't use your software. I could make a crack about how Windows Mobile users are used to crappy software so maybe that's why he just assumed that's what would happen, but that would be sophomoric now, wouldn't it? As for some real points: 1) Very few apps need background multitasking 2) Background multitasking is potentially dangerous and can dramatically impact the user experience on a phone. It can also kill battery life if not done right. 3) It's still a beta SDK, not all the details are fully published. I'm sure AIM will background multitask just fine - otherwise what's the point? And if it really performs like your blogger friend is speculating, why would AOL even bother to produce an application for the demonstration? If Apple has a vetting process where Apps have to be certified in order to be authorized to run in the background, I'm OK with that. I've killed my WM phone a few times with poorly written Apps. It's a phone, not a desktop and resources are precious. If they are very restrictive on it to the point where smaller developers can't get multitasking, *then* it would be a legitimate complaint and I'll be right there with him. But I think it's a little premature for such rampant speculation, and a little naive to assume that Apple doesn't have a process in mind to address this issue (again, if they didn't it would be pretty stupid to demo an app like AIM). 4) More hand waiving and drama over pre-release code, but I really can't say I'm surprised. The blogger you quote has many other balanced reviews... I think we need some perspective here. Again, before the SDK announcement there were lots of people who were speculating that Apple/AT&T would NEVER allow VOIP or Instant messaging - their speculation was wrong and both were addressed in the presentation. Apple - no matter what you think of them - is not stupid. By the release, I think it would be a safe bet they will have something for multitasking. If they didn't have more changes to the SDK, it would more then likely be the release SDK, not a beta - otherwise, why wait until June? > Speaking of the right tool for the right situation, where does > the iPhone fit in the enterprise realm? What an inane question. With the 2.0 release, the iPhone will have all the enterprise management features of a WM phone with ActiveSync, and just about feature parity with BlackBerry. The answer to your question is certainly wherever a BlackBerry or WM phone makes sense, an iPhone will makes sense. Or is it automatically discounted by you simply because it comes from Apple? And as soon as applications start hitting the iPhone an iPhone will make even more sense. Salesforce.com and Epocrates seemed pretty excited about putting enterprise applications directly on the iPhone. Heck, Epocrates showed off functionality that they don't have on any other mobile platform - a direct quote from them. Then again, if you had actually watched the presentation instead of following third hand information from blogs you would already know that. The iPhone has a pretty compelling developer environment and lots of folks are pretty excited about it. Perfect? Nope. But then again, it's the first release and I've yet to find that perfect product from any manufacturer. Also, iPhone's and iPod Touch's are pretty easily updated - not exactly the norm for other cell phones - the current SDK certainly isn't going to be the last iteration of it. However, I think you are going to find many applications that will have no problem working within the current SDK, and will make a compelling business cases on their own. And speaking of updates, funny how after the iPhone release, we are finally staring to see (vendor provided, legitimate) upgrades offered on WM phone's that don't entail you having to buy a whole other phone. Amazing how that competition thing works... Just because you don't like Apple or the iPhone doesn't mean it's not relevant. Ignoring it won't make it go away :) Of course, I could be totally off base and the iPhone and iPod Touch (don't forget the Touch - great for campus environments where WiFi is all you need) could totally flop. But I think it's a safe bet that isn't going to happen. Besides - maybe this will finally spur MS, Symbian and the other phone vendors to clean up their act and produce some decent phones that have good user interfaces (I would be embarrassed to ship the phone app that is on my Treo). There have already been some positive changes in the phone market because of the iPhone. Competition is good for everyone! Eric Eskam =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The contents of this message are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government "The human mind treats a new idea the same way the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it." - P. B. Medawar ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm> ~
