REST has very little, and arguably zero, to do with the success of the iPad or iPhone. Some people are already doing SOAP ( http://groups.google.com/group/iphonesdkdevelopment/browse_thread/thread/ea250b1ea7e461e0?pli=1is just one example) and if you are looking at doing an enterprise iPad application that fronts onto the likes of SAP or Oracle then SOAP is liable to be a simpler and more supported way than trying REST.
The technical APIs are the pieces that have made the iPhone and the iPad successful, in particular having a common base with the Mac OSX and then restricted sets of APIs in each environment as appropriate. This standardisation, and its success, has nothing to do with either REST or SOAP and everything to do with the control required on the device. This is something that Java, until Sun screwed it up, had and Apple took the concept of a standardised technical infrastructure forwards (backwards?) by marrying it to a standardised technical platform (in other words they had one "VM"). The other piece that the iPad/iPhone has really demonstrated is how rarely services are actually re-used between multiple areas in the "web". Sure there are a bunch of twitter clients but most people using Facebook seem to use the standard Facebook app and most other server/consumer applications are equally tied to a specific server side implementation that is used by only one client set. Whether these elements use REST, SOAP or anything else is irrelevant as they are tied applications in a more client/server style mode than a "web" mode. For me the iPhone really demonstrates how little there genuinely is of the "web" application model and how in reality we are still at a technical client/server model with clients tied to servers. IMO part of this is driven by REST and its lack of proscribed documentation thus making interfaces obscure to anyone other than those who wrote it. The iPhone/iPad do not demonstrate that REST rules, arguably they prove quite the opposite, they prove that a client/server model with proprietary APIs rules and that the "power" of the web is trumped hugely by a closed garden model. Steve On 5 April 2010 12:59, Anne Thomas Manes <[email protected]> wrote: > > > REST rules. > > You aren't likely to see a SOAP client on the iPad. If you want your > service to be accessible from an iPad, you should stick to HTTP. > > Anne > > > On Sun, Apr 4, 2010 at 2:42 PM, Steve Jones <[email protected]>wrote: > >> >> >> Its proof that when designing a service that the really important thing is >> standardising the technology side to enable it to be reused in new an >> innovative ways. >> >> Its also proof that some people will pay to use a service based on the >> reputation of previous services. Which indicates how trust is important in >> network effects. >> >> Steve >> >> PS Its also proof that some people will buy anything shiny ;) >> >> >> On 4 April 2010 14:45, Gervas <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> >>> >>> I guess some of you are excited by iPads. Two of you have blogged about >>> it: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/n-gaa/message/1139 and at: >>> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/n-gaa/message/1140 >>> >>> What has this to do with SOA? Well I sure someone will prove that they >>> are not totally unrelated or even not totally unorthogonal.. >>> >>> Gervas >>> >>> >> > >
