Hasta La Gadget!

Apple’s already got a veritable novella describing things you can’t do with the iPhone as a developer — create apps that execute their own code is the biggie, obviously, blocking technologies Flash and Java in the absence of a loophole — but it seems they’ve locked down the ecosystem just a little further today with the release of the iPhone OS 4 beta SDK. Check out this snippet from the developer’s agreement:

Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).

What does that mean, exactly? Well, it means that technologies like Adobe’s iPhone compiler in Flash CS5 won’t be allowed, simply because the source code of the app that you’re writing isn’t in a language Apple’s comfortable with. The compiler had been seen as a potential boon for Flash devs that had already been blocked out of the iPhone ecosystem for lack of a true Flash player, but Apple’s found a way to block even this workaround — technically you don’t need to be using Apple’s own tools, but you’ve got be using one of three variants of a single programming language. It’s hard to say why Apple cares, exactly, but we suspect that the company would have to analyze your app pretty closely to detect variances in how the compiler produced your machine code in order to determine that you’d violated the rule.

This could be a blow to publishers — Condé Nast included — who’d been banking on Adobe Air to lead the digital push, since those guys presumably won’t be able to bring their issues to the iPhone (and, more importantly, the iPad) without violating the terms of Apple’s agreement. Protectionism is a core element of the iPhone’s success, in Apple’s view — but ultimately, this might come out as a decision that’s difficult to defend, unnecessarily sours publishers to the platform, and turns Flash devs’ heads just a little grayer than they already were.

Apple’s iPhone lockdown: apps must be written in one of three languages, Adobe in the hurt locker originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Apr 2010 22:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Okay, so we’re currently holding our breath while the developer preview of iPhone OS 4 installs on our 3GS — a process that seems to be, uh, not going so well, but we wanted to share these quick shots we took from the simulator in the meantime. The dock is now 3D, like the one in Snow Leopard and on the iPad, multitasking works just like you’d expect — you can swipe left and right to see more open apps — and the Game Center app is present, although not functional. There’s also Events and Faces in the Photos app, which you’d expect after the iPad version got them. We’ve got our fingers crossed that our latest restore attempt is going to work, so check back in a few for a video walkthrough, but hit the gallery below in the meantime!

Update: Wonder of wonders, we actually got the bugger working! We’re doing video right now, let us know what you want to see — and check out some on-device shots below.

Update 2: Video time! We also added some impressions, it’s all after the break.

Continue reading iPhone OS 4 hands-on (updated with video!)

iPhone OS 4 hands-on (updated with video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The curtain has been pulled back on iPhone 4, and the list of new features is massive: There’s multitasking (finally!), a refreshed interface, and literally hundreds of other changes, all coming this summer. Here’s the rundown. More »

The fourth iPhone OS comes today. iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad will be getting new features. Multitasking? Tethering? The cloud? Our live coverage is already under way, but the official event starts at 10PT (1ET). [Gizmodo Live] More »

Speaking of iPhone OS 4, check this out: PixelCUBE Studios, which currently holds the #1 spot on iTunes’ list of free iPhone app downloads with The Impossible Test, noticed something rather curious in its usage stats. See, PixelCUBE uses Pinch Media to dredge up analytics, and a quick check of the OS versions its users are running (pictured left) shows that not one, not two, but three distinct flavors of OS 4 have turned up: 4.0, 4.0.1, and 4.1. It’s not unusual for Apple (or any major software developer, really) to have different teams working on multiple version milestones at the same time, so we don’t doubt that this could be real; then again, this is easy enough to spoof in a world where enterprising devs and fun-loving miscreants are bending iPhones to their every whim with creative hacks and lightning-quick jailbreaks. Anyone up for a careful daily sweep of BART trains until we get to the bottom of this?

Three flavors of iPhone OS 4.x showing up in developer’s analytics? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Apr 2010 14:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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