Pretty good article in the Chicago Sun Times from a journalist who got to play with the iPhone. Very good article and he seems to ask some good questions. Including:
1. 3rd party apps
2. Browser plugins
3. OS X details
On Apps:
On OS X
Source: http://www.suntimes.com/technology/ihnatko/215441,CST-FIN-Andy18.article
1. 3rd party apps
2. Browser plugins
3. OS X details
On Apps:
5. Apple will keep a very tight rein on software development.
I asked point-blank if third parties would be able to write and distribute iPhone apps and was told, point-blank, no.
However, it appears that there'll be some third-party opportunities. I'm going to take a guess that iPhone software will be distributed the same way as iPod games: no "unsigned" apps will install, but apps will start appearing on the iTunes Store after successfully passing through a mysterious process of Apple certification -- one that ensures that they meet a certain standard of quality and won't, you know, secretly send your credit-card info to Nigeria.
The lockdown on software is an area of ongoing suspicious interest. I noticed that the iPhone's pre-release browser was missing some plug-ins. I asked if Real and Macromedia et al. would be writing media plug-ins for the iPhone's Web browser, and was told that no, the browser would ship with plug-ins, but Apple would be writing them all in-house. Odd, that
On OS X
6. The iPhone runs the same OS as the Macintosh. And not in the way that Windows Mobile is, I suppose, technically, if you want to split hairs about it, classified somewhere in the Microsoft Windows phylum.
Nope, everything I've learned (both in official briefings and "you and I never spoke, all right?" sort of discussions) says that it truly does run Leopard, the upcoming 10.5 OS that will be released for the Macintosh late in the spring.
Those spiffy UI animations, for instance, come courtesy of Leopard's Core Animation suite.
So will it run Mac software? Nope. The iPhone runs OS X, but it's an iPhone, not a Macintosh. And it stands to reason that the OS on the iPhone doesn't include any bits that it doesn't need.
And no, the iPhone's Widgets aren't the same as the Mac's Dashboard widgets. But they do use DashCode and other desktop widget tech, so who knows? I'm really hoping that widgets will be more open to third-party developers than apps.
Source: http://www.suntimes.com/technology/ihnatko/215441,CST-FIN-Andy18.article