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The smartest move in iPhone pre-history

By Tim Moynihan, Webware
Jun 12, 2007

Today, during his keynote at WWDC 2007, Steve Jobs may have done the smartest thing in iPhone pre-history.

With two announcements that didn't receive any of the hype normally associated with the iPhone, Apple may have actually made good on its promise that the iPhone will be revolutionary. Much more revolutionary than pretty looks, a touchscreen, a widescreen iPod, or even visual voice mail.

Apple iPhone
So revolutionary, in fact, that it may have an impact on much more than just the mobile phone industry. And they seemed so relatively unimportant at first glimpse...

The two smartest announcements in iPhone pre-history
1. A version of Apple's Safari browser has been released for Windows. (Download here.)

2. The "third-party iPhone apps" Steve Jobs alluded to weeks ago would be Web-based applications, not apps that run natively on the iPhone.

The second of these announcements sounded like a cop-out at first. After all, when Jobs mentioned opening the iPhone up to third-party apps, everyone got the impression he meant they'd actually run on the iPhone, not on a browser.

But here's why it looks so smart after a closer look.

Hedged bets Smart moves
1. Opening Safari to Windows is a great move for the development community. Windows developers can now test Web apps for Safari on Windows machines.

2. One of the iPhone's drawing points is that it runs a full browser (albeit one that won't support Java and possibly won't support Flash), and the iPhone hype machine promises an unparalleled browsing experience for a mobile device.

3. Because Safari is the application platform for the iPhone, Safari on Windows creates a much bigger pool of developers for the iPhone than releasing an SDK would. Making any site "iPhone-compatible" will be the hip thing to do, and developing for a touch-screen device could unleash some serious creativity. (Think of the possibilities for porn! Glorious, touch-interactive porn!)

4. Non-native apps also means that iPhone users won't need to download packages or install software. This could be a significant factor for a device that only has 4GB or 8GB of storage (and a lot of songs and videos competing for that space).

5. Web-based apps running on Safari creates no additional security issues for the iPhone. Your iPhone will be as secure as Safari is.

6. Because the apps are Web-based, they are cross-platform by nature. But if you run them on the iPhone, you get a little something extra: a touch-screen interface. During the keynote, VP of iPhone software Scott Forstall mentioned that Web apps will "know" they're running on an iPhone and act accordingly. Java's "write once, run anywhere" mantra may be perfected by the iPhone (ironically, a device that purportedly won't run Java).

So maybe, just maybe, the iPhone will be revolutionary on quite a few fronts. At the very least, it may reprioritize some things.

 

 
The iPhone's impact on the Web »

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