No iPhone SDK Means No iPhone Killer Apps

iPhoneLover/Hater writes "Gizmodo is running an article analyzing the potential failure of the iPhone as a truly revolutionary platform. The reason: no SDK to harness the true power of Mac OS X and the frameworks contained in Apple's smart cell. From the article: 'According to Apple, "no software developer kit is required for the iPhone." However, the truth is that the lack of an SDK means that there won't be a killer application for the iPhone. It also means the iPhone's potential as an amazing computing and communication platform will never be realized. And because of this and no matter how Apple tries to sell it, the iPhone won't make a revolution happen.'"

Re:It doesn't do what I need

[porcupine8]

I'm confused as to which of those functions you list belongs on a telephone. A tablet computer, sure. A PDA, sure. This isn't being marketed as either of those, it's being marketed as a fancy cel phone with features similar to other fancy cel phones. It might pave the way to Apple making a product that is marketed as one of those other items, but right now it's not, and I don't see why it should have all the features of a product that it's not. Apple is not one to try and make a product that is all things to all people, especially not in its first incarnation.

Yes, you need a tool. No, this isn't it. It's also not a hammer, a printer, or a fork. Yes, I wish they would release a PDA or tablet computer too. I have no use for an iPhone, but I also don't have/need an iPod or a camera phone - that doesn't mean I don't think those items should exist or doubt their popularity with people who aren't me.

Re:No killer app?

[FyRE666]

The reason why Apple gets support on this site is because they make products people like using and find easy to use. They don't cater to geeks...

Have you ever looked around yourself and asked "do I belong here?"

Re:No killer app?

[LWATCDR]

I have a sneaking feeling that safari is the API or close to it. I really doubt that IPhone is running a full version of OS/X. I have to assume that it is running an XScale CPU at probably 500 or so Mhx. It may have some dsp instructions but it most likely doesn't have an FPU. None of that is bad but it means that it is not close to as powerful as a Mac. It will not have a hard drive or virtual memory. It will have an MMU so it will not have what you or I think of as OS/X.
Your right about Photoshop but a lot of killer apps have come from Apple. ITunes comes to my mind. Yes I would like a real SDK but then I work on an XScale embedded system running Linux every day.
I really think that if Apple let you see the guts of the IPhone OS there would be a lot more complaining.

Re:It's just a phone...

[drinkypoo]

Verizon doesn't lock down their smartphones, or when they do they don't do it to the same degree they do other phones. But any "normal" phone is locked down pretty much completely. For example even if you paid good money for Motorola Mobile Phone Tools, you cannot use it to move media in and out of an ordinary Verizon phone. They have actually locked out the MPT functionality to force you to send data through them so they can charge you.

Re:Unless...

[slimjim8094]

BZZT. The iPhone is EDGE, which is not GPRS at all. And (in my experience) it's at least twice as fast. Fast enough to stream video with, anyways. And fast enough that browsing HTML would be, if not snappy, acceptable given someone were to make a device with a touchscreen running an AJAX browser, perhaps