And another thing...

Why haven't we got Spotlight for our iPhones and iPod touches yet? I realize typing isn't as responsive with the soft keyboard, but there's only a small amount of info to index: contacts, sms conversations, emails, web history... I'd like to think a "search" app with near-instant response could further differentiate the iPhone from other smartphones.

It would be so cool if I'm right

Does anyone remember, quite awhile ago, we were told Apple had patented cool new LCD displays with image sensors in between the pixels? This would essentially give you a user-facing webcam. Why has no one speculated on how stupid this is for a computer, and how ingenious it is for oh, say, a mobile phone? Imagine Steve Jobs introducing the new iPhone, with no front-facing camera spot anywhere on the face... disappointment will OOZE from the crowd, until he demos the new iChat Mobile with an "InvisiCam"! That would definitely be a jaw-dropping, Jobs keynote moment. I'm probably wrong, but I'd sure like to be right!

iPhone SDK

Well, the SDK is finally out! I can't say I haven't been waiting with bated breath, and it turned out to be mostly better than I expected.

Of course I love that everything is more or less Cocoa based, and the sheer number of APIs available to a developer wanting to take full advantage of the iPhone's hardware. What I really like though, is the distribution side of things.The apps distribution goes directly through the App Store, free apps will be completely free to consumer AND dev, and that Apple will charge a paltry ($99) fee for being able to post apps to the store. Some will complain about the fee, but even as a hobbyist student dev $99 is totally worth it. I like to think the entry fee will stem the flow of crapware to the platform, and it's needed to prevent the App Store from having hundreds of thousands of Hello World apps to wade through.

My biggest complaint is that it's mostly US only. Right now the "beta" for the full developer program is open to select developers in the United States, and nowhere else. This wouldn't be much of a problem, except that you cannot test your code on an iPhone or iPod touch without the paid beta program. While the NDA probably prevents me from disclosing exactly why the iPhone simulator isn't really a complete alternative for testing, let's just say I'm waiting for the program to be open in June. I hope that's a general enough statement that Apple lawyers won't be mad at me (although I'd need at least one certified reader before I could really get any complaints!).

I think it'll probably take me until June to fully absorb the general concepts and abilities of the iPhone SDK, so by the time I'm able to really get crackin I'll be up to the challenge. Until then, we'll see what other cool developments Apple has up it's sleeve.