News of Apple’s new iPhone SDK caused much excitement last week among Apple fans. It is not just the potential for adding local applications, but the fact that the device is already in use by millions of people. Even more important is the number of developers currently sat on their hands because the Palm and Windows Mobile third party software industries are all over the place at the moment. All of a sudden, a new mobile software market opens up and the gold rush has just started.

Love or hate the iPhone, we all know that there will be a huge number of third party applications and games flooding the market within a relatively short space of time, and that true innovation will be the only way to move an iPhone app above the rest.

I know a few developers who are struggling to survive in the Palm OS third party market and some that are also not happy in the Windows Mobile market. These people are ideal fodder (excuse the word) for Apple, and are ideally placed to start iPhone development. Some of the larger PDA software companies have resources a plenty to attack the market early and to establish a name for themselves before the rest catch up. It is just like the early days of Palm OS all over again.

Even the companies that are not having problems, or so I assume, like Astraware have a foothold big enough to start well and to grow quickly in a new mobile stream. I can imagine that Howard is already scratching his beard at the thought of it:) To clarify, I have no idea what Astraware’s intentions are, but the prospect of the well known smartphone developers jumping onto the iPhone bandwagon is more likely to get traditional users moving over than the allure of Apple’s fancy iPhone gimmicks.

Apple wants 30% of all software sales, which is not too bad compared to what some current mobile ESDs charge, and the developer will have to purchase a Mac to develop properly. All software will be distributed via iTunes and some will argue that this is a good idea because it enables Apple to control the type of software being installed on the devices. Obviously, this will be worked around within a short period of time by some enterprising 14 year old and that will be the model every iPhone user has to live with.

The 30% charge can be attributed to the work that Apple will have to do to ensure that the software is suitable and stable enough, but it appears to follow the traditional mobile ESD business model and I for one feel that this is steep. Like the iPhone pricing, Apple has offered no flexibility to the process and it is iTunes or nothing for the developers who want to turn a profit. At least the marketing will be much cheaper for the developer and there are many advantages and disadvantages to not having multiple ESDs running the show. On the one hand, it is more cost effective to have one account with one distributor but there is a danger of being crowded out in a huge market in one place. It could also make the developer’s site much less important as the iTunes site grows to become an all encompassing monster housing the iPhone world.

Everything in the above paragraph is of little consequence though. Too many people look up to Apple and Mr Jobs, and will devour every piece of software and pricing plan offered with glee. Reminds me of a joke- Q: What’s the difference between Steve Jobs and God? A: God doesn’t think he is Steve Jobs.

There has been some mumblings about having to buy a Mac to develop for the iPhone, but you have to have a Windows machine to develop for Windows Mobile, so they are ever on that point.

Apple has infiltrated the mobile market impressively so far, and will continue to do so at an alarming rate. I say good luck to them and I for one do now look more favourably on the iPhone as a potential smartphone. If the pricing plan becomes reasonable, and I can lose my unhealthily negative view of Apple, it may be one to look at in the future. However, I suspect many smartphone and PDA developers have already paid their $99 and are hatching plans for iPhone software domination.

To sum up, here is a telling comment from a developer, whom I shall not name- "For us it makes a lot of sense--we're already up and running, know the mobile market, etc.  We have a few successful apps and so will have a bit of a name for those who moved to an iPhone. 30% really isn't too bad--it includes transaction costs (Handango and others charge extra for those.) Plus as mentioned, I don't have to spend another chunk of change on adverts on THEIR site (well, not yet anyway).  So my costs really go down.  And there are people out there who WANT to buy apps.  So there are customers again!  Plus while you have to certify your apps--you don't have to pay for an outside test house to do it!  The $99 is supposed to include that.  That's dirt cheap.  I've joined inside dev programs for that and gotten squat."

Happy now, bitches? by 'Fake' Steve Jobs (who seems to be a 'real' a**hole) made me chuckle- "Yeah, we rocked your friggin world, right? I mean 29 June 2007 might be the day the world changed, but today it just changed again. BlackBerry is dead. Microsoft is dead. Windows Mobile is dead. Amazon is dead. Kindle is dead. Nokia is dead. Motorola was already dead but now they are even more dead. Google's Android is dead. Samsung is dead. LG is dead. Sony is dead. UTStarcom is dead. We've thrown $100 million into an iFund so people can build iApps to sell on iTunes and give us 30% of their iMoney. The coming onslaught of new applications will make iPhone the only smart phone that anyone in the entire world will ever want to use."

I am sure this is tongue-in-cheek, but if it isn't this the kind of attitude that really winds up many non Apple fanboys...

Well it had to happen. I just couldn't help myself. My o2 contract was up for renewal and after a quick look around, I just couldn't find anything else that interested me. I could have gone for an Nokia E90, but it just felt too big, so, after a nanoseconds thought, I ordered an Apple iPhone.

I have been very happy with the TyTn II and an iPod touch for the last few months. This combination gave me a superb media device and one of the best Smartphones on the market, but it was a bit of a drag carrying two devices around, so when the iPhone got a bump to 16Gb it seemed the perfect choice. Sure, the functionality isn't quite there yet on the iPhone, compared with the TyTn, but the sheer fun in using the iPhone more than makes up for this. From a hardware point of view the two bigest things missing are GPS and the 3.2 Autofocus camera. Well the camera on the TyTn isn't that good, I reckon the pictures from the iPhone are just as good, and I have a Treo in the car with GPS, so I don't miss that either. If I do need to look up a route, Google maps on the Apple is a joy to use.

And that’s the big difference, everything on the iPhone is easy, simple and has an certain something that makes it fun. 

I use it a lot more than I ever did the TyTn, Web browsing is perfectly possible, either on WiFi or over Edge, the big screen and Safari makes it a really good experience, and it's so quick and easy I often use it instead of the PC. On the TyTn even with 3G it was painful, and something only used in an emergency. Checking email is easy, and I now spend much more time reading it on the phone rather than the PC. A quick browse of Web Apps has given me most of the applications I used on the TyTn, the only thing I really miss is MobiPocket, lets hope the SDK brings something soon. The iPhone optimised NewsGator page is brilliant, and makes it just as easy to keep up with feeds as on a Desktop, and more and more sites are springing up just for the phone.

As far a Media goes, there is no contest, the TyTn is a joke compared to the polished iPhone. From the huge screen, the superfast video playback (HTC are you listening?), the easy to use controls and the sheer elegance of the whole package, this has to be the best media player out there. Coupled to iTunes, getting media onto you device is simple, something WM and Symbian still struggle with. The YouTube app is easy to use, if thats you thing, and now we can stream the BBC iPlayer directly to the iPhone, which makes catching up with BBC TV in bed a joy.

It's funny, I was sceptical like a lot of people, but after using it for a while, going back to Windows Mobile, Symbian or even Palm seems so clunky. If Apple can get people to try, they will defiantly buy.

The BBC has launched a version of its iPlayer video on demand service for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch.

It is the first time the service has been available on portable devices.

The iPhone and iPod touch are able to stream shows from the iPlayer website over wi-fi networks. The iPhone cannot stream BBC video over the cell network. A BBC developer said that the corporation was currently working on other versions of the iPlayer for "many more" devices.

Anthony Rose, writing on the BBC internet blog, said: "We started with iPhone because it is the device most optimised for high quality video currently available.

"It displays the BBCiPlayer site and BBC programmes nicely."

The software currently comes in two versions - a program which allows users to download programmes to their Windows PC and a streaming version on the web available to all users.

The version for iPhone and iPod touch users will allow streaming over a wi-fi connection. However, the EDGE mobile network used by the iPhone is too slow for streaming video. More at BBCi. Thanks to Trevor.

QuickGPS for UIQ 3 is an impressive looking new release- "QuickGPS is a navigation system optimized for geocaching but it can also work without a bluetooth GPS receiver for map browsing.

The maps are stored in own format which is very efficient, they can be built by a Windows program based on Google maps in a few seconds. Once a GPS position is retrieved the program automatically detects the best suitable map and opens it.

QuickGPS also supports waypoints that are easy to manage (you can use a simple text editor), QuickGPS can lead you precisely to the right place, it shows the direction and distance in meters.

You can also display your track information which includes average speed, actual altitude, vertical distance (both up and down), graph of altitude progress and more."

When wireless industry technicians speak of "green" cell towers these days, they're not just talking about making them look more like trees.

They're talking about towers powered by wind turbines or solar panels, antennas that get backup energy from hydrogen fuel cells and geothermal cooling for computer equipment.

Cell phone companies are experimenting with these and other strategies to reduce their increasingly ubiquitous industry's environmental impact.

To be sure, the "greening" of wireless communication is still in its infancy. The vast majority of the nation's more than 200,000 cell towers and antennas run off the same electric grid everybody else does. And even companies experimenting with alternative energy plan to limit its use to backup power. More at cellular-news.

Michael Mace is prolific these days and has just published The iPhone SDK: Apple gets it right- "I have time tonight for only a quick note on Apple's iPhone software developer kit announcement. Overall, it is deeply impressive how many things Apple got right. We still need to see more details on terms and conditions, and a lot will depend on Apple's execution, but here are the problems they appear to have solved:

--Mobile applications are hard for users to find and install, so Apple is building the applications store into every device. Apps are installed automatically when you buy them, and you can also be notified of upgrades when they're available."

A Brief History of Telegrams is way off topic, but it's a comprehensive article and nice to think of the journey from telegram to email.

You can also send a Retro-Gram via email which is a nice touch.

"From the days of the earliest smoke signals and the wondrous lighthouse at Alexandria, people have been sending messages over long distances with the best technology they could devise. In 1791, a Frenchman named Claude Chappe, who had been experimenting with elaborate and noisy contraptions for transmitting messages, developed a system using synchronized clocks and a large wooden panel painted white on one side and black on the other. By showing one face or the other of the wooden panel in coordination with the moving hands of the clock, Chappe could encode a message into numbers which could be read by someone far away watching the panel through a telescope. Chappe and his brother, René, demonstrated this system over a distance of ten miles to a committee of government officials, transmitting a message chosen by a local doctor: “Si vous réuississez, vous serez bientôt couvert de gloire.” Chappe originally called his system the tachygraphe, from the Greek words for “fast writer,” but a friend persuaded him to name it the télégraphe — “far writer” — instead.

Chappe’s original apparatus was destroyed by an angry mob of French Revolutionaries in 1793, who suspected he was using it for espionage. But he recovered and devised an even better system using a movable pair of arms on a movable bar which could be put into any of 98 unique positions, each position corresponding to a letter, number, or coded word or phrase. An operator could move the arms by using a miniature version of the apparatus connected to the main one by an intricate system of pulleys and cables. Chappe’s optical semaphore telegraph impressed the new French government, and state telegraph towers were constructed in France beginning in 1794 for the communication of military and political intelligence. The commercial potential of the system was immediately apparent, and Chappe soon had many rivals in the development of other telegraph systems..."

Today's free eBook is The Helper and His Hero by Matthew Hughes- "GUTH BANDAR WAS ADRIFT in a formless, limitless, gray nothing. Above him was nothing, ahead and to all sides was nothing, and below was nothing. But no, far down (an arbitrary direction — it was simply the view between his feet), something moved. Something tiny that, as he watched, grew larger as it came toward him.
 
Now Bandar felt a shiver of fear. For this no-place could be only one place. He was adrift in the Old Sea of preconsciousness, the inert and timeless realm that underlay the collective unconscious of humanity. Only one thing moved in the Old Sea: the great blind Worm that endlessly swam its "waters" in search of its own tail. And only one thing could divert the Worm from its eternal, futile quest. As early noönauts had discovered when they had hacked their way through the floor of the Commons and dipped into the pearl gray nothingness beneath, the Worm sensed any consciousness that entered the Old Sea — and inerrantly swam to devour it.

It is a dream, of course, Bandar told himself. He applied the noönaut techniques that would allow him to take charge of the dream, to change its dynamic, or to wake from it.
   
But nothing happened. He floated in nothingness, and the Worm came on. Now it seemed as long as his hand. In moments it looked to be the length of his forearm, its undulating motion hypnotically compelling his gaze. Bandar looked away, sought to concentrate on the techniques of lucid dreaming, but when he looked again, the Worm was as long as his leg. Its great dark circle of a mouth, rimmed with triangular teeth, grew larger as he watched.