Thursday, March 6, 2008
Apple iPhone SDK
Yesterday Steve Jobs commented that the Flash media player would not be supported on the iPhone. Jobs said the PC version was too slow for a mobile device, while the mobile version was too limited in functionality.
The comments come a day before Apple is set to introduce the company's plan for iPhone SDK, the software developers kit which will allow third-party developers to create applications that can work in conjunction with the popular handheld device. There's an SDK launch party in Boston at the Cambridgeside Galleria Apple store on March 24.
Microsoft meanwhile, is taking the wraps off Silverlight, its competing Flash technology. Every time I'm on the Microsoft website it seems I'm getting another offer to test the beta. While it's no surprise that Microsoft will support Silverlight in its handsets, what caught my eye is that Nokia will support Silverlight on both its Symbian (S60) high-end phones, as well as on its S40 phones.
Nokia and Microsoft have been competing on phones for some time now, with Nokia fearing that Microsoft hand-helds would take a large part of the market. That hasn't happened for a variety of reasons, including word of mouth that says Microsoft handhelds crash. It's interesting to see that Nokia will support Silverlight, and especially impressive that it will run on S40 phones the cheaper, less powerful phones that run Nokia's internally used OS.
Maybe Silverlight really is leaner and meaner. Time will tell, but expect it to make a significant impact in the months ahead, if only because it's going from zero market share to something larger than zero. The legions of Microsoft shops and programmers wll be sure to jump on the bandwagon.
The comments come a day before Apple is set to introduce the company's plan for iPhone SDK, the software developers kit which will allow third-party developers to create applications that can work in conjunction with the popular handheld device. There's an SDK launch party in Boston at the Cambridgeside Galleria Apple store on March 24.
Microsoft meanwhile, is taking the wraps off Silverlight, its competing Flash technology. Every time I'm on the Microsoft website it seems I'm getting another offer to test the beta. While it's no surprise that Microsoft will support Silverlight in its handsets, what caught my eye is that Nokia will support Silverlight on both its Symbian (S60) high-end phones, as well as on its S40 phones.
Nokia and Microsoft have been competing on phones for some time now, with Nokia fearing that Microsoft hand-helds would take a large part of the market. That hasn't happened for a variety of reasons, including word of mouth that says Microsoft handhelds crash. It's interesting to see that Nokia will support Silverlight, and especially impressive that it will run on S40 phones the cheaper, less powerful phones that run Nokia's internally used OS.
Maybe Silverlight really is leaner and meaner. Time will tell, but expect it to make a significant impact in the months ahead, if only because it's going from zero market share to something larger than zero. The legions of Microsoft shops and programmers wll be sure to jump on the bandwagon.
Labels: Apple, handheld devices, iPhone, Microsoft, Nokia, Steve Jobs
¶ 7:13 AM
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