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iPhone Web-based apps: The right thing to do

Apple fan or not, people seem to be annoyed that Apple is not opening up the iPhone for application support on the device itself. It's not just the Windows developers who are annoyed, it's the faithful Apple developers too. But why? This is the point we've been trying to get to for years!

When I worked at Penton Media back in 2000, a B2B rag/tradeshow company,  we internally talked about how cool it would be to do Web-based CRM, among other things. The short-sightedness of the execs of course poo-poo'd this, and it never got beyond discussions. (Morons. Said execs managed to nearly kill the company and get it delisted from the NYSE, while
Salesforce.com continues to thrive.) Knowing that eventually most computers would be connected from virtually anywhere, and that handheld devices were getting more powerful, this seemed like a no-brainer to me. Who wants to maintain and deploy software to the devices themselves?

So while I can see the Apple move as being a cop out, I have to ask why you'd want to develop for anything other than a browser anyway? I mean, most of the ASP.NET AJAX junk works in Safari today, so if the iPhone has Safari, and the device is intended to be connected, why would you want to build a clunky device-based app?

Some days I don't get developers. 

Posted: Jun 12 2007, 12:50 PM by Jeff | with 17 comment(s)
Filed under: , , , ,

Comments

help.net said:

Jeff

Totally disagree with you! I am more a web developer than a windows developer and I can still make a huge difference betweent he two.

I don't know in what 'futuram' world you're living but I can tell you that not every location on this planet is always connected to the web!

The problem with the iPhone is more about the absurd idea to tell real developers at well established WWDC (with 90% of Appple developers there) that the only way to create an app for the phone is to get back to Javascript and HTML!

This is a joke in this way! It's the same debate with Google apps. No way I will put my data or use anything critical with an online software, whatever the size of the host.

I can understand that developers of real application would like to have an SDK as you can have today with Windows Mobile, simple as that.

Now I just read Flash won't be available on the iPhone, another blow for the openess of the phone.

I am an old Apple user, back to 78, but there I say Jobs has lost the plot. Hopefully as usual, he will change his mind in the next 6 months with the iPhone version 2.

# June 12, 2007 1:36 PM

help.net said:

Also one more thing. I watched the keynote and where it's laughable is to have one bloke on stage telling the developers audience that Ajax (indeed Javascript) and HTML was the new way to build solid applications, and all taht with a serious face :-)

LOL!

# June 12, 2007 1:38 PM

Jeff said:

"I don't know in what 'futuram' world you're living but I can tell you that not every location on this planet is always connected to the web!"

In which case, said person would not likely have or be able to afford an iPhone anyway.

# June 12, 2007 1:42 PM

Sahil Malik said:

Okay, take off your black turtle neck and jeans, and take a deep breath.

Good applications, will always leverage the best of both worlds - Web and Locally running code.

If this wasn't the case, Jobs wouldn't have developed a client for google maps inside of iPhone. You could do maps.google.com from safari, right? But you don't .. !! Why?

You tell me why!

# June 12, 2007 1:50 PM

help.net said:

Good point Sahil!

Local applications are another beast than web apps, and this is a web developer who say that ;-)

# June 12, 2007 1:52 PM

Jeff said:

Because they want to integrate it to the phone dialer. That's obvious enough.

"Always" is a silly word to use, as is "never." See above story about Web-based CRM.

# June 12, 2007 1:57 PM

The Other Steve said:

We've got locations just in my office building where the cell signal goes out and I can't get phone calls.

I wonder if the internet will work without a signal? ;-)

# June 12, 2007 3:52 PM

Scott said:

It does seem really short-sighted to not allow offline apps; if that is indeed what this means...recently Google released a 'hybrid' app that has a local SQLLite instance to store data offline. Now *that* would make for an interesting experience! It would be incredibly cool if Silverlight worked on iPhone as well...maybe with some offline capability of it's own :-). Oh and I'm currently sitting with my new AT&T Treo with zero signal on the ground floor of an office building in Redmond...'always connected' is just a fantasy.

# June 12, 2007 5:35 PM

Onceler said:

Aside from connection issues the iPhone will have (and the lack of 3G for all of us non-Mountain View, CA living people); the glaring hole I see in all this is interacting with the specifics of the device.  

Maybe I am in the minority here, but most of my mobile applications involve bluetooth devices connected via comm ports.  Without an SDK or access to code running locally that can interact with the device itself, the iPhone is practically useless to me.  

Sure the web development will probably be more feature rich than the .NET mobile web development, but for what I do this doesn't really matter.

Here's looking forward to iPhone 2.0

# June 13, 2007 8:15 AM

moopghdhgdf said:

(Morons. Said execs managed to nearly kill the company and get it delisted from the NYSE, while

Salesforce.com continues to thrive.)

Me and my mum invented a way to type messages via telephone lines. my short sighted dad said it would never work. next minute, somebody came up with the idea of an 'internet'.

did you invent the wheel and fire too?

# June 13, 2007 8:52 AM

Jeff said:

You are SO hilarious. If you want to be a jerk, at least have the balls to put your name on the post. My point was that we had a good idea that we could've been first to market with if the execs weren't so short-sighted about the viability of Web apps. We all know now they were wrong.

# June 13, 2007 9:08 AM

Luke Breuer said:

Jeff, have you ever tried to make a complex web application, running into browser constraints?  There are some things that javascript and HTML just do not do well, at least not with decent performance.  The web is really a crappy development environment for sophisticated applications.  Unfortunately, it does have advantages that result in it being widely popular; see luke.breuer.com/.../Thoughts_on_the_Web's_strengths/124.aspx .

I do not deny that a wide swath of programmability could be taken care of by web applications.  I just don't think they're ready to completely replace downloaded executables; I'm a little surprised you don't see the benefit of these.

# June 14, 2007 6:33 PM

Jeff said:

Of course I've done complex Web apps. I live in a framework driven app every day, and it does a lot more than anything you're going to want to do on an iPhone.

# June 14, 2007 6:43 PM

Luke Breuer said:

So, you're saying that anything that one would want to do on an iPhone, minus the things that require access to iPhone-specific functionality, should be doable with a web application?  What about games?  It seems a C game would be more efficient with battery life than a web-hosted game.  I hesitated to bring up games before because I rarely play them, but they are significant to many people.  Think of MMORPGs where people could log in and play on the train or something.

# June 15, 2007 4:07 PM

Blaine said:

Another thought between WEB Apps / Flash / SDK...

I make software for mobile merchant porcessing and bluetooth GPS usint. I can't see how I can hook up a bluetooth Printer/Card reader or GPS unit to the iPHONE wiht out creating software for the unit itself (like Windows Mobile, Plam OS, Blackberry, and Symbian). Perhaps AAPL doesn't want to have the same problems as Blackberry and EMail security in Europe? - or they are worried about 'viruses'? - I guess what it will come down to is

Profits, Market Share, Profits, and... more profits...  

We get a lot of people asking if our software will run on the iPhone - we say no... and they buy something else (but I have a feeling that they will STILL buy an iPhone as well)

# June 22, 2007 12:56 PM

Peter Schmalfeldt said:

iPhone Web Developer Tool

www.manifestinteractive.com/iphone

This application allows you to use your iPhone for Web Developing. You can View Source, Find on Page, Outline Divs & Tables, etc. Similar to the Firefox Web Developer Extension. Simply drag bookmarks into the web browser that you have your iPhone or iPod Touch synced to and you're good to go. Works on any site.

Let me know what you think. If you have stuff you want added just let me know.

- Peter Schmalfeldt

# November 21, 2007 6:53 AM

Glenn said:

I enjoyed reading your blog. I just read that Brits vote iPhone 8th greatest invention. I love my Iphone.

# May 20, 2010 4:37 PM
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