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Why Can’t The IPhone Run Non-Apple Apps Yet?

Posted June 6, 2007 10:00 AM by Tanner Godarzi
Categories: Third-party add-ons OSX Mobile Software 

imageIt’s something that has puzzled all of us. Just why won’t Apple let us run our own applications on the iPhone? Jobs has said they’re trying to find a way to ensure stability and security but of what he doesn’t mention. The iPhone supposedly runs a full version of OS X minus all the unnecessary add ons like printer drivers and iLife. What could be preventing us from running our apps then? Windows Mobile 5 and 6 allows you to run applications just as you would on a PC, something fishy could be going on here…

OS X Mobile Isn’t As Full-Featured As Once Thought
Stability and security are two words always associated with a Mac and it’s operating system. We’ve gone from 10.0 (Cheetah) to 10.4 (Tiger) with little to no problems but 10.5 (Leopard) has yet to arrive to the mass public. But as any other OS X release we can count on it to be stable, right? We might be wrong this time around. Apple chose a mobile version of 10.5 to run the iPhone, something they haven’t done and want to optimize it as much as possible before it’s release. If this were true, expect a lot of Software Updates.

Apple Doesn’t Want Microsoft To Touch The IPhone
Just as Apple and Microsoft do Operating Systems for computers they also do ‘em for mobile phones. I’m sure you’re well aware of Microsoft Office for the Mac and other programs they offer, perhaps Apple doesn’t want too much bloat on it’s iPhone. If Microsoft started making iPhone applications, every one and their mother would want a go at it as well, rushing to make half baked software that’ll continually crash and crash and crash…

Apple Has No Idea What It’s Doing
This is Apple’s first major revision of OS X, fitting it for mobile use many things must be considered such as battery life, interacting with new CPUs, optimizing performance etc. Perhaps in the preparation they didn’t decide on how to allow non Apple applications which could’ve forced them to entirely rewrite massive portions of OS X. Also, they may have been pressured under time to focus on making the iPhone work with Apple apps and simply did not have enough time to create an outlet for developers. If so, WWDC will have a lot of iPhone juiciness.

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Comments

  1. Come on. Did you read the Ars Technica article?
    http://arstechnica.com/staff/fatbits.ars/2007/06/04/the-frontier
    One 50 million ways to ruin a product launch. Choose one.

    Posted by iPhoneWar on June 6, 2007 11:08 AM

  2. I’m sure its only a matter of time before they allow Third Party apps. The iPhone is their new baby, they dont want to risk jinxing its launch by allowing a bunch of developers to create tons of crap apps that will create problems for first time iPhone buyers. They’re just playing it safe.

    Posted by bmai on June 6, 2007 11:16 AM

  3. I’m really tired of the PC hacks out there who write software complaining about the Apple platform being closed - the reason it’s closed is so that the products actually work.

    Windows is the problem with every windows-based device, it’s freaking garbage, on top of garbage, on top of garbage. No wonder people buy new PC’s every six months, they have to.

    Posted by Horace Manure on June 6, 2007 11:16 AM

  4. HA HA! What do you mean “Why Can’t The IPhone Run Non-Apple Apps Yet?” Last time I checked IT WASN’T EVEN OUT. Also, Steve never said he wasn’t going to allow, just that he had nothing to announce yet.
    However, what you said about not wanting Microsoft software on the iPhone does kinda make sense, and if they didn’t prepare for third parties it also makes sense why that would prevent it.

    Posted by James on June 6, 2007 11:45 AM

  5. Oh! Oh! Oh! I know why!

    ITS NOT EVEN RELEASE YET YOU MORON

    Posted by NONSADLKSAJDKALJ on June 6, 2007 12:06 PM

  6. James,

    Right on point. It’s not out. And just last week, SJ said they will allow 3rd party apps, if just a bit delayed. Oh, and apparently this person missed the whole “It’s the full version of OS X without the desktop preferences” part of his speech. It’s not a mobile version at all. About the only part I think he got right was the “bloat” factor and Microsoft, though I’m still convinced they will eventually have some version of Word and/or Excel that can at least view files, even if you cannot edit them.

    Too bad this Mr. Godarzi doesn’t read the Internet more often, most of his myths were dispelled already by SJ just last week while sitting on stage next to Bill Gates.

    Posted by John W. Grubb on June 6, 2007 12:10 PM

  7. Fool. Quit your whining. You haven’t even put your hands on it yet.

    And I actually do hope Apple doesn’t let idiots like you install all kinds of Windows or third-party crap on the iPhone. You’ll just ruin a beautiful thing.

    While waiting for iPhone to launch, go out and get a Mac, shmuck.

    Posted by JoeB on June 6, 2007 12:34 PM

  8. The iPhone hasnt even been released yet. A bit presumptive to talk about this just yet. At least wait until WWDC

    Posted by Jamie on June 6, 2007 12:45 PM

  9. LOL!  Billy Bob is right.  Here’s Tanner’s info:

    Author Archive for Tanner Godarzi
    Ahoy, I be part of The Blog Herald crew, my posts go live every Sunday. I’m a 14 year old Blogger I can be found at 3 other Blogs, iPhone Matters, Apple Matters and my own, Tech Blot. If you’d like to contact me to review something, share your thoughts or just get all your hate out in many paragraphs please do so via email, *************@gmail.com and not by smoke signal.

    Posted by ET iPhone Home on June 6, 2007 12:53 PM

  10. Tanner may be 14 years old, but “billy bob” cannot spell, nor does he know English grammar. I highly doubt that warrants his ability to abuse children over the internet. “IS” Mummy and Daddy going to come spank me for being mean to their son, Billy Bob? (ps, im 17, abuse me all you like for being a minor)

    Posted by chris on June 6, 2007 1:23 PM

  11. Billy Bob, Who done cares if dat boy be 14. He done a lot bettrn you so far in him life. He be bloggn fer a big tahm nooz serce and yer flippin burgers at Hardees.

    Yeeeeehhaaarrr.

    Keep up da good werk keed. Don’t let dem hillbillies scare ya. Daze jes jellis.

    Posted by Jacky Sue on June 6, 2007 1:26 PM

  12. What’s with the spineless anonymous attacks? Granted Tanner could do a little more research and his youthful experiences kinda show in his conclusions but at least he’s got a decent grasp of spelling and grammar.

    Keep at it kid, you’ll go far

    BTW - I’m no kid, I was born before Sputnik…

    Posted by zac4mac on June 6, 2007 2:44 PM

  13. Why Can’t The IPhone Run Non-Apple Apps Yet?

    1. Answer: VOIP

    Posted by mski on June 6, 2007 3:17 PM

  14. There are also a few practical reasons as well (apart from the phone not being released yet)

    1) Although the OS is OS X, I doubt the interface is Aqua. It was probably a newly written interface layer specifically for the phone to support all the differences such as touch screen interface semantics and the lack of various elements like pull down menus and window controls. Heck.. I dont think don’te are even windows on the iPhone in the conventional sense. I have not even seen something like a modal dialog window… not sure how iPhone handles that kind of thing. Anyway.. if this is some sort of departure from Aqua then a lot of work needs to be done to create tools and documentation for it.

    2) I don’t know what processor the phone runs on, but it’s probably not a PowerPC or x86 variant, so a new compiler is probably going to be required. I’m sure Xcode will probably be modified to work.

    3) Of course it could just be exactly what Jobs said.. he doesn’t want anyone messing up his phone just yet. And in the future he wants to be careful about what apps are allowed to be on the phone. While thats a bit of a different paradigm for a smartphone, it’s not entirely unjustifyable. If my phone will work better because of it, perhaps it’s not such a bad idea. (My Sidekick is very similar to the iphone in a lot of ways: all the apps for the sidekick are bought through t-mobile and are approved by them, non-replaceable battery, custom OS, focus on the internet)

    On a side note,I wonder how the storage works? Obviously it’s not HFS, but since this is OS X and not some custom built version of the newton OS, I’m sure they will want to have something pretty robust to control storage. Maybe that is where ZFS fits in? Theoretically ZFS could manage both flash based and HD based storage. Though, if it is a ZFS filesystem, then it couldn’t be mounted as an HD until Leopard comes out.

    Posted by jbella on June 6, 2007 4:51 PM

  15. JoeB, ET iPhone Home, Billy Bob

    Granted we all make mistakes and I appreciate any kind of feedback but you don’t need to spout your idiocy here.

    Posted by Tanner Godarzi on June 6, 2007 4:57 PM

  16. This article, like this blog, is a joke.

    Posted by Laughing Too Hard on June 6, 2007 5:02 PM

  17. Actually, jbella makes the strongest argument right there in #1.

    The iPhone is a new paradigm.  Therefore, application developers will need to have some idea of what is available, what isn’t available, and how things will be different between developing applications for a desktop operating system and a phone operating system.  This all needs to be documented.  I remember when Mac OS X came out and I was working on kernel extensions.  Apple’s documentation was, to put it nicely, not up to snuff.  The general answer, when asked about documentation, was “Go look at the source code.”

    Second, the iPhone is something new.  I’m sure Apple’s QA has done enough testing to make sure that it will work with what’s included.  However, I doubt they have done the comprehensive testing that might be required before letting third-parties write code that fits the API.  Silly example:  If I pass a NULL pointer someplace where I shouldn’t (my mistake), a polite API will send me back an error code saying, at worst, “Argument Error.”  It, ideally, won’t crash the app or the system or anything like that.  Of course, I shouldn’t be passing NULL pointers around, so it’s my bug.  In a case like this, Apple’s QA tells the application developer—who is sitting down the hall—“Stop doing that!” rather than having to fix the APIs.  It’s a much quicker fix.

    Apple has a history of doing things like this.  There are some private frameworks in Tiger, for example, that are coming to light in Leopard (some of the sync services and such).  Apple tested them with their own apps before releasing them to the rest of us.  While I’m not sure I like this (I still remember Microsoft’s “secret APIs” that they used in Excel to make it draw faster than Lotus 1-2-3/G), given Apple’s “limited means” I can accept it.

    What I would love to see Apple do in rev. 1 of the iPhone is support Widgets.  The idea of Widgets was to have a handy way of getting data without having to fire up a web browser to find out the weather, the time in Adelaide, convert feet to meters, etc.  This would be perfect for an iPhone, where I could get my movie listings and other trivia.

    Bigger, more complicated apps, could wait.

    Posted by Peter on June 6, 2007 6:09 PM

  18. Hi all!
    I can’t be bothered with anything these days, but shrug. I just don’t have anything to say recently.

    G’night

    Posted by tihopilik on July 8, 2007 7:55 AM

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