The Flip Side of the Multitasking Argument

post from Daring Fireball on 14 March 2008 09:36:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

Hank Williams argues the other side of the iPhone multitasking debate in a piece titled “Apple?s iPhone SDK Prohibits Real Mobile Innovation”. It’s the best argument I’ve seen against Apple’s “no third-party background processes” policy. Williams writes:

Prohibiting background processing is not just a question of one feature being left off a long list of otherwise very well executed features. The issue of background processing is the issue for a mobile device because it is key to two things:

telling the world about your status in some ongoing way

receiving notification of important events

These two things are the key to most new real innovations in the mobile space. To be clear, by innovation, I mean creating functionalities that have not been possible before.

I don’t disagree with Williams at all on this point. There’s no doubt that some very cool ideas would require background-capable iPhone apps. That’s the trade-off, though: Apple hasn’t designed the current SDK limitations to maximize potential coolness; they’ve designed it maximize battery life and performance system-wide.

Williams does have a good point regarding AOL’s demo of a native iPhone AIM client during the SDK introductory event: an IM client is exactly the sort of app that’s potentially a lot more useful if it continues to keep you logged in even when the app isn’t frontmost. It’s unclear, though, whether Apple has granted AOL special dispensation from the standard no-background-processing rules, or whether the AIM client they’re working on will indeed only work when it’s the frontmost app.

Williams closes with this remark regarding Google’s Android:

My company has been developing an application for Google?s Android phone operating system for the last several months. Our application would not be easily possible on any platform other than Android. In fact, important parts of the application are impossible without background processing. In short, Apple may be visually sexier, but I can actually innovate more effectively on Android.

This brings to mind Jeremy Horwitz’s story in iLounge a few weeks ago, which contained a strongly-complaint from an iPod peripheral developer arguing that the iPhone SDK was effectively no better than writing web apps because it offers no access to the dock connector port. Regarding this complaint, I wrote:

If what you really want to do is write iPhone software to provide an interface to a hardware peripheral, yes, a complete lack of access to the dock connector port puts the native SDK in the same boat as writing a web app: the S.S. Useless. But for pure-software developers, there are a ton of potential advantages to a native SDK.

The same applies here with Williams’s complaint regarding background processing. If the app you really want to write requires it, then yes, the current SDK is disappointing. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of other ideas that will work just fine.

As I wrote this morning, I don’t think the “no background” policy implies any spite or shortsightedness on Apple’s part. It’s simply the result of Apple’s decision to focus first and foremost on maximizing battery life and performance. Other mobile platforms, such as Android, may well have different priorities.

Read The Full Article:
http://daringfireball.net/2008/03/iphone_flip_side

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Star Wars: The Clone Wars

post from Daring Fireball on 14 March 2008 08:29:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

New computer-animated Star Wars motion picture, in theaters this fall. How did I miss this until now?

?

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http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/14/film.starwars.ap/index.html

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Dell 2009W

post from MacNN | The Macintosh News Network on 14 March 2008 08:15:00 PM. © MacNN | The Macintosh News Network

Dell today quietly introduced the 2009W. This replacement LCD for the mid-grade 2007WFP is both les...

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http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/03/14/dell.2009w/

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Contour iSee iPhone v3

post from MacNN | The Macintosh News Network on 14 March 2008 07:00:00 PM. © MacNN | The Macintosh News Network

Contour Design today unveiled the iSee iPhone v3, a new version to its iSee line of clear cases, adv...

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http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/03/14/contour.isee.iphone.v3/

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Why wait on Blu-Ray

post from MacNN | The Macintosh News Network on 14 March 2008 06:45:00 PM. © MacNN | The Macintosh News Network

When Blu-Ray and HD DVD were first discussed, Apple said it would commit to Blu-Ray, but was alleged...

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http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/03/14/why.wait.on.blu.ray/

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Spring Up!

post from MacNN | The Macintosh News Network on 14 March 2008 06:05:00 PM. © MacNN | The Macintosh News Network

Frozax Games has announced the release of a new physics-based action game called 'Spring Up!' for Ma...

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http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/03/14/spring.up/

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MacDraft 5.6.4 update

post from MacNN | The Macintosh News Network on 14 March 2008 05:40:00 PM. © MacNN | The Macintosh News Network

Microspot today unveiled MacDraft 5.6.4 in both Professional and Personal editions, its 2D drafting ...

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http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/03/14/macdraft.564.update/

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iPhone devs rejected

Hundreds if not more of the developers who applied to Apple's iPhone Developer Program. The $100 pro...

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http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/03/14/iphone.devs.rejected/

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Canada Cell Biz Expands

Canada's wireless industry was set to expand on Friday when Quebecor said it would participate in an...

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http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/03/14/canada.cell.biz.expands/

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SubEthaEdit 3.1 update

TheCodingMonkeys today announced the release of SubEthaEdit 3.1, an update to its collaborative text...

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http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/03/14/subethaedit.31.update/