IPhone Web 2.0 SDK Features

As everyone probably already knows, Apple has stated that the only way to develop applications for the iPhone is to use the web interface and the built-in near-real Safari browser. This, I must admit, a rather bold approach prompted me to test this method of ideology with a thought experiment.

With nine years of web development experience, I believe that I can determine from the description of the application whether it is possible to implement similar products using the web interface of a handheld device. It remains to take a list of applications and walk on it.

As such an initial list, I took the Best Selling section of the PocketGear site - one of the largest online software stores for the PocketPC platform (Windows Mobile).
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So,

• In the first place in the list launcher - Spb Mobile Shell. Modifies the OS shell interface, offering other ways to start / manage installed software. Obviously, this class of programs cannot be implemented using the web interface. On the other hand, given that there are no real programs (except basic ones) on the iPhone, the bookmark manager actually becomes a launcher for the iPhone. There are already quite a few web-based bookmark managers, and nothing prevents the emergence of new, iPhone-oriented ones. Like Google Bookmarks for iPhone.
  
  
• Spb Pocket Plus (which is also a launcher a bit, see the previous paragraph) and a bunch of other system utilities. Yes, about a third of the Best Selling list is occupied by system utilities. Utilities that add missing features, fine-tune operating system settings, optimize the device in every possible way and perform all kinds of maintenance. Web applications cannot provide this functionality at all.
  
  
  How serious this disadvantage is depends on the quality of the iPhone software. Provided that it is quite ideal, the absence of any system tweakers, defragmenters and registry editors should be considered a positive factor.
  
  
• Microsoft Voice Command - I did not see evidence of voice support in the iPhone itself. However, it is quite clear that in the form of a web application it is impossible to implement such functionality. It is possible that the safari will have a flash plug-in that allows you to transfer sound to the server ... but even in this case, the voice-recognizer server-side seems to me senseless madness.
  
  
• eWallet is a repository of passwords, PINs, and other secret information that is easy to forget. Despite the fact that it’s not difficult to implement such an online storage (I don’t remember right away, but I think that there are already several), the need to go online to use it, as well as the need to store your secret data somewhere far to the server (even if in encrypted form) still spoils everything.
  
  
• Pocket DVD Studio. We skip it, because the iPhone is already a video iPod.
  
  
• Spb Brain Evolution - a set of intellectual games. Implementation is possible. In the case of support for the built-in Safari flash, it can even turn out to be a very full implementation.
  
  
• WorldMate - information for travelers. Time zones-weather-other information. Implementation is possible. Although offline while sitting on an airplane you will not take advantage of this.
  
  
• Pocket Informant - personal organizer. First, I think some kind of calendar will be among the basic iPhone apps. Perhaps it will be better than the best PIM for Windows Mobile. Secondly, the implementation of an oganizer with web interfaces is possible - and there are already a whole bunch of them. I am sure that the same RememberTheMilk will release an iPhone-oriented version less than a week after the appearance of the iPhone.
  
  
• Spb Time - is it possible to implement a clock with skins on HTML / JavaScript / CSS? In general, yes. And to keep the iPhone with the Internet turned on and the browser running so that they tick? Idiocy.
  
  
• IM + - Instant Messaging client. Implementation is possible . By the way, a funny fact: in Safari on full-sized Mac OS X, the Google Talk web interface is still not working inside gmail. Nevertheless, it is possible to write a usable ajax interface to almost any IM with a known protocol.
  
  
• Age of Empires - to implement a high-quality strategy game on one JS is quite difficult. And despite the enormous speed of Safari, it’s not at all a fact that the power of the iPhone will be enough. If there is support for the flush, it is possible that something will turn out.
  
  
• Lexisgoo English Dictionary - all sorts of dictionaries can work without any problems and are already working online.
  
  
• HandiTV! Watch TV from mobile devices! - depends on the availability of QuickTime plugin in iPhone Safari or on the same flash support. Oh, and more on the width of the channel.
  
  
• Spb Finance - see pro password manager. You can store financial information on the web, but you don’t really want to. Regularly going online to fix expenses will be, I think, inconvenient.
  
  
• HiCalc is a calculator, even scientific and graphical (it’s Apple’s html canvas extension) can be implemented on one JS.
  
  
• Aces Texas Hold'em® - No Limit is such a poker game. Implementation is quite possible , including in the form of an online casino.
  
  
• Pocket Mindmap - online mindmap-like services already exist, and nothing (except for the possible lack of a flash) does not interfere with their work on the iPhone. However, the web application is unlikely to be able to fully use the multitouch capabilities of the iPhone, which in the case of a mindmap would be very useful.
  
  
• Putty / ssh - this application is not in the best selling list, but it is interesting to me personally. I'm afraid, using the web interface, you will not be able to implement full interactive support for the terminal. Even with the use of middleware on the server - one HTTP request for each button pressed is too high a price for a gprs / edge device.
  
  

However, judging by the majority of the applications listed, Steve’s web approach is quite viable. Moreover, after a little googling, it turned out that the iPhone seems to support flash (the proof found — the New York Times page with a flash movie was shown in an iPhone advertisement). [ Update: while I was writing all this, an almost official message was discovered that the iPhone does not actually support flash. ]

It is not known whether it will be possible to save a web page from Safari inside the iPhone. It would be desirable - for simple applications like a calculator or a clock, it would be quite convenient. Not to mention the books.

It would also be great if the iPhone supported Google Gears or a similar technology (a lightweight local SQL server for web applications). So far nothing has been said about this. Exactly as nothing is said about the previously declared support for widgets - will it be possible for third-party developers to write their own widgets? Which API subset will be supported?

There are still significantly more questions about the iPhone than answers, and the situation is unlikely to change until June 29th.