Apple opens up the iPhone to developers
(heise online, 07.03.2008 10:20) A Californian venture capital investor is inviting subscriptions to an "iFund" of 100 million US dollars to promote the development of programs on the iPhone platform. And Apple intends to compete with Blackberry.
Apple has opened up its iPhone for programs by other manufacturers. On Thursday in Cupertino, California, Apple boss Steve Jobs presented a Software Developer Kit for the iPhone that system programmers can use to write software for the Smartphone under the iPhone Developer Program. At the same time, Apple said it would be working on the iPhone to make it more suitable for use within companies. Programs by third-party manufacturers, as well as the improved "iPhone 2.0" software, are to be available from June onward.
The Californian venture capital investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) is inviting subscriptions to an "iFund" of 100 million US dollars (67.5 million euros) to promote the development of programs on the iPhone platform.
Apple is thus launching a direct attack on its Canadian competitor Research in Motion (RIM), the maker of the Blackberry thats popular in large-scale enterprises and organizations. In the fourth quarter of 2007, said Jobs, RIM had achieved a 41 per cent market share in the US smartphone segment, while the iPhone had around 28 per cent. But Apple's move is also directed against the platforms made by Nokia, Microsoft and others.
Apple announced that it had licensed Microsoft's " ActiveSync " protocol for the iPhone, to make it more useful in companies. This would enable the iPhone to communicate directly with a Microsoft Exchange Server and synchronize not only E-mails, but also calendar entries, contacts and a company address book. And a stolen or lost iPhone could in future be remotely wiped (like a Blackberry) to protect confidential company data.
The game producers Electronics Arts and Sega, as well as Salesforce.com and the AOL online service, showed off their first programs for the iPhone at the Apple event. These applications are marketed directly via the iPhone.
,,,just chill, that's what my kids say, seems to work,,,
