For those who have been waiting with bated breath, Apple has released the SDK for its iPhone.
From
ZDNet:
Quote
In a news conference Thursday (otherwise known as Feburary 35th), Apple unveiled the long-awaited iPhone native Software Development Kit (SDK). It can be used by any developers to create native applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Up to now, developers have been limited to writing Web apps that ran inside the Safari browser (though various jailbreak hacks allowed unofficial programming). But now you can write programs using the same APIs that Apples built-in programs use.
The writer includes a fairly in-depth look at what's included in the SDK. I won't go into it here, but for those interested, you can find the full write up at the above link.
I was really looking forward to this and very disappointed we're going to have to wait until June before this stuff comes out.
I'm pretty happy with my iPhone (hacked!) but the SDK really should have been there at day one, or at minimum, ready in Feb when they said it would.
Quote NatCh
For those who have been waiting with bated breath
Bated breath means you've been easting worms.
Quote Gideon
I was really looking forward to this and very disappointed we're going to have to wait until June before this stuff comes out.
Hmmmm.... The SDK was released yesterday, right? So I assume we will start seeing 3rd party apps any day now. It's iphone 2.0 (not the SDK) that is coming out in June, with impressive corporate support.
So does anybody know when we will see 3rd party ebook readers for iphone???
Quote LauretteBradley
Hmmmm.... The SDK was released yesterday, right? So I assume we will start seeing 3rd party apps any day now. It's iphone 2.0 (not the SDK) that is coming out in June, with impressive corporate support.
So does anybody know when we will see 3rd party ebook readers for iphone???
there is already a third party eBook reader for the iPhone. Check the wiki.
Dale
The beta of the SDK came out, but the only means of delivering said content is through the iTunes store or the iPhone itself, which won't be updated until June. It's not really like Apple to not go whole hog - so I doubt we'll see them in iTunes before 2.0 comes out.
And yes... very nice ebook reader is available. It's hard to imagine any "official" version would be much better.
Quote JSWolf
Bated breath means you've been easting worms.
Ehm. That would be "b
aited" breath.
Quote Gideon
The beta of the SDK came out, but the only means of delivering said content is through the iTunes store or the iPhone itself, which won't be updated until June. It's not really like Apple to not go whole hog - so I doubt we'll see them in iTunes before 2.0 comes out.
And yes... very nice ebook reader is available. It's hard to imagine any "official" version would be much better.
The current books.app is nice, but it still needs a lot more work. Good news is that after being dormant for the past three months a new team has continued development. Some things that need to be addressed:
Better speed-- any document larger than about 200k results in long waits when loading.
Autoscroll
Easier way to load books-- currently you need to open an ssh connection and find a directory deep within the file structure.
Better file format support
Ability to read DRM files-- I don't like DRM much either, but I can't buy every book from Baen. Sometimes I want a bestseller that just isn't available except from ereader, mobipocket, fictionwise, etc.
I did notice that ereader.com has a notice that they are investigating a version of their software for the iphone platform. If you want to update to the newest books.app add this source to installer:
http://thebedells.org/books/Note that books version 1.3.7 will still show up as an upgrade-- ignore that one and install the 1.4+ version. Biggest improvement in this version is landscape support.
There is also web-based 3rd party reader software called Readdle (
www.readdle.com). Not being an iPhone user, I have not seen Readdle in action, but it is one of the things that makes me consider the iPhone as a possibility. The fact that you upload your books does raise some privacy questions, though.
Has anyone tried it?
Jack
I did... I seem to remember not being impressed.
