Look out, BlackBerry — here comes the iPhone.
Since its birth on Jun. 29 of last year, Apple’s versatile device has managed to capture 28 percent of the smartphone market, second only to Research in Motion, the Canadian firm behind the ubiquitous BlackBerry. In its first-quarter conference call, Apple announced that it has sold over 2.3 million iPhone units since launch, which they claim is on track to meet their goal of 10 million sold by the end of the year.
Yesterday, Apple took one step closer towards making that goal a reality. At a press event held at its Cupertino, Calif. campus, Apple (finally) made two huge and highly-anticipated iPhone-related announcements: the addition of several highly-demanded enterprise features, including integration with Microsoft’s Exchange Server software; and the introduction of the iPhone Software Development Kit, which will allow third-party developers to create their own native applications on the platform.
Although — as the sales numbers indicate — iPhone was able to ride Apple’s newly found wave of iPod and Mac-fueled popularity into the hearts, minds and pockets of consumers across the world, the lack of certain features precluded it from truly making even a tiny splash in the business world. The top three requests from large enterprises are doubtlessly familiar to those of you using the BlackBerry on campus — “push email,” that is, email delivered instantly to your phone; support for the security-minded 802.1X wireless standard; and the ability to remotely wipe the device clean of sensitive data in the event the phone is stolen or lost. Well, Apple’s Phill Schiller quietly announced yesterday that iPhone would now support all three of these features, along with a long laundry list of other additions for business.
These changes to iPhone, which will be formally released with the so-called “software 2.0” update package at the end of June, finally make iPhone a serious contender in the business market. I was a long-time user of Palm’s Treo device before switching to iPhone, and Apple’s interface easily blows Palm OS, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry’s OS clear out of the water in terms of user experience and usability. The only shortcomings that have been clouding over the iPhone have now been cleared, and I would not be at all surprised to see iPhone rapidly adopted into corporate environments across the world over the next year.
The most exciting part of Apple’s announcements yesterday, however, was the unveiling of the Software Development Kit. Using the new SDK, developers will now be able to write applications native to iPhone that can take full advantage of all its cool hardware and software features.
At the press event, representatives from game developers demonstrated innovative new games that utilize the iPhone’s tilt-sensitive accelerometers, while AOL showed off a version of its AOL Instant Messenger client. The kicker: they only had two weeks to develop these apps. Honestly, iPhone’s rich feature stack will allow coders to create a plethora of fantastic applications. Well, they will, that is, if Apple’s Developer Connection website ever recovers from yesterday’s onslaught of slobbering coders that brought down the server.
To be honest, everyone recognized what an awesome opportunity this would be back in October when Steve Jobs first announced that Apple was in fact developing an SDK for the iPhone. What concerned me, at least, was how Apple would handle the business arrangements surrounding the SDK. Well, I’m happy to say that Jobs put those concerns of mine to rest as well. The SDK is freely available right now to anyone with an Intel Mac (that is, again, if the ADC website ever returns). Apple will be controlling distribution of applications through iTunes and via the “App Store,” a new application that will be delivered in the 2.0 update in June. After purchasing a $99 license, developers will be able to list their applications for free in the App Store. Alternatively, if they want to charge for their work, they can do so, but Apple will take a 30 percent cut of the revenue, which they claim is to pay for operating costs.
Apple advanced the iPhone (and iPod touch, by the way) in three major ways yesterday. First, with its new enterprise features, iPhone is now a viable corporate device. Second, the SDK turns iPhone into a fertile and exciting platform for the creation of new applications. And finally, by not repeating its mistakes of the past and building a relatively open-access model around the SDK, Apple has increased iPhone’s attractiveness to the “nerd elite” — you know, the people that make the tech world go round — exponentially. These new features, along with a new venture capitalist–backed “iFund” that will invest in good proposals for iPhone software development, give every single developer a fantastic, welcoming environment for mobile application creation.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see what’s in store.