No iPhone SDK means no real third-party apps

When Steve Jobs hinted at a third-party SDK for the iPhone at the D5 conference last month, developers and fanboys alike jumped for joy. While the iPhone may prove to be a revolutionary piece of hardware, it's going to take some revolutionary applications make the phone a success. Jobs's comments at D5 suggested that Apple understood this and that it would open up the iPhone to developers in some capacity, allowing for the creation of software that takes full advantage of the phone's advanced capabilities.

However, when Apple announced its strategy for third-party iPhone development yesterday, a lot of those hopes were dashed. In a nutshell, Apple will only allow third-party applications to run on the iPhone as web apps via Safari--a strategy which Steve Jobs characterized as a "sweet solution" since there is "No SDK required." Noted Jobs in a press release, "Our innovative approach, using Web 2.0-based standards, lets developers create amazing new applications while keeping the iPhone secure and reliable."

While buzzwords like "Web 2.0" sound awfully good on paper, there are a few practical problems with this approach. Are web-based applications really going to offer a satisfactory user experience on AT&T's EDGE data network? My guess is that even the simplest applications are going to be painfully slow, which could really put a damper on the iPhone hype. What's more, how are developers going to take advantage of the iPhone's unique hardware features, like the touchscreen, motion sensor and proximity sensor? The short answer is that they won't: Apple boasted that third-party apps will be able to make calls and send emails, which seems to suggest that that's all they'll be able to do.

Apple has always liked to maintain complete control over its ecosystem whenever possible (see the iPod and Mac "clone wars"), so this move should come as no surprise. To be fair, it isn't a completely misguided strategy: by keeping the iPhone closed, Apple can ensure a consistent user experience on the device while minimizing the amount of strain that any one iPhone can put on the AT&T network. However, the lack of an SDK or API will ultimately limit the possibilities of what can be done with the phone--a fact that will only hurt Apple in the long run.

For more about the lack of an iPhone SDK:
- see this Gizmodo article
- and this press release from Apple