iPhone + no SDK + Adobe Apollo = Phone 2.0?
Like many, I was disappointed to not see a SDK for the iPhone. Not because I’m a developer (I can’t – yet – develop my way out of a room if my life depended on it), but because I want to see native apps on the iPhone and a lack of them might make the iPhone experience not a very pleasant one – at least for power users.
However, I have been doing some reading on the interwebs and have dreamed up a possible scenario of what Apple might be thinking of doing in terms of providing a way to run apps on the iPhone. Before you read this, however, let me just say that I’m by no means a developer or an expert in any of these areas and what I describe below is me and my hope, so here goes:
Apple’s timid response to whether Flash will be included in the iPhone can be explained by their plans of not only including Flash, but also including Adobe Apollo (recently renamed Adobe AIR – pronounced “A.I.R.”) for release. They might be facing some hurdles – whatever they may be – bundling AIR with the iPhone and thus they are somewhat quiet on the issue. True or not, the inclusion of AIR in the iPhone (as well as any other connected mobile device) can have very appealing benefits.
For those who don’t know, Adobe AIR allows developers to create, using their “existing web skills, to build and deploy rich Internet applications to the desktop” (credit: Adobe). Basically, it allows users to use web applications as “web-originated” (my term) desktop applications. This technology is capable of synchronizing data between the web app and the “web-desktop” app. For a great demo of AIR’s abilities, see this demo or check out these existing AIR apps here. Quick note: AIR is in early beta and its potential has not been close to realized.
So what are these benefits I speak of? Let’s step into imagination land and see.
Say you’re working on a Google word processing document (or any other Google Doc) on the iPhone in Safari and have AIR installed. With a tap of a finger, you can turn that online document into a AIR stand-alone app with its own windows and interface. So now you can go offline (like into the metro or on the airplane) and continue working. When you get your connection back, AIR will auto-sync the changes you’ve made to Google Docs (synching is a feature of AIR). The same can be done for any other web apps (assuming it’s possible to run them through AIR, of-course):
- Google Calendar, documents, Google reader (now possible through Google Gears, by the way)
- Gmail or any other web-based email service
- Ebay service demonstrated in the Apollo video
- The possibilities are endless
I’m very hopeful that, even if this isn’t the reason that Apple is holding back Adobe Flash for iPhone (since from what I understand, they are related), this will be possible one day – on any device, be it on a PC or a mobile device. Adobe AIR, to the average power user (read: not a developer) is a dream come true that bridges online apps with desktop functionality. I can write a whole bunch of mumbo-jumbo and include some high-profile terms in here but I digress.
Before I forget: I hear that AIR is a big and heavy install, but it’s still in beta, thus it might not (yet) be suited for a mobile device. And one more, last time: I don’t know whether what is described above is technologically possible, but it sure would be hell-a useful and very cool, to use teen language and completely kill the buzz. -Alex
Posted in Apple, Blogroll, Software, Wish List, iPhone