iPhone SDK Honeymoon Over – No Background Processes?!
Don’t get us wrong, we’re still huge fans of the way that Apple handled the iPhone SDK. For the most part, Apple really took the time to analyze existing platforms and the manner in which surrounding development is handled. They improved upon many areas, created a phenomenal system and incentivized developers tremendously. Now that the SDK is in the hands of the public however, it has been picked apart and some sour grapes are beginning to shake lose. Namely, this little tidbit uncovered by developer Robert Balousek:
Only one iPhone application can run at a time, and third-party applications never run in the background. This means that when users switch to another application, answer the phone, or check their email, the application they were using quits.
This, people, is remarkably bad news. The quote above is pulled from the iPhone Human Interface Guidelines document available on the SDK site. Translation: no true multitasking. Of course we know that the iPhone can multitask; just consider the apps we have now, or use Sysinfo to take a look through the running processes and you can see. Apparently however, third-party app developers will not be granted the necessary rights for their apps to make use of background processes. To further explain what this all means to the layperson, Balousek quotes: "If you are running an application such as AOL Instant Messenger on your iPhone, every time you receive a call or browse away from the application you would be signed out, you would lose any unread messages, and your conversations would end." This stipulation impacts an enormous number of potential iPhone apps and seriously stunts development. It stands to reason that Apple will eventually provide a workaround; Symbian for example, grants developers rights to restricted attributes for additional fees. In the meantime, expect to see a good amount of core smartphone functionality omitted on initial third-party app offerings.
Stability and security. All you haters can whine all you want, but I’m glad Apple makes sure iPhone will not become just another piece of crashing, hacked junk you all so desperately crave.
i’m glad you put symbian in there! yet another reason why the N95 is a MUCH BETTER CHOICE than the piece of sh!t crapple!!!
Have you guys even watched the event as a video podcast on iTunes and seen the SDK tools? That thing is awesome! Developers are going to be able to write better and more functional apps than any other mobile platform. That thing is absolutely amazing. Do you realize that with this SDK you can put together a kick butt app in very little time? When the apps actually start coming out it will put apps on other mobile platforms to shame. If I had an Apple computer with OSX I would download the SDK and get right to work. I can’t think of another mobile development environment that builds the app, installs, runs, and remotely monitors the program you are writing with one click. Monitor performance and view my stack trace in real time remotely while running on the device? Tell me another mobile development platform with these features.
“but I’m glad Apple makes sure iPhone will not become just another piece of crashing, hacked junk you all so desperately crave.”
Me too, I’d hate for it to become like that one phone where Safari crashes all the time and it gets hacked by a group of 13 year olds everytime they come out with a new version. Oh wait…
For those that are asking does a jailbroken iPhone run apps in the background. Yes, the IM clients (Apollo and Mobile Chat) and MMS client (Swirly MMS) and I’m sure others run in the background.
Guess that means we’ll just have both the Apple installer and community app installer. Devs can use Apple for things they would sanction and Installer.app or Cydia for a little more flexibility.
What bothers me most on Palm, is ssh. When I am working on a server and I receive some SMS, the connection is closed at once. If the phone would have multitasking, I am safe and can simply take care about SMS and continue with ssh session.
So hopefully terminal will be standard apple aplication on iPhone platform supporting multitasking, and I am safe
@Galvatron
how about the millions of promises MS makes and doesn’t keep, never has any intention of keeping. (NAB year after year after year, look it up if you need examples:).
As for your ‘claim’ that they (apple) are screwing developers, you may want to sit back and think about it for a sec. if apple pulled the no background apps 3 months after releasing apps then sure, you could claim that, but announcing it before anything starts, well your just spreading BS.
/cheers
@LiSa
you mean the OS that nokia is trying to move away from? hehe, yeah. so much better than the iPhone OS.
Does enyone know if Apple will eventually provide a workaround or already has?
Please let me know
Thanks:)
Maybe Android will come along, squash the iPhone, and make us all smile.
I can understand the non multitasking thing… And frankly I welcome it.
The reason is that with the whole battery installation thing and the limited battery life the Iphone has compared to others, multitasking would have been a bad idea, actually in my 3g I keep background tasks as low as possible…
hey A + A+ that boy is awesome