| Apple
SDK Documentation Reveals Ban on
Multi-tasking |
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| Apple intentionally limits
effectiveness of third-party apps with SDK |
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Last week, Apple announced some
highly anticipated updates for the iPhone. First up were a slew
of features aimed at making the iPhone more "up to snuff" with
corporate customers. Some of these features include push email
support, WPA2/802.11x and support for Microsoft
Exchange. |
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The other big news to come out of the Apple camp was the
announcement of the iPhone SDK. With the SDK, developers can
develop third-party applications for the iPhone and publish them to
the iTunes App Store for $99. Developers that choose to charge for
their apps will see 30% of their profits go to Apple while those
who provide their apps for free will see no additional
fees. |
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Apple showed off the simplicity of the SDK and the ease of
development by proclaiming that EA Games whipped up a functional
version of “Spore” for the iPhone in two weeks. Other apps created
using the SDK included “Super Monkey Ball” and AOL Instant
Messenger. |
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Some of the limitations inherent to the SDK were left out
during the press conference, however, and the folks over at
TechCrunch have uncovered a
rather glaring omission. |
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Two of the limitations are rather obvious to observers:
iPhone users will only be able to use VOIP via WiFi and SIM
unlocking programs will be banned from the iTunes App
Store. |
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The biggest limitation, however, is that only one
third-party application can be run at a time with the iPhone. Users
won't be able to switch between applications without the original
instance being shut down completely. TechCrunch goes on to
explain, "Instant messaging applications can’t run in the
background and collect messages while you are doing something else.
Leave the application to take a phone call, and it shows you
offline. The bottom line is - any application that wants to
periodically interact with the web to do stuff, won’t be able to on
a continual basis." |
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The limitation is probably in place due to the limited
processing power and memory footprint on the iPhone. Microsoft's
Windows Mobile operating systems allow users to easily switch
between multiple applications with "Smart Minimize". However, the
Smart Minimize feature can leave Windows Mobile-based Smartphones
feeling quite sluggish when a number of applications are loaded up
in the background. |
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Apple likely wants to avoid receiving any flak -- as
Microsoft often does for Windows Mobile -- for decreased system
performance when running a number of applications in the
background. By limiting users to just a single open application,
Apple effectively shuts the door on the issue even cropping
up. |
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Apple’s decision to remain so controlling of the iPhone's
inner workings though will greatly limit the usefulness of many of
the third-party applications that will be developed for the
iPhone. |