Java and iPhone apps

Last week I predicted that Steve Jobs would not use his WWDC keynote to announce that the iPhone will support Java, nodding to the wise guys at RoughlyDrafted.com ("the iPhone needs Java like... a unicycle needs an extra wheel.")

But despite a fair amount of rumor-mongering based on reading more into a New York Times article than John Markoff put into it, Jobs in fact not only announced no Java access to the most anticipated product of the summer but went further to say the device would have no SDK at all, and that anyone wanting to develop apps for it would need to deliver them as Webapps through the Safari browser. And, of course, made it sound like something you should be happy about -- until you got out of range of his reality-distortion field.

Reports of the sky falling were everywhere.

So what are we to make of the energetic discussions, like this one at TheServerSide, about the role of Java in developing iPhone apps?

The answer, of course, is in the name of the site: if you are happy writing Java server-side apps with client-side components of a nature that can run in the browser, then there is a lot to say about Java's role in iPhone app development. And with Safari being the channel to iPhone functionality, the logic of Apple's moves in releasing a Windows version of Safari that doesn't even try to be a proper Windows app and in creating, in Webkit, Safari-specific tags like canvas -- that logic is suddenly blindingly clear. It's all about creating powerful Webapps -- widgets? for iPhone.

Those apps would, however, be second-class apps on the iPhone platform. They wouldn't have icons on the main screen, they couldn't take advantage of device-specific features like multitouch, and they would only be operational when you were online.

Right?

Or is there another shoe to drop? But even if there is, don't you sort of have to program for the platform you know about, not for the one you hope for?

I dunno, I think I may need another dose of RDF to feel great about iPhone apps today.

Posted by Mike Swaine at 03:30 PM  Permalink