Apple today sent out the invitations for WWDC 2008 the annual Developer Conference. As always Apple has come out with excellent promo material. The tagline reads “WWDC 2008 – A Landmark Event. In More Ways Than One“.

The invitation also included the picture above that’s two Golden Gate bridges converging or diverging depending on the way you look at it.. I’m not quite sure what the image and the tagline really means, but here are a few educated guesses :

• The launch of the iPhone SDK (Pretty sure that this will happen).
• Location aware features in the iPhone and OSX.
• A release of an SDK for the Apple TV (I don’t think that this will happen)
• 3G iPhone
• Release of a top secret Apple Product!

Other than this I’m not sure what will turn up for the WWDC 2008. Traditionally we don’t see new Macs during WWDC, but we might hear a little bit more about the successor to Leopard.

What do you guys think we will see in WWDC 2008 that begins on June 9th and goes on till the 13th.

/Me Licks fingers in Anticipation

Boom! Apple has finally unveiled the official SDK and looks like Apple has a winner at its hands in the form of the iPhone.  The Apple Special Event just wrapped up a few hours ago, and surprisingly Apple had quite a bit to say. The first half of the event was concentrated upon enterprise users while the second half focused on the SDK and a few other things. With complete enterprise support coming, Apple surely has a winner at its hands. Here’s a rundown into what enterprise features the iPhone is going to support soon :

• Push email
• Push calendar
• Push contacts
• Global address list
• Cisco IPsec VPN
• Certificates and Identities
• WPA2 / 802.1x
• Enforced security policies
• Device configuration
• Remote wipe

The enterprise announcement was pretty much expected after Apple had sent out the invites for the special event. But guess what Microsoft also had a few good things to say about the iPhone. Here is what MS said  “after the iPhone launched, it quickly became one of the best selling phones on the market.”. It feels nice to hear such things from the Microsoft camp isn’t it?

The SDK

Well Apple has given us the same SDK that Apple developer themselves use to create the applications. Which means we can access just about any feature on the iPhone be it the contacts, accelerometer etc.. Here is what the developers need to know about the SDK

• The SDK is available for free starting today.
• You will have to register as a developer by paying a one time $99 fee.
• If you plan on charging for the program Apple will keep 30% of the revenue.
• You don’t have to pay anything for hosting or credit card processing.
• If you are charging for your apps Apple will pay you on a monthly basis.
• They have a $100 million iFund to help developers.
• No pornographic of malicious applications are allowed. (Obviously)

What We Need to Know

• Can install apps using either iTunes or the AppStore.
• Installed Applications are updated over the air when the developer updates it.
• Applications that are offered for free will cost nothing.
• The AppStore works in a similar fashion to the mobile iTunes store, so we will need a store account to download and install the Apps.

Sweet! When can I get this

• Apple doesn’t quite really have the 2.0 Software ready as yet. At the moment they are looking for enterprise users to beta test it. If you are an enterprise user you can apply for the iPhone Enterprise Beta Program.
• The SDK is available from today at the Apple Developer site.
• The iPhone 2.0 firmware will be available to the general public in late june sometime around the first anniversary of the iPhone
• And yeah the 2.0 firmware will not be a free upgrade for the iPod Touch users

I’m pretty sure that the announcements today are pretty exciting and will keep the shareholders happy. Also I’m pretty sure that Apple will beat its own target of selling 10Million iPhones by the end of this year by a comfortable margin. What do you guys have to say about the SDK?

If there is one wish that Steve Jobs hasn’t fulfilled of the iPhone users worldwide, that is the SDK. Looks like the wait is finally over. Apple has sent out invitations for an event on March 6th, and it plans to unveil the iPhone Software Roadmap and probably talk about some exciting enterprise features. Nothing is known as to what to Apple’s plans for the SDK are, so we will get to know everything on March 6th.

Looking at the roadmap I feel that the real SDK will not be available on March 6th. In my opinion on March 6th Apple will demo some enterprise stuff and talk about the SDK. The SDK will not be released on that day, which means the SDK is still not ready. When the SDK finally becomes available Apple would push a Software Update and make all iPhone’s automagically work with the 3rd party apps.

Sounds cool right? But I wonder how Apple plans to solve the Viruses and Malware problem. iPhone is a very popular device, and am sure Hackers everywhere would be trying to find vulnerabilities in the SDK. Here is what Steve Jobs said when he first mentioned the SDK :

It will take until February to release an SDK because we’re trying to do two diametrically opposed things at once—provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc. This is no easy task.
…
We are working on an advanced system which will offer developers broad access to natively program the iPhone’s amazing software platform while at the same time protecting users from malicious programs.

I wonder if iPod Touch would get the SDK too.. I think it will be paid upgrade for the iPod Touch users, so all you guys out there with an iPod touch keep some cash ready for the SDK goodness.

Well this bodes well for a lot of iPhone users all over the world. For the first time you will be able to apps like Instant Messengers and I am sure a lot of Web 2.0 poster childs like Digg, Zoho will make it into the iPhone. This could be extra punch that the iPhone needs to trump over its competitors. Well as you would expect Apple is taking a lot of pains to make sure Viruses and Malware don’t cripple the iPhone and that is reason for the launch of the SDK in February. Here is what Steve has to say on this,

It will take until February to release an SDK because we’re trying to do two diametrically opposed things at once—provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc. This is no easy task.
…
We are working on an advanced system which will offer developers broad access to natively program the iPhone’s amazing software platform while at the same time protecting users from malicious programs.

Well this is exciting news and I can’t wait to see what 3rd party apps will make it to the iPhone. Also there is a speculation that 3rd party apps will be released by Apple and will work on a similar model just like the T-Mobile Sidekick, but this hasn’t been confirmed yet. Thanks Steve you definitely made by day by announcing the SDK.

Image Credit :  Gizmodo

Version 2 of Applists has seen some great improvements in its second incarnation, due to a lot of User feedback from iPhone users.

“Our goal is to get great apps into the hands of iPhone and iPod Touch owners the instant they need them, and to do so in the easiest, most intuitive, and respectful way possible. Today, I believe we’ve accomplished just that,” says Bill Denk, CEO of Elias Corporation, the developer of Applists.com.

Some of the new changes in the Interface include, better icons and arrangement so you can do all that thumb touching and a better faster search, that would allow you to find stuff that you need the most. If you find that an app is not listed in Applists, then you can get it listed through the BYOA(Bring Your Own Apps) feature. A hint of social networking has been thrown in to the party too, allowing you to invite your friends to use Applists.

So if you are an iPhone user, go ahead and check out Applists today