Special Event Predictions – What do you expect to see?


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In a few hours Apple will hold a “special event”. The event will be focused on the iPhone SDK, and will provide us with a roadmap for Apple’s plans for 3rd party Apps on the iPhone.

I have a few ideas about what to expect, but nothing beyond speculation and educated guessing. Here’s what I think we might see.

1. iTunes Distribution for Applications – I think at this point this is a given, and will be the only legal way to get applications onto your iPhone. Will it provide crippling limitations for the apps? I hope not, but we’ll see.

2. iPhone SDK Beta Release – I don’t think Apple is finished with the SDK, and the continuing online rumors seem to back that up (but you know how that can be). I do expect to see SOMETHING released today that developers can work with…a beta with a full release at WWDC seems likely.

3. iChat for iPhone – It may be wishful thinking on my part, but I think we’ll see something in the way of purchasable apps today, and I still feel that Apple will eventually add IM to the iPhone – hopefully today’s the day.

4. Silverlight for iPhone – Especially with Jobs downplaying Flash’s importance in the last few days, and Microsoft trying so hard to push its new flash-esq web media player (even recently stating that it will be coming to “anything with an SDK”), it seems very likely that Silverlight will make its way to the iPhone.

That’s what I think we might see.

What about you?


Kokou Adzo

Kokou Adzo is a stalwart in the tech journalism community, has been chronicling the ever-evolving world of Apple products and innovations for over a decade. As a Senior Author at Apple Gazette, Kokou combines a deep passion for technology with an innate ability to translate complex tech jargon into relatable insights for everyday users.

8 Comments

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  1. Would be neat if they announced an iPhone architecture switch to that new intel mobile chip. “Oh yeah, we have flash now”

    Just wishful thinking though.

  2. Why in the world would there be silverlight on the iphone? thats just wrong…i can see entourage and maby a Word lite….but no other Microsoft apps.

  3. @david

    Yeh, there’s no way. The iPhone is Apple’s “good thing”. There’s no way Apple is going to give M$ a piece of it.

  4. @david

    Because Microsoft has stated that they will make a version of Silverlight for anything with an SDK. It would be in Microsoft’s best interest to get Silverlight on the iPhone ASAP – because it would be a huge publicity deal, and would further their attempt to create competition (or destroy competition, depending on what you think of Microsoft) in the online video market.

    Adobe hasn’t made any kind of comments about making an effort to create a custom version of Flash for the iPhone. All they have said thus far is that the iPhone is “incomplete” without it. While I agree to a point, until Adobe is willing to come in and make a version that will actually work well on the iPhone, I don’t care if the iPhone has Flash or not.

  5. I say Silverlight is very unlikely. If Apple do not want propertary Adobe Flash, then why on earth would it want propertary Microsoft Silverlight?

    Especially since they have been pushing open web standards so hard. Their own Apple Shop have much of the “requires Flash features” from other sites, but implemented using pure open standard web technologies.

  6. @Fredrik Olsson

    Because I don’t think Apple doesn’t want Flash. They haven’t said that. What Jobs has said is that currently Desktop Flash doesn’t work well on the iPhone, and what they call “mobile flash” isn’t good enough to be on the iPhone because it’s not for the “real” web.

    I don’t believe Apple is worried about one proprietary format over another…unless of, of course, they release their own version of Flash today.

  7. No Way on Silverlight.

    Distribution, 2 channel. Verified apps via iTunes, Joe Bob’s garage app otherwise, with a “this application is not approved by The Jobs” warning. Otherwise, we need a complete iPhone simulator, which just isn’t possible without multi-touch screens on Macs.