We all know that Stevie J can put quite an event together. It’s almost cult-tastic. It seems that even the most avid Apple-haters forget themselves and crack a brief smile while Jobs is on stage doing his thing. There’s no question; he’s a smart dude. The iPhone SDK Event was no exception – so let’s have a quick recap:
- Apple has 28% of the US Smartphone market, 71% (doubtful) of mobile browser usage is Safari.
- Business users? Check. Full Exchange / ActiveSync support is on the way including push email, push contacts, push calander, VPN, security and more.
- Web apps are great, native apps are better. The SDK is here and it’s ready to party… As long as you’ve got a Mac. Developers using Windows and Linux-based systems need not apply.
- Game developers gave demos of native games built in two weeks without ever having seen the SDK prior. EA showed Spore and Sega showed Super Monkey Ball; sweet.
- App developers had a bit more time to boogie. Salesforce.com showed a very good looking native app tied to its online CRM solution. AOL showed a native AIM app.
- All apps will be distributed through Apple’s App Store only. This is great news for big developers that can afford to pay to have their apps featured, ok news for small developers that have a better chance at more exposure, and not so good news for users who are going to have to dig through the inevitable mess of thousands upon thousands of apps. Hey, at least Jobs’ model keeps Handango out of the game.
- Developers get 70% revenue share (score!), no charge for publishing freeware apps (only $99 for payware!) and a nice little $100 million VC fund to help them get crackin.
- SDK is available now, the rest drops in June with version 2.0 software. Free for iPhones, chargeable for iPod Touches.
This chapter of the Book of Job(s) is now closed. No Flash support yet just like we said, but good things in general. Go developers go!
