Just a few days after the release of the Apple iPhone, questions are being raised related to the development opportunities are available and what software the iPhone runs.
According to Apple VP of Worldwide iPod Marketing, Greg Joswiak, the iPhone operating system is a full version of OS X that weighs in at “considerably less” than half a GB and sits on flash memory.
Joswiak noted; “Apple has a proven and very smooth update mechanism for everything from our computers to our iPods. We will follow that kind of model here, which is an advantage a lot of phones don’t have.”
The Apple VP went onto describe how it was possible for the OS to be reduced in size so much, he said that it was possible due to the expertise at Apple and none of the functionality or core functions have been removed. “Remember that OS X on a Mac features a lot of applications that we don’t have to ship on the iPhone,” he added.
The OS sits on in-built flash memory which is considered much more versatile than a hard drive and allows the size of a device to be reduced considerably. “Flash has some nice advantages for us in putting it in that form factor. It’s very small and very durable,” Joswiak said.
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The following comments have been added by readers:
wilson
14th January 2007, 11.42 am
If Sony can put Linux inside car-navigators, portable console games, mixers, why Apple cannot put a minimal BSD core inside the iPhone? Minimal but a full OS X core, without frameworks that it doesn’t need, stripping down a full OS X isn’t that difficult. NetBSD with supports any processor you could imagine has an ARM version. If what Joswiak says is true, as soon iPhone starts shipping someone will get OpenSource apps like OpenOffice or Gimp running on it.
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JamesKatt
14th January 2007, 18.40 pm
Probably in the future, third-party apps may become available to the iPhone as Apple develops a product line based on it. This is only the first generation of iPhone. There can be iPhones with further expansions such as the ability to add new widgets, and the ability to add games. Java can be added to allow programmability. I would like to see an eBook reader, for example. I would like to see Skyscape’s medical apps on iPhone. These are possibilities in the future. The operating system in the iPhone can be updated by Apple at any time for more capabilities. Since the iPhone is actually a handheld computer with phone capabilities done in software through it’s operating system, I don’t think one can put Linux in it and still have it work as a phone. It is not a hardwired phone.
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B Kennedy
14th January 2007, 22.19 pm
Hmmmm… The iPhone has an ARM chip, which doesn’t run OS X.
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chris
14th January 2007, 22.45 pm
i dont know a lot about these things, but i assume the core of OSX can be ported to ARM, no?
apple would be pretty stupid to lie on that. they never said the ipod runs OSX afaik.
chris
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Alex Brooks
15th January 2007, 00.45 am
I think we have to put what Apple means by OS X into perspective, it’s not OS X as we know it on our Macs but a form of the operating system built to run on mobile devices, the reason they refer to it as OS X is due to not only branding but all of the Core components are still in place.
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