World of Apple

Apple has sent out a notice to developers informing them that applications are now being accepted for the App Store.

Image courtesy of Mac Rumors

The App Store is expected to go live on July 11.

Apple has recently seeded developers with the latest iPhone SDK Beta. Alongside Beta 8 of the SDK Apple also gave developers a new version of the iPhone 2.0 Firmware as well as a pre-release copy of iTunes 7.7.

The iPhone firmware version is 5A345, builds ending in numbers are usually of a stable nature.

In the readme for the iTunes installer, there is a hint at some kind of remote control application that can be installed on the iPhone/iPod touch:

Use iTunes 7.7 to sync music, video, and more with iPhone 3G, and download applications from the iTunes Store exclusively designed for iPhone and iPod touch with software version 2.0 or later. Also use the new Remote application for iPhone or iPod touch to control iTunes playback from anywhere in your home — a free download from the App Store.

The application will presumably allow the control of iTunes over a WiFi network from an iPhone or iPod touch.

Apple is expected to release the iPhone 2.0 firmware and App Store on July 11.

A posting on TokyoMango with an accompanying video (below) shows the Japanese keyboard functions of the upcoming iPhone 2.0 firmware.

According to the post users will be able to choose between a QWERTY-keyboard and a Japanese mobile phone style keyboard and from there can select either a multi-tap style kana keyboard or a sliding keyboard.

The post explains, “Japanese kana letters are organized in groups of five according to a beginning letter and corresponding vowels (a i u e o), so you can either put in the first letter and then hit the same key between 1-5 times to get the right sound (multi-tap), or you can put the first letter in and then tap and slide through to see all five sounds and pick the right one.”

Video after jump.

(more…)

During Adobe’s Q2 earnings call last night CEO Shantanu Narayen said that Adobe had a working version of Flash on the iPhone, albeit on an emulator:

We have a version that’s working on the emulation. This is still on the computer and you know, we have to continue to move it from a test environment onto the device and continue to make it work. So we are pleased with the internal progress that we’ve made to date.

It should be noted that Steve Jobs and Apple have been critical of Flash so Adobe doesn’t only have a technical hurdle but also a business one.

Also a good time to remind readers of Walt Mossberg’s announcement last July that Adobe would be bring Flash to the iPhone in an upcoming software update.

AppleInsider has published an article detailing information revealed to developers earlier in the week on how iPhone and iPod touch applications can be submitted to the App Store.

The article details how applications are uploaded using iTunes Connect and have a maximum file size of 2GB, Apple has reportedly not stated whether this is a technical limitation.

Certain applications can be limited to geographic regions and games are given content ratings. Apple has stated that no games with an adult rating will be allowed on the App Store.

Pricing of applications is limited to between $0.99 and $999.99. Alternatively applications can be given away for free.

Although Apple has officially stated that the App Store will launch in early-July, but those familiar with the matter suggest that the App Store will launch on July 11 the same day as the iPhone 3G release.

TomTom has announced that it already has a version of their GPS navigation software running on an iPhone.

“Our navigation system runs on the iPhone already,” the TomTom spokesman said after Apple announced a new version of the iPhone that will include global positioning (GPS) capability.

Apple has released the seventh beta of the iPhone SDK to registered developers. The iPhone Software Development Kit remains under NDA and is labelled build 9M2199, the total download size is 1.19GB.

Registered iPhone Developers can download the latest beta from the iPhone Dev centre.

During the Keynote Steve Jobs, Phil Schiller and Scott Forstall discussed iPhone software development, MobileMe and introduced iPhone 3G.

[Update] Keynote is now available to download via the Apple Keynote Podcast.

[Update 2] Also available in HD.

Apple today announced that iPhone SDK downloads have topped more than 250,000 since its launch on March 6. The iPhone SDK provides developers with the same rich set of Application Programming Interfaces and tools that Apple uses to create its native applications for iPhone. Apple today also announced that its amazing new App Store will be available in 62 countries bringing a breakthrough way for developers to wirelessly deliver their applications directly to iPhone and iPod touch users around the world. Users can download applications wirelessly and start using them immediately.

“Developer reaction to the features, power and simplicity of the iPhone SDK has been incredible,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “We are seeing some truly amazing native apps from our developers and think users are going to love the breadth and depth of the applications available from the App Store.”

Leading developers such as AOL, Cisco, eBay, Electronic Arts, Epocrates, TypePad, Salesforce.com and Sega have demonstrated impressive native applications developed using the iPhone SDK.

“The SDK allowed us to build a groundbreaking new AIM client in record time,” said Kevin Conroy, executive vice president, AOL. “The platform’s elegance and ease of use has inspired our developers to create innovative new web and SDK based experiences for iPhone and iPod touch.”

“The iPhone SDK has given us an excellent set of tools and APIs to create mobile extensions for FIM’s entire portfolio of web brands including MySpace, IGN and Photobucket in the near term, and other properties such as FOXSports.com down the road,” said John Smelzer, senior vice president of Mobile for Fox Interactive Media. “The popularity of the iPhone, along with the high demand for applications, gives us an amazing opportunity to create groundbreaking mobile experiences.”

“Cocoa-touch is a compact and robust application framework that handles all the heavy lifting for developers so they can concentrate on building their applications in record time with the legendary Apple finesse we’ve come to expect,” said David Krantz, president of YELLOWPAGES.COM.“ iPhone has been a game changer since it launched, and the availability of our YELLOWPAGES.COM application on the App Store is going to make a great device even better.”

“As mobile developers with primarily J2ME and BREW experience, we were up and running with the iPhone within two weeks,” said Jonathan Backer, manager of Mobile Engineering, The Walt Disney Company. “The hardware is stable and full-featured, while the software development tools are intuitive and represent a level of polish rarely seen in the mobile arena.”

“Since the launch of the iPhone we have seen a steady rise in traffic to the MLB.com mobile site so it made perfect sense to develop a rich client application for the App Store,” said Adam Ritter, vice president, Wireless Major League Baseball, Advanced Media. “Our development staff was excited to work on an iPhone application and reported that the SDK was robust and straight forward and contained helpful development tools. All combined we were able to expedite our development and deliver an application we know baseball fans will enjoy.”

Image courtesy of Engadget

On the run-up to Macworld 2008 it was rumoured that Sling would be showing off a native iPhone SlingPlayer but the rumour never came to fruition.

According to Engadget the application is very much alpha and is being held back by Apple failing to accept Sling into the iPhone developer program.

Video included below.

(more…)