Clueless predictions

Unsurprisingly, all my predictions from yesterday turned out to be just a wishes list. Turns out, I had in mind 3.0 to be matching the Pre offering ... but it just wasn't the case. Either Apple can't, or more likely they just don't care, meaning they don't see Palm as the mobile version of the anti-Christ. As eloquently put in this article, Apple's fixation on avoiding background processes, is causing us, the users, some usabilities PITA.

Anyway, I still think we will see some application switching support in OS 3.0 .... but only on the new version of the iPhone, rumored for this summer. As often, Steve Jobs will casually announce it with some smug comments about some power (but clueless) users wanting it very bad, so here it is but we don't like it much ... (e.g MacBook Pro 17" with mate display option).

Mandatory predictions

With now less than two hours to go before the iPhone OS 3.0 event, I think it is time for me to join the geek creed and make a couple of (clueless) predictions. Still I don't have John Gruber's writing style, nor insight, I'll keep these shorts and to the point.

So what to expect? Well since there is now a real challenger to the iPhone (that'll be the Palm Pre), Apple has to play catch-up and show that 3.0 will have all the goodies (and more, hopefully) than the Pre. Sounds pretty obvious isn' it? Well yeah it is. CNNMoney has a little write-up of the details of what to expect, here.

So then, what is/are my prediction(s)? Well here they are:

• The multitasking (don't really like to use that term, 'cause technically the iPhone OS is already multitasking) will not be available unless you are using the new iPhone to come out in June (or it will be available on older HW, but with a limitation of said 2 users launched applications and you will have to enable it via some hidden setting). The reason for this isn't much about hardware limitation, but giving you reason to upgrade to the new iPhone, which will come with a faster CPU/GPU (just stating the obvious here) and 256Mb of RAM (instead of 128Mb currently).
• Background application will be supported, but wont be based on UIApplication (let's call it UITask) and will have limitations on what they can do.
  
• The OS will allow applications to exchange data (by using files in a common area and/or IPC
  
• The new SDK will support building app with web technologies (a la Mojo)

Wishes list or predictions? Only 90 minutes to go before we found out!

Tweeting!

@All I finally succumbed to the Twitter temptation and created an account for myself (please follow me! ... please, pretty please?). Originaly, my motivation for doing so, was to follow some of the blog authors I read and some of the Cocoa/iPhone world celebrities (e.g Wil Shipley), but then I caught the tweeting bug and I have been tweeting (mostly non-sense and everyday stuff) furiously.

So what can you expect from following me? Pretty much the same kind of stuff that I blog about here: Cocoa, iPhone, Space, (weird) Music, books etc ... but in a more condenced form (for obvious reasons).

Time fly

Well, March has arrived, and I'm back at (my day) work (since yesterday). Our iPhone app is not yet finished (hard to believe I know ... and yet here we are), so the month have gone without any submission to the app store, contrary to what we were hoping for. Maybe in a couple of weeks? Two things have colluded to cause this schedule slip: feature creep and usability concerns. Concerns is maybe a bit too strong of a word, really. Let said that the UI wasn't as good as it could be.