14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has posted another one of its typical videos featuring high-profile developers telling their success stories. The footage (embedded below) features a few indirect digs at Android, touting the iPhone OS and the iPhone SDK as a "mature" platform for programmers to work with.
Six highly successful developers are featured in the video, namely Callaway's Nicholas Callaway, Bottle Rocket's Calvin ("NPR") Carter, Pandora's Tom Conrad, ABC TV's Skarpi Hedinsson, Illusion Lab's Carl ("Labyrinth") Loodberg, and Wolfram Research's Theodore ("The Elements") Gray, according to Fortune.
A few of these developers’ statements are reproduced in the report, starting with Carter, who, at one point, states, "We've actually spent some time working with other platforms. It's a night and day difference. They're more difficult for the user. They don't have the power or the tools available. They don't have the distribution network. They don't have the standards, both in hardware or in software."
Speaking of competition, Hedinsson adds, "It is that handset fragmentation, if you will, that causes developers a lot of problems. Because you are now targeting individual devices." Although remaining unnamed, the competing platform is evidently Google’s Android. This is revealed by Pandora's Tom Conrad who asserts, "It's really evident in Apple's APIs, in the developer tools, that you're working with something really mature, not something that was invented two years ago."
Following the WWDC10 keynote address by Steve Jobs, Apple started notifying developers enrolled with its iPhone Developer Program that several new downloads were available from the iPhone Dev Center on the company’s website. Among them was the iOS 4 GM (Golden Master) seed, a pre-release version of Apple’s next-gen iPhone OS. Additional downloads available from Apple’s Dev Center include the iPhone SDK 4 GM seed, a pre-release version of the software development kit, iTunes 9.2 beta, and the iAd JS, which combines with the power of iOS 4 and its WevKit-based browser to make it easy for devs "to create high-impact, motion-rich ads," Apple says.
Apple also confirmed last week that iOS 4 apps were being granted access in the iTunes App Store. The Mac maker has kicked off the free Safari Development Program, as well as the opening of the iAd Network for developers. The former provides tools and resources for devs looking to create extensions that enhance and customize Safari. The latter enables a new source of revenue through incorporating rich media ads in iOS apps.