Office Mobility Blog: October 2007 Archives

Apple Announces iPhone SDK

What does this mean for DataViz?

iPhone users, potential users, and admirers will surely be happy to know that Apple took a big step toward creating a development community for the iPhone this week by announcing a Software Development Kit (SDK) for the iPhone. From the words of Mr. Jobs himself:

We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users. With our revolutionary multi-touch interface, powerful hardware and advanced software architecture, we believe we have created the best mobile platform ever for developers.

Apple’s original stance on application development for the iPhone came in the form of a suggestion: create web-based applications that can be accessed through the iPhone’s Safari web browser. This was disappointing news to developers of mobile applications who are used to having much more access. Palm, for example, has had a large developer community for years. One could certainly argue that the level of growth they achieved would not have been possible without third party software development.

In yesterday’s press release, Jobs said the SDK will not be available until February of 2008 because they want to open up the platform while keeping the device safe from viruses.

This is no easy task. …As our phones become more powerful, these malicious programs will become more dangerous. And since the iPhone is the most advanced phone ever, it will be a highly visible target. … We think a few months of patience now will be rewarded by many years of great third party applications running on safe and reliable iPhones.

So what does this mean for DataViz, you ask? Hard to say at this point (after all, the SDK was only announced yesterday and won’t be available for a few months), but imagine Exchange ActiveSync access to your email, editing Office files, and having all of your PINs and passwords encrypted and easily accessed on your new iPhone!

We’ve been getting more and more requests each day asking us - begging, in some cases - to bring our applications to the iPhone, specifically Documents To Go, RoadSync, and Passwords Plus. Thanks to this announcement, we’ll be able to give this serious consideration. You can bet we’ll have our hands on this SDK as soon as possible. I can’t guarantee anything, but please, if you are interested in having DataViz software on your iPhone, let us know!

Posted by Jason Coup at 01:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (2)

Nokia Unveils Touch S60 Interface

A touch screen cell phone is certainly nothing new. Symbian UIQ devices have been touch based for some time and the iPhone seemingly redefined the technology over the last few months. Now it looks like Nokia’s Series 60 devices will be next in line.

Nokia demonstrated their new touch screen interface for S60 devices at the Symbian Smartphone Show in London today. All About Symbian has reported that the new OS will be designed to support both stylus and finger based input. And, in addition to standard touch screen sensors, the new interface will include proximity and light sensors as well, giving Nokia’s development community plenty of new toys to work with for future apps.

It seems the two key takeaways here are that current S60 apps will not need to be modified for the touch screen devices and the touch sensor will be equipped to provide tactile feedback, negating a common complaint for those new to the touch screen world. In Nokia’s words from their press release:

S60 touch user interface comes with support for tactile feedback, which means that there is a physical pulse and feedback when the user taps on the screen. This provides better awareness of the device's response improving the user experience.

Hard to tell when these devices will hit the market; all Nokia has said thus far is that they will be available in 2008.

We have some folks at the Smartphone Show this week and I’m sure they’ve taken a close look at the new interface. Hopefully I’ll be able to post some updated info and first impressions when they get back!

Posted by Jason Coup at 04:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

DataViz Picnic 2007

Well, another summer has come and gone - although you wouldn’t know it by the recent string of warm days we’ve had here in the Northeast.

Each year we like to celebrate (or mourn, depending on your point of view) the changing of the seasons with an end of summer company picnic. A few days ago we spent an afternoon at a local park barbecuing, playing games, and socializing. We wanted to let you all in on a little of the fun so we thought we’d share some of our pictures. Enjoy!

Plenty of food to go around.