The Apple iPhone is about to be pushed.
We’re talking about push — instantaneous delivery of e-mail, contacts, calendaring and appointments.
Push, as in the BlackBerry.
Apple hopes a push-enabled iPhone will shove the BlackBerry out of its position as the most popular mobile phone in the United States.
The June availability of push e-mail, which will open up the iPhone to many more corporate and business users, was announced Thursday at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.
Venture capitalist John Doerr, one of Apple’s presenters, said push e-mail, along with the potential of thousands of new programs created by a newly enabled network of private developers, will extend the device’s use to a historic scale. “Think about it. In your pocket, you have something that’s broadband and connected all the time,” said Doerr. “It’s personal. It knows who you are and where you are. That’s a big deal. A really big deal. It’s bigger than the personal computer.”
As a sign of its popularity, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs noted the iPhone has a 28% share of the smartphone market, second only to the BlackBerry. RIM, the Canadian company that makes the BlackBerry, has a 41% share.
The announcement of push Exchange support for the iPhone, accomplished by an application called ActiveSync that Apple has licensed from Microsoft, came during a special conference that saw the release of an SDK, or Software Development Kit, to independent programmers that will allow them to make new applications for the iPhone. That kit provides developers the tools and underlying computer code they need to open up the iPhone, which previously had been kept proprietary.
With the release of Apple’s firm grip on the iPhone, software developers will be able to create programs that will make the touch-screen device more popular with business users, gamers and the growing number of consumers increasingly using mobile devices in place of landline phones and laptop computers.
By far the biggest benefit expected to result from the distribution of the SDK is better integration with the corporate mail servers that run on the Microsoft Exchange platform.
Although selected developers are getting many of the features right away, consumers will have to wait. The enhancements will be delivered to the public by a free iPhone firmware update downloadable from Apple. The company said the update will be distributed in late June.
At the conference, Apple officials demonstrated new games, the AOL Instant Messaging program, a video and audio recorder, business database and sales programs, along with specialized programs for doctors and medical professionals like the popular Epocrates program.
The new programs created by developers will be installed by syncing the iPhone to the iTunes store, via a computer, or downloaded directly from the iPhone’s built-in Internet connection. Developers will get 70% of the fees charged for applications, with Apple getting 30% for providing the download and the sales processing services.
Apple has sold nearly 4 million iPhones, which use a touch screen to navigate through different screens and applications that on other phones require a stylus or numerous clicks or key taps.
The iPhone also has an iPod digital music and movie player, a Web browser and a unique screen that lets users flip from image to image and to zoom in or out of a display by making pinching movements with their fingers.
Apple officials said this week they hope to sell more than 10 million of them by year’s end.
MIKE WENDLAND’s daily tech blog is at www.freep.com/wendland.
Posted by dclemons 