iPhone Tools
Apple and Google are collaborating on further services for the iPhone, Google CEO and Apple board member Eric Schmidt hinted this week.
Speaking at Google's event in Paris, Schmidt said the "powerful" iPhone - which he then showed to the audience - is particularly suited to a great number of Google applications. The iPhone will include a brand new custom version of Google Maps when it launches next week.
The opportunities for Google on the iPhone were boosted when Apple decided to use Ajax programming technologies for their phone. Google is the leading provider of Ajax-powered Web 2.0 applications.
The iPhone's introduction just a few days away, both Apple and AT&T - the exclusive carrier - are planning to close their retail stores mid-afternoon, to reopen them 90 minutes later. This information through a leaked memo also advises AT&T store managers to "determine an area outside the store where customer lines should form and whether or not stanchions for crowd control are needed".
If an iLounge poll is any indication, they could well be required. Asked ''Will you line up for an iPhone?", 40% have said "yes", with over half of those planning to buy one regardless of the contract price.
When they do they will have just a handful of third party apps to install. An iPhone interface for Digg.com and One Trip shopping lists were unveiled earlier this week (OneTrip has since been rewritten and as a result will also work in desktop browser). OneTrip developer Neven Mrgan has since released Quip, which provides a daily quotation and plans more iPhone software. He may therefor find iPhoney useful. iPhoney simulates the iPhone display to provide developers with "a canvas on which to test the visual quality" of their designs.