MacRumors

When Apple announced that the iPhone would incorporate Exchange support through ActiveSync, they specifically pointed out some shortcomings of RIM's server-based system. In the following Question and Answer session, Jobs even pointed to potential security issues with RIM's model:

"Every e-mail message sent to or from a RIM device, goes through a NOC up in Canada. Now, that provides a single point of failure, but it also provides a very interesting security situation. Where someone working up at that NOC could potentially be having a look at your e-mail. Nobody seems to be focused on that. We certainly are."

These concerns, however, may have been overstated. American Technology Research issued a report (via Appleinsider) comparing the two approaches to providing Exchange support for the Apple's iPhone vs the RIM's BlackBerry.

RIM's setup for Exchange support requires the use of BlackBerry Enterprise Server which connects to RIM's network operations center (NOC) in Canada. Even though messages travel through a number of servers, the contents are encrypted at the origin before being passed through RIM's NOC and finally to the BlackBerry device which alone can decrypt it. According to the research company, this gives BlackBerry the "highest level of security in the industry".

In contrast, the iPhone will interface directly with the Exchange server. The analysts, however, go on to speculate that Apple's ActiveSync implementation could have its own issues with security, and have an impact on battery life and scalability. Regardless, they feel that the iPhone's unique advantages could provide a better ActiveSync experience over existing implementations.

Apple is set to release their new enterprise features for the iPhone in June 2008.

Lionsgate announced that they are working with Apple to provide iTunes Digital Copies on select DVD and Blu-ray releases.

Just like movies purchased from the iTunes Store, an iTunes Digital Copy can effortlessly be transferred to iTunes and then viewed on a PC or Mac, iPod with video, iPhone or on widescreen television with Apple TV.

The first Liongate DVD/Blu-ray disc to include an iTunes Digital Copy will be Rambo due for release on May 27th. Fox was the first to start including iTunes digital copies on their DVDs.

The process of copying the movie to iTunes involves entering a unique code into iTunes. The movie is then transferred to iTunes, allowing you to sync the movie with your iPod, iPhone or Apple TV. Each DVD (unique code) will allow digital transfer to only one iTunes library.

Financial Times reported that in the wake of Sony's Blu-ray win over HD-DVD, that Sony is in talks with both Microsoft and Apple about inclusion of Blu-ray with future machines. Microsoft had previously been shipping an HD-DVD accessory for their Xbox 360, so their adoption of Blu-ray would represent a significant turnaround.

Apple, however, has not yet shipped any high definition drives with any of their computers. They've instead focused on distributing digital content through their iTunes Store.

With the demise of the HD-DVD format, it seems only a matter of time before Apple adopts Blu-ray drives in their machines.

As people delve into the details of Apple's iPhone SDK, a few interesting issues are emerging. One developer guideline that is generating some concern is from Apple's Human Interface Guidelines for iPhone:

Only one iPhone application can run at a time, and third-party applications never run in the background. This means that when users switch to another application, answer the phone, or check their email, the application they were using quits. Its important to make sure that users do not experience any negative effects because of this reality. In other words, users should not feel that leaving your iPhone application and returning to it later is any more difficult than switching among applications on a computer.

To be fair, for most applications, this would be preferred behavior. There is no reason for Super Monkey Ball (for example) to continue running in the background, using up CPU cycles and Memory. Instead, as Apple suggests, the current state should be saved and returned when the application is relaunched.

However, this has raised concerns about the feasibility of an application such as AOL's AIM client, which typically does run in the background to alert the user of incoming messages. Based on one comment, however, this only appears to be a design guideline and not an absolute technical limitation:

I'm a programmer and I just tried it [using the iPhone SDK] and you can keep your app running in the background in the normal way ApolloIM and iFob do it. I.e. overriding applicationSuspend.

Another possibility could involve individual applications launching smaller background-tasks (daemons) short of full applications, but the feasibility of this is unknown at this time.

What this brings us back to is Apple's SDK license limitations and their editorial discretion with the iTunes App Store. From Apple's license agreement, this multitasking workaround is forbidden:

Applications must comply with the Human Interface Guidelines and other Documentation provided by Apple.

Even Sun's plan to bring Java to the iPhone is not technically allowed, despite their claims:

An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise.

This could also restrict announced plans for a PC emulator for the iPhone.

It's still too early to say how strictly Apple will enforce these restrictions when approving applications for the iTunes App Store. By serving as the sole distributor for iPhone applications, Apple understandably wants to restrict malicious applications, but whether these limitations begin to encroach upon genuinely useful applications remains a concern. Apple's iTunes App Store launches in June 2008 alongside the new iPhone 2.0 firmware.

Sun announced that they are developing a Java Virtual Machine for Apple's iPhone with the newly released Software Development Kit (SDK).

"We're going to make sure that the JVM offers the Java applications as much access to the native functionality of the iPhone as possible," he said.

The specific version of Java will be based on the Java Micro Edition (ME) and will open the iPhone to a large library of existing Java applications. Sun's announcement comes after reviewing the iPhone SDK since its release just on Thursday. Sun expects to release this version of Java "some time after June".

Sun maintains a sample library of Java ME games and applications. This list includes EA Sims Bowling, Scrabble, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Libris eBook reader, and more.

Sun adds its name to a list of other developers who have already announced support for the iPhone. Others include Gameloft, Omnigroup, Freeverse, SixApart, reQall, EA, and Epocrates.

MacScoop claims that Apple is prepping refreshes to both the iMac and Mac Mini in the coming weeks.

The rumor site expects Apple to start including the 45nm Penryn chip in both the iMac and Mac mini. Meanwhile, they also expect the Mac Mini to upgrade to the GMA3100 graphics chipset used in the most recent MacBooks.

Though we don't have a precise release date, we expect the iMac and the Mac mini refreshes to happen within the next four weeks, inventory clearing being the only constraint.

They also report that Apple has been working to slim down the iMac enclosure even more, but those changes may not make it into this revision.

Recent Page 2 rumors have also suggested an imminent iMac release, though it's been some time since we've heard rumors about the Mac mini. Despite old rumors of its demise, Apple has continued to update the Mac mini with the last release in August 2007.

These Penryn updates will likely represent only minor upgrades, but the timeframe is consistent with the belief that Intel is quickly phasing out their previous generation processors.

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BBC had previously announced that they would be launching their iPlayer service for the iPhone and iPod touch. Yesterday, BBC officially launched a Beta of their iPlayer for iPhone. iPhone and iPod touch users who navigate to the iPlayer site (http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/) are now be greeted with some limited streamable content.

While there was some speculation that the release may be related to Apple's SDK, the service is based entirely in the iPhone's Safari browser. Available BBC content has been encoded into h.264 for native playback within Safari.

Only a limited selection is currently available, and content is geographically restricted to UK residents.

Update: BBC Blog describes what they've done:

Back to BBC iPlayer on iPhone implementation: we're not using the new Apple SDK, nor are we using the much-rumoured Flash for iPhone (no - we haven't seen it, either). Instead, we're creating 516Kbps streams (400Kbps H.264 video, 116Kbps AAC audio) that show off BBC programmes brilliantly on an iPhone.

The release of the iPhone SDK provided a lot of answers, but has also raised a number of questions, many of which will not be answerable until the iTunes App Store launches in June 2008.

The general sentiment, however, has been quite positive with most expectations being exceeded. The addition of numerous enterprise features has removed many hurdles for corporate iPhone adoption, though it may still be an uphill battle against RIM which many businesses have already heavily invested in both servers and training.

The significance of a native iPhone version of Epocrates for health care professionals can not be overstated. In my experience, it alone has been significant driver in Palm sales amongst physicians, and its absence on the iPhone has been a significant hurdle for physician adoption of Apple's phone.

Developer reaction has also been generally positive. Despite lengthy MacRumors reader debates about the 70%/30% fee structure of the iTunes App Store, public developer response has been generally accepting. A notable comment by id Software's John Carmack suggests that the "iTunes distribution channel is really a more important aspect than a lot of people understand".

As expected, Apple is exerting editorial control on applications that appear on the iTunes App Store. Explicit restrictions are quite reasonable with limitations on illegal, abusive and offensive applications. Some are concerned, however, that Apple may have other restrictions that are not as clear-cut. Still, that hasn't prevented some from predicting that this marks the beginning of an enormous opportunity for Apple with the belief that "what Microsoft and Windows was to the desktop, Apple and Touch will be to mobile."