I was sipping my coffee this morning (by sipping, I mean chugging about 8 ounces per gulp.. there is no mug large enough to hold the quantity of coffee I want to drink...) and reading my morning feed. In that feed, I found a couple entries claiming that the iPhone SDK was being delayed. Of course, one of these entries claimed to have an "inside source" that indicated there was a 1-3 week delay coming.
I love reading about how these people have inside sources. If an inside source within Apple was leaking information like that, that information source wouldn't be working for Apple much longer. No matter how close these friends of Apple employees may be, those Apple employees aren't talking. I have the utmost respect for the people who continue to tell me that they can't tell me anything. Whether you agree or disagree with the policy of secrecy that typically surrounds upcoming Apple products, feature offerings, and SDKs - you have to respect their ability to keep a lid on that. So, anytime I see anybody claiming an inside source, I'm skeptical from the start.
One interesting thing that you see if you subscribe to multiple feeds from multiple sources is that at the same time as I saw a lot of these "iPhone SDK Delayed! Oh Noez!!1" type posts, I also saw comments in or near the vicinity discussing how there are thousands of developers already working on Android. Firstly, this sparks my inner conspiracy theorist and makes me wonder if it's a mud-slinging campaign orchestrated by Android zealots? Secondly, I've used Android, and I despise it. It feels like this weird, half-baked mess consisting 50% of stuff that is too low-level and 50% of stuff that is too abstract. In my own personal opinion, as someone who has written code for everything from Palm OS using Metrowerks Codewarrior to Windows CE using Embedded C++ to Windows Mobile 6 using .NET Compact Framework, I would still prefer writing smartphone code using the .NET CF. When even a single one of my target consumers is actually wielding a live, fully functional Android phone, I might consider fitting Android development into my rapidly diminishing spare time, but not until then.
What Apple stands to lose from screwing up the release of the SDK and the entire legal iPhone development environment is immeasurably more than what they stand to lose by waiting a couple more weeks to get it right. Bottom line - if it takes until March 15th for it to be released properly, then more power to Apple and I will wait patiently like I have been all this time.
So, let the rumor mills clickbait all they want. I'll be sitting on the sidelines waiting for the SDK to come out, whether it comes out in 2 days, 2 weeks, or 2 months.
tags: iphone sdk rumors
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