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WWDC 2008 - Final Thoughts
I was in NYC, seeing the long lines going around the block the 5th Ave. Apple store, when the iPhone was launched in June 2007. People couldn't wait, getting their hands on the beautiful mobile phone, the one with the best user interface, and the only one with a useable Web browser. This year I was in San Fran. at Apple's worldwide developers conference, WWDC 2008, when the iPhone 3G was announced.
In 2007 Apple launched a new product-line. In 2008, a new platform was born, already used by several hundreds of companies, with the help of several thousands of software developers, all creating custom applications running on that new platform.
In 2007 Apple launched a new product-line. In 2008, a new platform was born, already used by several hundreds of companies, with the help of several thousands of software developers, all creating custom applications running on that new platform.
The first computer I ever came in contact with was a Commodore PET. Later on, I still had to deal with terminals, hosts, and even punchcards, but since my 1st experience was on a PET, I never really appreciated the paradigm shift that had happened back then. I can only imaging that the guys that were programming those huge mainframes must have felt like the .net and Java EJB guys feel today, rejecting the new mobile platform as a toy, or a small niche market at best - they will probably never know what hit them.
Everyone at this year's WWDC felt it: a new age has begun - this will be the moment we will be looking back to, the moment the new platform was born, once again changing the information technology landscape forever.
Admittedly, attempts were made before. There was the Palm OS, Pocket PC, then came Qualcomm's Brew, and also Sun's Java MIDlets looked promising for a little while. All this has totally been overshadowed by the iPhone SDK and its capabilities, allowing developers to write iPhone native applications and putting them over the air on the device. The iPhone's hardware capabilities combined with the software SDK and the App-Store is putting the iPhone-platform years ahead of anything we have seen so far, including Google's Android initiative.
Unfortunately, there were also those rumors again, concerning Steve Jobs' heath, driving the AAPL stock significantly down. He did look thinner, more skinny, compared to the last couple of appearances and I have to admit that when seeing him on stage during Monday's keynote speech, I was concerned about his well being as well. On the other hand, even if he had to resign the CEO position tomorrow, the mobile revolution led by the iPhone seems very much unstoppable now. Over the last couple of years, all the pieces have carefully been put into play, and with Jonathan Ive, Phil Schiller, Apple's vice president of marketing, Bertrand Serlet, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering, and of course Scott Forstall, formally the vice president of platform experience, who was very recently promoted to Senior Vice President of iPhone Software, very capable people have been established to built-on and continue the legacy.
I have once experienced this myself, working for a company whose CEO I highly regarded and who was killed in a tragic airplane accident. His legacy and values however lived on even stronger in the people he had influenced and put into the right positions and who were leading the company for several years to come. For as long as those guys who have worked with Jobs for the last couple of years stay at Apple, I wouldn't worry - only after that core team vanishes, will the company lose its focus, importance, and value. Go AAPL
Everyone at this year's WWDC felt it: a new age has begun - this will be the moment we will be looking back to, the moment the new platform was born, once again changing the information technology landscape forever.
Admittedly, attempts were made before. There was the Palm OS, Pocket PC, then came Qualcomm's Brew, and also Sun's Java MIDlets looked promising for a little while. All this has totally been overshadowed by the iPhone SDK and its capabilities, allowing developers to write iPhone native applications and putting them over the air on the device. The iPhone's hardware capabilities combined with the software SDK and the App-Store is putting the iPhone-platform years ahead of anything we have seen so far, including Google's Android initiative.
Unfortunately, there were also those rumors again, concerning Steve Jobs' heath, driving the AAPL stock significantly down. He did look thinner, more skinny, compared to the last couple of appearances and I have to admit that when seeing him on stage during Monday's keynote speech, I was concerned about his well being as well. On the other hand, even if he had to resign the CEO position tomorrow, the mobile revolution led by the iPhone seems very much unstoppable now. Over the last couple of years, all the pieces have carefully been put into play, and with Jonathan Ive, Phil Schiller, Apple's vice president of marketing, Bertrand Serlet, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering, and of course Scott Forstall, formally the vice president of platform experience, who was very recently promoted to Senior Vice President of iPhone Software, very capable people have been established to built-on and continue the legacy.I have once experienced this myself, working for a company whose CEO I highly regarded and who was killed in a tragic airplane accident. His legacy and values however lived on even stronger in the people he had influenced and put into the right positions and who were leading the company for several years to come. For as long as those guys who have worked with Jobs for the last couple of years stay at Apple, I wouldn't worry - only after that core team vanishes, will the company lose its focus, importance, and value. Go AAPL