[adagio]

Please read carefully

While none of the features mentioned in this article will affect me that isn't to say some other apps down the road won't.

Has everyone forgotten about Mobile Me? Roger's plans cripple the iPhone plain and simple.

I still have a hunch that RIM as well as Rogers greed are behind what we are offered. RIM stands to lose HUGE once folks realize just exactly what iPhone 2 is all about. There is NO comparison to the first generation iPhone. You'll see.

 

[fjnmusic]

Exactly. These are protectionist tactics for RIM, pure and simple, which you'd think would be frowned upon in a conservative country like Canada. I always thought the PC mantra was to "let the market decide" rather than pick the winners and losers by manipulating pricing. Here in Alberta, Apple fanboys are hugely outnumbered by non-Apple grunts.

 

[Mississauga]

Has everyone forgotten about Mobile Me? Roger's plans cripple the iPhone plain and simple.

After reading the article carefully, I must be missing something. The story talks primarily about "native" software being developed for the new iPhone, which relies FAR less upon a data network and can be reasonably accessed via any wi-fi. None of this leads me to believe Rogers is crippling the use of an iPhone. As a matter of fact, it's this kind of story Rogers doesn't want to read! Apps that don't put heavy demands on connectivity? That's not going to make Rogers very happy.

 

[kb244]

Well seems to me from reading and everything (not like I have first hand experience dealing with Rogers), that even if you paid Rogers the most money possible for a plan, you still would not be able to get the full "experience" that Apple may have intended. And if you ask me, that's damaging to Apple's image.

 

[Visnaut]

Having such a low data cap, and now knowing that one can sign up for any voice plan and no data plan (and simply refrain from using, or disable cell data) does have implications for apps that take data access for granted.

I suspect that applications developed in the states, or the UK, where data is truly unlimited, will hog bandwidth.

Personally, the apps I'm designing and developing will heavily cache data, and make sure that all network access can be opted out of by the user. I'm sure many other Canadian developers will also make the same consideration.

 

[adagio]

Someone please explain to me what this means. I'd like to know what is happening if I'm not near any WiFi. Not everyone wants to sit in a coffee shop or indoors on a nice summer day. The whole point of the iPhone is having the freedom to be anywhere within reach of a cell tower.

"Native applications take full advantage of the new device's improved computational power, including its navigational features and ability to run on a more advanced wireless network. "[Both] Web-based and native applications have a place," says Erica Sadun of the Unofficial Apple Weblog. Yet, "native applications access location, and do a lot of things using the onboard sensors."

I maintain folks are going to be racking up a whole lot more data than they figured on.

 

[adagio]

Having such a low data cap, and now knowing that one can sign up for any voice plan and no data plan (and simply refrain from using, or disable cell data) does have implications for apps that take data access for granted.

I suspect that applications developed in the states, or the UK, where data is truly unlimited, will hog bandwidth.

Personally, the apps I'm designing and developing will heavily cache data, and make sure that all network access can be opted out of by the user. I'm sure many other Canadian developers will also make the same consideration.

I'm glad you are considering Canadian users but I venture to guess the majority won't. When folks visit the App Store how will they know? I dare say if someone sees something cool they'll download it and get the BIG bill later.

 

[hayesk]

Has everyone forgotten about Mobile Me? Roger's plans cripple the iPhone plain and simple.

It's not plain and simple. Not every custom iPhone app is going to be a bandwidth hog. People want speed too - writing bandwidth hungry apps is not a way to get data quickly. Also, I couldn't care less about business apps using a lot of bandwidth - if it's a tool that makes you money, then paying for data isn't really a problem.

Even Mobile Me's push mode isn't proven to be a bandwidth hog unless you get lots of attachments, even then, I believe you can set the mail client not to download attachments until you need them.

The only way to tell is when this thing gets out in the field, and the media gets past the one or two bills that are several thousand dollars.

 

[Visnaut]

Yet, "native applications access location, and do a lot of things using the onboard sensors."

I maintain folks are going to be racking up a whole lot more data than they figured on.

If I understand the intent and emphasis of your quote, you're making the assertion that because native applications can poll the GPS and cell-tower triangulation, that that alone will rack up a lot of data usage.

Well, users do have a choice in the matter, for the most part. Whenever an application wants to access your current location, the iPhone OS pops up a dialog box asking you if you want to allow that application to do so. Even Apple's own Camera app asks this.

Now, it's unclear to me whether the permission is set to always, per-session, or per-use, but regardless, it's my impression that getting your current GPS fix does not consume a whole lot of data. Grabbing map data, or polling a web server for search results is what will start to.

I'm glad you are considering Canadian users but I venture to guess the majority won't. When folks visit the App Store how will they know? I dare say if someone sees something cool they'll download it and get the BIG bill later.

That's a great point, but the ability to cache data locally, or have the entire data set at your disposal will be something that developers will make a point to highlight in their app descriptions. Also, I don't think many users will be caught too far off guard by any particular app's data usage. One can reasonably assume that a single-player game or a calculator app will use little if any data. And most users can also reasonably assume that multi-player games, or specialized portals to web data (such as social networking sites, movie listings or searching for local restaurants) will use more data.

Users will simply have to make educated guesses, further backed up by the assurance from some developers that their apps won't hog data.