iLounge

By Charles Starrett

Senior Editor, iLounge
Published: Friday, March 7, 2008
News Category: Mix

Apple has posted a QuickTime streaming video of yesterday’s iPhone Software Roadmap event. The video is available for viewing now via Apple’s website, and is roughly 80 minutes in length.

ID Software co-founder John Carmack has posted his thoughts on Apple’s iPhone SDK announcements. “Just based on the blurbs, it looks very good—a simulator plus debugging on the native device is the best of both worlds, and a 70% royalty deal for apps over iTunes is quite good,” Carmack wrote. “The iTunes distribution channel is really a more important aspect than a lot of people understand. The ability to distribute larger applications than the over-the-air limits and effectively market your title with more than a dozen character deck name, combined with the reasonable income split make this look like a very interesting market.”

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made several comments about the iPhone yesterday during an appearance. Speaking about Apple’s business model of taking 30 percent of iPhone application revenue, he said “It’s a good business if you can make it.” On Exchange support for iPhone, Ballmer said, “We’ve licensed ActiveSync for a while. That’s been an option that’s been available to Apple,” adding, “It was certainly an option we knew Apple might take advantage of.” In an unrelated interview, Terry Myerson, corporate vice president for Exchange, said that Microsoft and Apple began talks about Exchange support “before the launch of the iPhone last year.”

Game developer Freeverse has posted a “first peek” of its iPhone development plans, including Flick Sports games of Golf, Bowling, Soccer, Baseball, and Moto Racing. The games will make use of the handset’s multi-touch screen as well as the built-in accelerometer.