Daily question: Bypass Mobile Safari, get banned
Tue, Sep 23, 08
Dear Developer,
We’ve reviewed your application Big Five.
We have determined that this application is of
limited utility to the broad iPhone and iPod touch
user community, and will not be published to
the App Store.Sincerely,
[...]
Worldwide Developer Relations
Apple Inc.
“Big Five offers an extended web browser for the iPhone that adds additional functionalities to web apps like geo location, taking photos, track acceleration, cause vibration alarm etc. This enables developers to take advantage of the iPhone features without learning Objective-C” says the website. Two videos for users and developers explain Big Five’s advantages for both sides.
Big Five is not alone in making native iPhone SDK features available to developers using JavaScript and HTML. It was “inspired by” PhoneGap, which describes itself as:
It is written in Objective-C and allows developers to embed their web app (HTML, JavaScript, CSS) in Webkit within a native iPhone app. We’re big advocates of the Open Web and want JavaScript developers to be able to get access iPhone features such as a spring board icon, background processing, push, geo location, camera, local sqlLite and accelerometers without the burden of learning Objective-C and Cocoa.
Neat?
What are the chances that Apple will let a third party to fork Mobile Safari to access iPhone hardware data with an API not written by Apple?
