iPhone Developer Intervention Week 11: WWDC Announcements

Last week, we talked about frameworks in relation to developing for the iPhone. With iPhone OS 3.0, Apple has updated and added many frameworks, as well as other interesting tidbits for iPhone developers. For instance, push notifications will now be included into the operating systems and will allow developers to send updates to users without their app being in the foreground. From a developer standpoint, this creates a lot more functionality for an app.

Furthermore, Apple also created an API to allow developers to interact with hardware accessories plugged into the connector on the bottom of the phone. This allows developers to not only code applications for the iPhone, but to also interact with hardware that supports receiving messages from the iPhone. Along these lines, iPhones can now more easily interact with each other through peer to peer connectivity. For developing, this opens a huge realm of possibilities for multiplayer applications.

Another interesting update comes in the form of in-app purchases. With these, developers can charge for upgrades to their applications using an API that allows them to access the users credit card on file with Apple iTunes (not the actual card, but the use of it). Not only does this make it more possible for developers to make money from their applications, it offers some interesting uses.

Overall, WWDC and iPhone OS 3.0 have brought all sorts of great improvements for developers.

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