Leopard Key to iPhone Enhancements

With the release tomorrow of Mac OS X Leopard, I expect that the iPhone will finally "come home" to the OS it was designed to operate with. Consequently, over the next couple of months iPhone users should see a significant increase in the iPhone's capabilities.

It has been argued, correctly I think, that the iPhone is a Leopard device and needs the new technology of Leopard to reach its maximum potential. With Leopard's release, I expect that the iPhone firmware is due for an update - probably within the next 2 weeks. 

We should see, at a minimum, an update to the iPhone's mail and calendar applications to support the enhancements Leopard makes in those applications and, maybe some other goodies. 

For mail, expect Leopard to allow you synchronize the iPhone Notes application (edit and start new notes on the desktop that are then uploaded to iPhone on the next sync). I imagine the iPhone will also get its missing To-Do app to integrate with Leopards enhanced To-Dos.

On the Calendar side, I suspect that the iPhone calendar app already supports Apple's new iCal Server and the CalDAV format but if it doesn't yet, the next iPhone software update will take care of that.

I also suspect that we will finally see iChat for the iPhone sometime soon. 

However, the biggest enhancements the iPhone will see are a direct result of Apple's confirmation that it will release a Third-Party Developer Software Development Kit (SDK) to allow new applications on the iPhone. Despite all of the gnashing of teeth about the iPhone's lack of a real development kit for third party software developers, I had always assumed that Apple would eventually open up the iPhone for its developers. Steve Jobs' announcement that a SDK will be released in Febuary caused much rejoicing in the Mac development community.
 

The release of Leopard also gives a glimpse of what kind of SDK Apple will provide. For example, Core Animation is already known to be a part of the iPhone software and it is expected that some of Leopard's security features were put into OS X specifically for iPhone. As folks begin to unlock the secrets of Leopard in the next few months, expect that some of those hidden features will become part of the iPhone. 

One of the overlooked things that Apple has done in the past couple of weeks is to create a new section of their developer web site geared specifically to the iPhone. They've also given registered developers access to recorded video from the iPhone tech talks Apple scheduled in various major cities a few months ago. The new iPhone development site should be a hub of activity over the next couple of months. 

Now, I suspect the iPhone development environment will be a separete or unique mode of XCode (or quite possibly an enhancement to Dashcode) and that Apple will build into the development tool the security it needs to support 3rd party iPhone development. Once that new tool is in developers hands (and developers will probably get it at or soon after January's Macworld Conference), iPhone users should begin to see new iPhone applications roll out a a nice pace.

The next couple of months should be an exciting time for iPhone users. 

With Leopard's release iPhone users should see an software update in the next couple of weeks (since Apple will want to put it out before the holiday buying season starts in earnest), and probably one right after Macworld in January as Third-Party developers begin to crank out new iPhone applications. Let the fun begin!