the upcoming apple i-Phone uses OS-X as its operating system. wow. thats cool: imagine all that games that can now easily be portet to such a powerful platform: http://www.apple.com/iphone/technology/specs.html
I'm definitely lusting after the iPhone massively, but I think the genre of games that can be decently played on the platform would be limited, due to the lack of a d-pad and control buttons with actual tactile feedback. OTOH, while this device wouldn't be suited for games with traditional control schemes, it's interesting to think of what can be done for game interfaces with multi-touch technology. This is something that even the DS doesn't have.
Games, yes, and also musical instruments- most of which require more than one finger or hand in order to operate properly. Someone could conceivably create an interface that can be strummed (like a guitar) or stroked (like a harmonicum), or otherwise interestingly controlled.
If I had a $500 phone, I would most certainly not be strumming (read: scratching) the crap out of my screen. Of the top of my head, I'm thinking DDR meets Whack-A-Mole. The catch would be that there are no visible arrows approaching a finish line... You'd have to whack very briefly appearing spots (so, a test of reaction time like Whack-A-Mole) but they would appear in a set pattern in time to music so that you'd get used to things subconsiously. The nature of the screen would let you "pop up" the spots pretty much anywhere with freedom, sort of like Ouendan. Could work.
nothing's announced but EA will most definitely make a tetris game for this (ipod and cellphones), unless this counts as a PDA, in which case i'm not sure what the licensing agreement for that is.
Cellphone market and business model is not designed for open architecture. widget isn't a way to create "limited" application ?
madness: that iPhone is offered in amazon.de (europe) for 999 ... for that price, i rather would buy a ultromobile pc: http://www.samsung.com/products/UltraMobilePC/index.asp and it is true: the iPhone platform, tough OSX, is sealed. no applications allowed that are not approved by apple. (and for this not apple is to be blamed, it are those greedy carriers, that DO NOT WANT skype or other free software communication tools they cannot make bucks with) bad for apple. with such a sealed platform they have lost a customer. me.
That's the thing. Using something like Skype uses Wi-Fi networks through the Wi-Fi capability and keeps you from using your minutes. You know, that they want you to require big blocks of. My cellular company will not be selling the iPhone until we get a CDMA version, but I'll probably be getting one in June at full retail and just slapping a Pay-As-You-Go service on it. FWIW, there's no GSM towers in my area for miles.
