Apple has started sending out emails to all iPhone application developers that the App Store is open to all iOS 4 compatible apps. The existent iPhone applications have to be modified for the multitasking feature of the new iOS 4.

With the launch date of the iPhone 4 nearing all application developers are racing to get their product iOS 4 compatible and be first up in the app store. However a certain problem which might be a concern to iPhone developers is that Apple is taking lot of time to review apps and all the big players in the application development field are already up there. While many iPhone developers didn’t show much concern about it as making few tweaks to their current apps could make it suitable for iOS4, Apple’s delay in approval of new apps is definitely a concern for most.

Since the new iPhone OS is hitting the shelves on June 21st, Apple wants to fill in the App store by then so that all iPhone 4 buyers can start downloading them on their way home.

Finally Apple has released the much needed app for iPhone application developers today. The new iTunes Connect Mobile app for iPhone and iPod touch will help developers to know their product statistics on the App Store. With the AppStore growing to a size of over 250,000+ apps and thousands of downloads daily,  it is very much important for an iPhone application developer to keep track of his apps.

The iTunes Connect Mobile app allows iPhone developers a break-out of sales by day, week, month (5w) and 6 months (26w). Application developers can now easily see in which target markets their applications are doing well and where they aren’t.

iPhone developers may download this cool new application from the App Store right now. However the product may need some time to propagate around the app store before it appears to everyone, so one might need to wait for his turn.

We earlier covered some great new easily visible changes in Beta 4 release of iPhone OS 4 which includes the new AT&T’s Internet Tethering setup wizard.

Since, the release of beta 4, iphone developers started digging into SDKs to discover the changes it brought to iPhone through its previous update and they found something really exciting.

There are enums setup for iPhone / iPod / iPad Flash & Camera in OS 4 Beta 4 which basically shows that what messages these devices gonna pop out based on the condition of the device.

If you look at the messages shown in the picture carefully you will see most of them are related to the use of Flash and they have separate lines for iPhone, iPod and iPad too.

Well, iPad is going to get OS 4 update during fall. So, the next update (with OS 5) for the iPad will probably the fall again, next year. I’m guessing this will continue for long. So, we gonna keep finding iPad related tweaks in iPhone OS until Apple decided to put out updates during Summer.

If you’re an iPhone developer with access to a paid developer account with Apple, you can upgrade your iPhone to the latest beta 4 release from Apple’s official developer site.

This latest beta release seems to have got the long overdue feature, that is Internet Tethering. This feature was actually introduced in iPhone OS 3 last year but was never served by AT&T to their customers. According to experts, it’s because AT&T’s network is not capable of handling huge data traffic. Recently, AT&T announced that they’ve updated their network to reach out to many users. And so, the iPhone OS 4 beta 4 release has a sign of it.

Now, iPhone OS 4 Beta 4 allows users to setup a new tethering account either by calling or visiting their site. This clearly shows that, AT&T has taken an action to serve their customers.

As this is just a beta release, the look and feel of the new tethering set up wizard might vary with final release.

Tweetie 2, suddenly disappeared from AppStore. I suspect that Twitter for iPhone gonna debut real soon.

Tweetie 2 was acquired by Twitter last month and it’s developer Loren Brichter was recruited by Twitter to make Tweetie 2 as Twitter’s official app, which is planned to be renamed as Twitter for iPhone.

Couple of weeks back Tweetie 2 users received an update 2.1.2a with Slot Machine tease which shows a banner with “Tweetie will be Twitter for iPhone” when we drag to refresh the timeline.

This probably shows that. Tweetie will not get an update with “Twitter for iPhone” makeover. It’s going to be a completely new app. If you like the existing Tweetie 2, you can simply backup your app before you upgrade to Twitter for iPhone app. At the moment we can’t say whether Tweeite is removed by the developer or by Apple. If it’s removed by Apple, it can either be update to existing app or a completely new one. If it’s removed by the developer it means only one thing and that is, Twitter for iPhone will be a different new app and not be an update to the existing one.

Apple recently filed a new patent application that describes serving proximity based or location based apps temporarily on a users iPhone or other mobile device. The content would be managed by a central server that would pair a users device location as relayed by the Wi-fi connection or other geo aware features and deliver appropriate applications that the users might like to use in that particular location.

Apple sighted two examples for this. In one they mention, when an iPhone user nears a restaurant, he might be able to get some temporary apps on his screen that tells him the wait time and also there can be an app that would allow him to go through the menu while still waiting to be seated.

Similarly this Apple patent can be used by people in public libraries to get a temporary iPhone app that would allow them to search the library database right on their iPhone without having to log in to the networked computers of the library.
These temporary apps would disappear as soon as the user exits the location.

This would definitely open up a very interesting aspect for iPhone developers as this service is sure to initiate a surge in iPhone application development for local businesses. Also because Apple would be using the users location data to serve this temporary apps, that might just stir up the privacy question once again. Besides, iPhone developers have always wanted to use the user’s location data to make their apps more interesting but now that Apple is opening the door for itself, it is sure to increase the developer’s demand for using such information in their other types of iPhone applications.

iPhone OS 4 and it’s SDKs were released for the paid iPhone developers on 8, April 2010. Since then iPhone application developers have been digging into SDKs; After spotting the iChat client services earlier with front facing camera libraries, now, Facebook integration has been spotted by Gunning for Safety (which, amazingly, seems to have two areas of interest: nail guns, and iPhone OS).

According to that blog, Apple is probably working on Facebook’s Event Calendar, Contacts to integrate with Calendar, Contacts app on iPhone, respectively. Currently, iPhone has easy setup options for you to setup your accounts on Gmail, MobileMe, Yahoo, etc. You can simply type in your details and you’re done. Facebook, might get listed in this as well.

There was a huge user request received by Joe Hewitt (iPhone Application Developer of Facebook) during development of Facebook 3.0 for iPhone. So, it might be possible that on the other hand Facebook team will work on existing Facebook App to get the proper end user integration.

Unlike other mobile platforms, Apple iPhone has two known platforms, Cocoa Touch and WebKit Engine that iPhone developers can use to build their applications.

A native iPhone app is built on Cocoa Touch & a web app is built using pure JavaScript, HTML & CSS; which runs on WebKit Engine built into the iPhone. Web apps, are open & can easily be consumed by the user through the Safari for iPhone (by visiting the URL).

But there is another way that developers can make use of the WebKit engine. One can write their app in JavaScript, HTML & CSS and put it under the Cocoa Touch iPhone App Wrapper which will make it a native app, as if it’s built using Objective-C & can be released in AppStore. There are several tools which help you in doing this – PhoneGap is probably the most famous among them.
Since the release of iPhone SDK 4.0 (Beta) for the paid developers; there is change in User Agreement for iPhone SDK 3.1.3 / 3.2. You may refer to our previous post on this Apple Says No to Cross Compilers: iPhone Developers ok with it ?. But this concept of development is very much appreciated by developers because iPhone supports interpretation of JavaScript from it’s built in WebKit engine and often makes things easier. Apple has recently updated the Phone Gap guys that the they would not be effected by the change in section 3.1.3 / 3.2 and apps built on PhoneGap would be judged on their merit and not based on the framework.

Jesse Macfayden actually updated an old post with the following statement..

““I have received word from Apple that the above is STILL true! If you were concerned by the recent changes to Apple’s iPhone developer agreement, this has ZERO impact on PhoneGap!

Apps built with PhoneGap will continue to be reviewed based on their own merits and NOT dismissed/rejected because they use PhoneGap.

So enough with the crazy speculative rumour mill. Let’s get back to making apps with HTML+CSS+JavaScript.”

We found this pretty interesting that Apple would allow apps built through such tools when they have actually banned apps built in Adobe CS.  What do you think of this as an iPhone application developer? Have you ever used such a tool or do you plan to use them for your application development?

iPhone OS 4 SDKs is been dug by the iPhone developers around the world. Application developers already spotted the iChat Agent which clearly hints that the new iPhone (which is scheduled to be unveiled this summer) will have a front facing camera.

Well, if you have a Mac background, you would already know that iChat is a default app for chatting and now if the same becomes a default app for iPhone for chat with support of all leading IM networks, then what?

There are just too many (Multi network support) IM apps already available in the AppStore, like recently Meebo came out with their sleek app, which is probably the fastest one among all the available. So, if iChat get shipped with new iPhone this summer as a default chat client then what would happen to the other great IM apps that have been dominating the Appstore? Is apple ditching them all right away with their new iChat client? or is it going to be something specific for MobileMe or Mac accounts?

Looking at it from an optimistic perspective, it might be just an OS service that Apple is providing for iPhone application developers so they can use the front facing camera with their IM clients.

What do you think?