What Apple will Not Announce
[UPDATE: Well, it looks like I totally got this one wrong! Not only does the iPhone 3G(S) have a faster processor, it also supports OpenGL ES 2.0 while the original iPhone 3G will only continue to support OpenGL ES 1.1. OpenGL ES 2.0 games will not run on OpenGL ES 1.1 machines. This is more for developers to think about, isn't it?]
It’s amusing to see the many many rumours marching through the intranets about what Apple is going to announce at WWDC. “Get your iBaby here! Apple is now selling babies!” Some sound just that crazy. Others, like a 32GB iPhone sound very plausible.
One rumour I don’t understand is a faster iPhone. Just like Sony will never introduce a PSP with a second thumbstick, Apple won’t introduce a new iPhone with a faster CPU. Think about it. It would split the market. All of a sudden developers would have to have two versions of each of their games. A version for the fast iPhone and a version for the slow iPhone. Maybe they’ll skip the slow one altogether, or skip the fast one altogether. The iPhone, in this regard, is like a gaming console. Any changes Apple makes can’t affect the core functionality of the device. A better camera? Sure, why not? It doesn’t really affect anything. Faster CPU? That affects all the apps, so it’s off the table.
Well, maybe.
There’s one scenario I imagine might work. What if Apple released a faster iPhone, but only Apple apps benefit from its additional speed? So you can web browse faster, or play videos with cool effects, or whatever. But games would still run at the same speed as before.
One more thing – Apple could actually think about allowing multitasking with this approach. With a faster CPU, but apps still running at the same speed, it gives some headroom to make sure that apps don’t run into each other. While this is possible, and I threw it out there just ’cause, I don’t really think that Apple is going to announce multitasking anytime soon. But hey, it’s a cool idea.
Why should this be any different than Dell offering faster computers when the technology allows it? If Apple can put a faster processor in their iPhone, then all the better. I don’t know whether it will be up to the developer, or the iPhone OS to ensure games look the same on both phones or not (I’ve never written video games before, so I’m not sure exactly how it would work), but internal system processing can be sped up, but the frame rate for games can (and would, or could) remain the same. I don’t think that just because a processor is twice the speed, that means the enemy spaceship will whizz by you at twice the speed when you play the same game.
No, that’s not the case. But it’s also not the issue.
The iPhone is very much like a games console. Sony doesn’t release a new PlayStation every year for several reasons. The one I am harping on is the fact that developers prefer to have one target device. Having many target devices splits a developer’s resources, and revenue from each is smaller. Developers don’t want to have to make 3 different versions for 3 different devices. That’s why most developers will probably NOT target the new 3GS if the 3G will suffice. There’s just less money to be made per man-hour of effort.