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Jan
9
(2007)
Wow. iPhone. Must have one. It’s like Newton 2007. I wonder if Inkwell works with it…
Now, if it is possible to write apps for it (or even just web apps might do) this might be an awesome platform for education. A community outboard brain in every pocket. I imagine it’ll only be a matter of time before there are Bluetooth laboratory instruments – pH meters, thermometers, GPS, photometers, voltmeters, etc… Your own personal laboratory instrument manager and data tracker. Tied to your blog, Flickr, wikipedia, del.icio.us, etc..
I think for many purposes (save writing term papers) the iPhone would serve perfectly in the hands of students (and faculty). But – I wonder if a wifi-only model might better serve education. We’re not going to be providing cell phone coverage for students, but we already have 802.11 spread pretty pervasively on campus…
I tried earlier today to justify an iPhone from work, reasoning that if it runs OSX, that means Apache and PHP should be possible – so it’s really just a portable, pocket-sized Drupal server! I don’t think that’ll fly with the beancounters, though…
3rd party apps are not allowed, I’m afraid.
See places like eric thauvin’s java blog for links explaining this.
iphone really has little educational value. java cell phones and ipaqs let you develop and run custom applications and games. Plus ipaqs at least are much cheaper.
Running OSX and being able to write (and deploy) apps are two separate issues, which weren’t touched on in the Stevenote. Rumours from the MacWorld floor are hinting that it might be a closed ecosystem, which would be a shame.
They say it runs OS X so it should mean you can write any apps you like. It seems to me you would be very justified to get one for educational purposes, it is no good the university being behind the curve, they will need someone to understand and demonstrate this new communication and information technology “paradigm” (oh god I used that word didn’t I?). If they don’t want to get one for you then I would be happy to come over and investigate its educational uses, just need a plane ticket and an iphone ;O)
Seriously though, I can see it being really handy for education. Back when I worked at the local college we would have students write journals. This thing could run a blog, has a built in camera, can record voice, plays video and goes with them everywhere they go. You can beam course notes right to their pockets! When I was a student we would have to carry folders of hand written notes everywhere, might have changed now but you certainly wouldn’t need to with one of these babies. I can guarantee someone will do a bluetooth keyboard for it.
Hopefully they won’t walled-garden it but even if they do, am sure someone will crack it
I was thinking about this as a UMPC type device that could trump the OLPC idea, and I think it certainly could, if there was a way get the price down – because when you think about it… most of the world, developed or not has cell coverage… This would be workable even with a closed system.
Doug – hopefully that changes. The communication features of this thing are probably impressive enough without being able to write custom apps, but it seems like a waste to not let various “markets” customize their iPhones for their own purposes…