Apple and the iPhone apps that aren't

Pre-Keynote, the speculation floating around was that the initial iPhone development opportunities would be centered around building JavaScript/XML apps that you would store on the phone and access from its app menu, with interfaces similar to current Dashboard widgets. When the I heard that the Keynote revealed only the availability of ‘Web 2.0’ technologies, I thought this was what they meant.

However, when I actually watched the Keynote demo, it was clear that the ‘application’ they demoed was actually running inside a web browser panel, with no way to access it apart from browsing to the developer’s web site, and no way to store it on the phone itself. Truly the WWDC attendees spoke, when they said: applications, these are not.

Not that I, y’know, really care about the iPhone. It’s just the principle of the thing!