Now I Understand Why Apple Built the Dashcode IDE for Widgets: the iPhone

January 08, 2007

I always wondered why Apple went through so much trouble to writing Dashcode for building widgets. Dashboard for OSX is interesting (I do use it often) but hardly a big deal and didn't seem to merit special development software for it (widgets are afterall nothing more than HTML+CSS+Javascript).

Then I saw the Apple iPhone today.

Now I see widgets in a whole new light - the applications on the iPhone are probably glorified widgets. The iPhone runs OSX, comes with Safari built-in and of course supports on-demand net access. A perfect reason for better widget development tools.

Thus Dashcode as a tool makes perfect sense.

Now all I need is an iPhone.