Apple will discontinue the iPhone NDA
Apple has announced on
its iPhone Developer Program page that they will drop the NDA covering the iPhone APIs. This means that we should, at some point, be able to start work on an iPhone version of Adium.
Some important points:
- Apple has not dropped the NDA yet. The announcement says that Apple will distribute a new developer agreement “within a week or so”. Until they do, the NDA is still in effect.
- We don’t yet know what the new developer agreement will say. It’s always possible that the new agreement will include some other clause that prevents open-source software. We won’t know until we see it.
- An iPhone version of Adium will not happen immediately, nor soon. From the little public information that Apple released (and the many tidbits that iPhone developers leaked in defiance of the NDA), we know that the iPhone development interfaces are significantly different from those on the Mac. We will need to rewrite almost the entire application. The Adium for iPhone page has more information.
This is a long-overdue step by Apple, and we’re glad they’ve taken it. We look forward to one day writing and using the iPhone version of Adium.
Thank you, Apple.
October 1st, 2008 at 12:49
As a loyal Adium user for many years, and a recent user of an iPod Touch, I’m very much looking forward to having Adium on my iPod Touch, when and if that happens. Hoping that this announcement from Apple will pave the way for good things from Adium.
October 1st, 2008 at 12:56
Well, I don’t own an i(Phone|Pod Touch), but it’s still good that Apple do this. *Karma*
October 1st, 2008 at 12:57
sorry, *will probably* do this.
October 1st, 2008 at 14:00
Hey guys, just a quick thought about iphone client – it would be reaaaally nice to have like a remote mode in the client, so i can still be logged into icq on my mac pro, and just use my iphone as remote admin utility specialized for IM, can be very useful for networks which doesn’t allow simultaneous logins, you don’t have to log in every time you move from sofa to your desk.
October 2nd, 2008 at 01:27
(Adium dev here)
@doggy:
Yes, that’s what some of us had in mind. The additional advantage of this solution would be that it might be possible to make this compatible with the push notifications that were announced for the iPhone. This would mean that the Mac sitting on your desktop would stay online, and whenever it receives a message, it sends a notification to your mobile so it can display something, even when the iPhone-app isn’t running.
October 2nd, 2008 at 13:10
What about wordpress on iPhone ?
are they violating NDA ?
October 2nd, 2008 at 16:12
jesse: Yes; in my opinion (and IANAL), they have been. I have no working explanation for why Apple has let it slide.
October 5th, 2008 at 17:34
My god, I’m still waiting on that app now for a long time. Let’s go and make the app! Hope to see it soon
October 7th, 2008 at 06:12
sweden loves adium!
please add me, all swedish adium-users
hugs and love
October 15th, 2008 at 17:50
Given that there’s currently more than 5-6 current multichat programs available (see http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/iphone-gems-the-best-instant-messaging-apps/ for details), I can’t see why Adium couldn’t be ported effectively. I’d be willing to pay a few dollars if it meant a reliable Adium on my iPhone, or some sort of push method– although many of us have laptops and I for one don’t leave mine up and running when I’m away from it for security reasons– I close the lid all the time.
If you do start making an effort to do so, I would recommend the following:
Ability to click on web links that will activate a page in Safari
Ability to include short audio recordings
Ability to include photos from the phone’s gallery/iphoto
Not requiring an account setup to login to all chats
the first one is crucial, and would put Adium leaps and bounds above all others. Currently only one iPhone multichat does this, but with it’s own browser and requires a login for accessing the accounts.
I say let Safari do the browsing work, and let people keep their privacy by allowing them to simply login to their respective chat clients rather than an all-encompassing deal.
Get on it! I want to see the best Mac chat program getting the attention it deserves on my phone!
October 20th, 2008 at 21:56
I understand this is not an easy undertaking… and that Apple has not relinquished the nda yet, but judging by your “important points” above, you guys act like you haven’t even looked at the SDK for making this thing happen yet. I know there is an NDA in place, but I don’t understand why you’re waiting so long to get your feet wet with this, at least looking into it. Obviously there’s demand for it. I’m kinda surprised at how reluctant you are to enter this realm, especially since it might be a reasonable source of revenue. I don’t mean to sound… demanding… or overly critical… but it does seem like a certain amount of foresight and preparation for this has been neglected or avoided. Again, not to be overly critical, I just hate to see someone beat you to the punch. Luckily, all the similar solutions that ARE available are sub-par as of this point, so your window is still open… for now. Hop to, fellas, right now you’d be the big dog.
October 24th, 2008 at 15:29
hi kiero preguntar porke no existe una opcion pa hacer videollamada se le esta olvidando o ke ondaas de vdd alguine leee esto porke de vdd rekiero ver webcam
October 24th, 2008 at 15:31
ke pedo hagan un extra para hacer videoconferencias!
October 25th, 2008 at 23:34
What Gustavo Ali (and Marce just before him) wanted to say, is that they’d like Adium to offer Video Conference Options… and I do agree with them.
——————————
BIGGER INCOMING MESSAGES FONTS (and colors option)
What I ‘d like is a Message Style with Bigger types for the Incoming Messages.
I do not need to read what I’ve just typed before. I need to read what my friends are telling me, so please somebody do it.
I particularly like DarkGray Style. Elegant and simple.
——————————
DARKGRAY Style troubles…
Messages from MSN are displayed in Black (over DarkGray’s black background)… so it can’t be used.
I tried to fix the Default fonts and color for incoming and outgoing messages but it can’t be done or it doesn’t work.
——————————
MAIL CHECKER
And please somebody add a Mail Checker (with links) for all the accounts…!!!
(iMac / 3GB-RAM / OSX10.5.5)
October 30th, 2008 at 12:06
I really dislike the attitudes of the devs on Adium. Why would you post a blog entry that indicates an exciting new development for Adium, followed by reasons why it will, likely, not happen (and definitely not in a reasonable period of time)?
October 30th, 2008 at 17:15
Relax people. I am with you, I want it on the iphone, I want it and the desktop version to have video, I want it andI want it now. However, so far this is a free application, excluding donations which I have sent, and people even geeky Adium programmers have lives that for odd reasons don’t always revolve around what I want. We, users, sound like ungrateful Veruca Salt wannabes from the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory…”I want it, and I want it now.”
I think IT IS REASONABLE that Adium informs us of their intentions regardless of how far-fetched and chuck-full of wishful thinking these endeavors may be. The fact that they are honest and give us insight into what obstacles lay in their way should be commended and appreciated not torn apart simply because some of us want to hear that all we want is possible and that whatever we want is around the corner.
Having written all of this nice stuff… now I can get to my comment/question/concern:
The last update to 1.3.2 build 25330 makes all my accounts seem to disappear. I regressed back 1.3.2b2 and all is well.
In advance, thanks for addressing my comments.
and fyi…Before someone tries to find me and destroy my DSL modem for posting this here, know this; I tried to find the right spot in the different threads, but alas, the threads are a jumbled mess in which I see no clear place for my comment/question.concern regarding missing or disappeared accounts with the 25330 build of 1.3.2.
November 12th, 2008 at 03:11
Cool, so about the Adium Android app… when is that coming out? I heard about it and I’m really excited!
December 4th, 2008 at 02:50
will adium ever consider a platform on rim devices?
January 6th, 2009 at 14:37
I hope that you guys will charge $0.99 for it rather than making it free. A dollar is nothing, and with your user base, enough people will pay it to fund future Adium development.