Mary Jo Foley Thinks Silverlight Is Coming to the iPhone

You could pretty much substitute “Silverlight” for “Flash” in Steve Jobs’s “Thoughts on Flash” — especially the sixth and, in Jobs’s words, “the most important reason”:

We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform. If developers grow dependent on third party development libraries and tools, they can only take advantage of platform enhancements if and when the third party chooses to adopt the new features. We cannot be at the mercy of a third party deciding if and when they will make our enhancements available to our developers.

So I’d say no way in hell. What sense would it make for Steve Jobs to publish that in April and then announce Silverlight for iPhone in June? Think.

As for Visual Studio compiling native iPhone OS apps, that’s not quite as preposterous as Silverlight for iPhone, but it’s pretty close. One misinformed analyst does not a story make. Getting Microsoft involved with iPhone software development, in any way, is utterly contrary to everything Apple has stated regarding its plans for the platform.

★ Thursday, 27 May 2010