It is now close to two years since Apple launched the App Store. With over 200,000 iPhone apps now available for download, the App Store has been a truly revolutionary concept, which has nurtured a great ecosystem of developers and consumers.
According to iPhone developer Steven Smith, the next big area where Apple can tap the collective knowledge of developers is in building plugins for the native Mobile Safari Web browser.
According to Smith, developing a plugin for iPhone is pretty similar to developing one for Mac. He notes that Apple may release a Safari Plug-in SDK for iPhone OS that developers may use along with public APIs to build plugins for Safari. This can consequently bring a lot of sophisticated features to the Mobile Safari Web browser.
To prove that this is technically possible, Smith has developed an open source Objective-C based "proof of concept" plugin for iPhone OS. As noted earlier, the code structure on the plugin is very similar to a Safari plugin for desktop with the basic difference being that the NSView class is replaced with UIView. The plugin source code is now available for download at GitHub and can be tested either on an iPad simulator or using a jailbroken device.
Steven Smith illustrates the potential of such browser plugins by showcasing a video where his iPhone app, Lights Off [iTunes link], is shown running as an iPad Safari plug-in. You may watch the video below:
We have already seen plugins like Safari Download Manager and iMobileCinema for iPhone's Safari browser for jailbroken iPhone but Smith's work reminded us that plugins could increase the value proposition for Mobile Safari at a time when the browser faces competition from the likes of third party browser apps like Opera Mini.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
[Github via MacStories]
I hope somebody make a Flash Player Plug-in
Yes exactly. Thats all i want at this point.
I would love to see a translation plugin. Something simple, where one could click on a word and have a translation (or defintion) pop up without having to leave the page. Heres to hoping…
lol i HEAVILY doubt that the app store will approve a flash plug in lol
lmao….nice contradiction steve jobs….what happened to plug ins would take to much resources and drain battery life? u remember when u said that rite? when u said y flash shouldnt be on the iphone
Steven Troughton- i rip off people who donated to Stack V3 and im cleverer than you -Smith
He 'Would' spout crap about plug-ins as he's developed one and wants more donations….What cant you afford this time then Steve?? New car maybe??
You meet some people in life and take an instant dislike to their attitude, ST-S, your one of them
That is not possible sigh…. I hope that happened as well.
It wouldn't idiot. Any flash plug-in which got released would be in the Cydia store. Now get off the internet fool.
…*facepalm* He hasn't said he was going to accept safari plug-ins into the app store yet and I believe he won't until a new iteration of the iPhone (with a bigger battery) with a new version of Safari Mobile. And Jobs has said Flash will never be on iDevices… where in this article does it say that he has delared otherwise? Idiot So go away anti-Apple troll.
*facepalm* lol wow…u have no idea what the point of my post was or what's goin on in the apple world….now I will continue to ignore ur unnecessary post
Sent from my fucking iPhone