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I wonder if Apple will approve this, as it seems to allow the iPhone to do something that Apple doesn't want it to do? If Apple wanted apps to talk to each oth

I wonder if Apple will approve this, as it seems to allow the iPhone to do something that Apple doesn't want it to do? If Apple wanted apps to talk to each other in the (IMO very sensible) way that Android does, wouldn't they have done so?

brettcvz 13y ago
We've been working with apple since WWDC, they know what we're doing and are fine with it.
- batgaijin 13y ago
  Are you afraid they are using you for market verification?
  - brettcvz 13y ago
    Not particularly. In a sense larger, established companies are always looking at startups for market verification; the startups that succeed are the ones that can out-pace the established companies. In addition, there are market dynamics that preclude any of the larger players truly building a platform for interoperability. See for example the recent Google/Microsoft turf wars, that Mailbox only supports attachments from Dropbox, iOS native composer only works with Mail and not gmail, etc.
    - MatthewPhillips 13y ago
      I'm curious how the inter-device communication will work. Will I be able to send data from my iPad to my Android phone, for example? That would be pretty slick if so.
    - jimbokun 13y ago
      Speaking of DropBox, they seem like a natural competitor in this space. Given that they are also a YCombinator startup, has that been discussed? Or is it more likely they will just be happy to be one of the many backends you support?
voodoo123 13y ago
The idea that Apple 'doesn't want apps to talk to each other' is just a lie made up to malign apple. Apple built the URL launching system and the pasteboard which together allow apps to safely transfer arbitrary amounts of data to other apps and transfer control. What they haven't done, is dictate how apps should interact with each other - they've left that open to developers to negotiate with each other. Ink has taken these facilities and used them to build higher level functionality that takes this negotiation out of the equation for the supported workflows. As an OS vendor, this is exactly what Apple wants people to do with the technologies they provide.
csixty4 13y ago
They already approved AudioBus[1], something similar for music apps. In fact, the iOS version of GarageBand supports it now, which was unexpected. [1]: http://audiob.us http://audiob.us

brettcvz 13y ago

We've been working with apple since WWDC, they know what we're doing and are fine with it.

batgaijin 13y ago
Are you afraid they are using you for market verification?
- brettcvz 13y ago
  Not particularly. In a sense larger, established companies are always looking at startups for market verification; the startups that succeed are the ones that can out-pace the established companies. In addition, there are market dynamics that preclude any of the larger players truly building a platform for interoperability. See for example the recent Google/Microsoft turf wars, that Mailbox only supports attachments from Dropbox, iOS native composer only works with Mail and not gmail, etc.
  - MatthewPhillips 13y ago
    I'm curious how the inter-device communication will work. Will I be able to send data from my iPad to my Android phone, for example? That would be pretty slick if so.
  - jimbokun 13y ago
    Speaking of DropBox, they seem like a natural competitor in this space. Given that they are also a YCombinator startup, has that been discussed? Or is it more likely they will just be happy to be one of the many backends you support?

voodoo123 13y ago

The idea that Apple 'doesn't want apps to talk to each other' is just a lie made up to malign apple. Apple built the URL launching system and the pasteboard which together allow apps to safely transfer arbitrary amounts of data to other apps and transfer control. What they haven't done, is dictate how apps should interact with each other - they've left that open to developers to negotiate with each other. Ink has taken these facilities and used them to build higher level functionality that takes this negotiation out of the equation for the supported workflows. As an OS vendor, this is exactly what Apple wants people to do with the technologies they provide.

csixty4 13y ago

They already approved AudioBus[1], something similar for music apps. In fact, the iOS version of GarageBand supports it now, which was unexpected. [1]: http://audiob.us http://audiob.us