I love that my iPhone has WiFi (since 3G seems to be a bunch of bull and lots of times getting connected to any part of AT&T’s network is a challenge). I also love that my iPhone is also an iPod. I don’t really care that I can buy music right from my iPhone without having to go through iTunes on my Mac or PC.
What really bums me out is that I have to plug my phone into my computer to update my podcasts. Why can’t I somehow talk to my computer’s iTunes over WiFi and get my podcasts that way? Or, better yet, let me sync my podcasts directly with the Internet without going through iTunes at all.
It’s a potential floodgate. The iPhone needs to allow a third party to add or modify its content, and that’s a bit of a pickle. Your last suggestion is interesting, though: sign on to a website with your computer and set up an account. Then visit the same site with your iPhone and have it associated with your computer. When you then transfer data from your PC to the iPhone they both sign into the website, get assured who’s who and then talk to each other locally over the WiFi. Having this “third party handshake” is a minimal requirement for a trustworthy connection.
As to why nobody is offering this service:
- there aren’t enough people complaining
- or, there might be restrictions on the license for deploying this software on the iPhone.
From a developer’s point of view, you can write a protocol for this which encompasses all wireless devices and let them use your (advertisement-riddled) website.
nice blog, enjoyed reading