Developers can register for an invitation to the SkypeKit Beta Program beginning on July 23.

So, let me get this straight. You’re announcing that I can sign up for a future announcement. Gee, thanks!

Despite the fact that this behavior disillusions me, I understand the pragmatic reasons why people in Skype’s management and marketing department would be motivated to do this.

Skype’s announcement coincides with the imminent release of iPhone 4. In the past few years, Apple has dramatically changed the communications landscape with the iPhone. The latest device includes the biggest revolution since the original iPhone: FaceTime, which allows iPhone-to-iPhone video calling. Incidentally, FaceTime also represents the biggest threat Skype has ever encountered.

FaceTime is set to catapult VoIP straight into mainstream mobile devices, using IETF-approved open standards SIP and RTP. Apple has promised to make their extensions open as well. When that happens, FaceTime will proliferate on applications and devices other than the iPhone. Skype, meanwhile, has let innovation stagnate around an entrenched, but proprietary protocol. The leverage they hold in the protocol is about to be eliminated.

They know it too. Let’s look at the initial statements given in response given to the “open” question:

Is SkypeKit ‘open’? What will you restrict?
The topic of openness is often debated and its definition can mean different things to different people. For starters, we believe in an open Internet and open standards.

Next time, just answer “no.” If you believe in open standards, back it up by providing protocol specifications. At this point, it’s tough for me to look at what Skype is offering and see it as the future of communications. Open standards have marched forward, while Skype has stood still.

One of the more interesting articles I came across in the days preceding the release, was on Technologizer, which asked How Long Does Google Baby the iPhone?

I am, however, fascinated by one thing about it: The fact that it’s debuting on the iPhone. It’s the second interesting Google app to do so in recent weeks. (Google Earth made its mobile premiere on the iPhone back in late October.) The iPhone is a terrific platform for mobile apps, so there’d be nothing noteworthy about this except for one thing: Google has its own terrific platform for mobile apps, Android.

The answer to the question, in my opinion, is simple: as long as iPhone is a first-tier mobile platform (read: forever).

To Google, the only platform that matters is the web. That is one of the key aspects to their success, and it is ingrained deeply in their culture. So much so, that any software platform developed by Google is done so under the primary goal of advancing the web itself.

Android as a mobile operating system is, clearly, the most overt platform play from Google to date. However, if mere in-house control of a platform exerted influence on support for third-party platforms, Google’s web strategy would begin to decay.

I suspect Google realizes this tendency, which is one of the reasons why Android is completely open source. No company, not even Google, its primary creator, can claim complete control. The act of open sourcing the platform created a level playing field, perhaps most importantly within Google itself.

Contrast this to Microsoft, where support for any non-Microsoft technologies is met with overwhelming resistance. Through their subsidiary Tellme, Microsoft had the capability to beat Google to the iPhone with this technology, and gain ground in the mobile search arena. That didn’t happen.

Microsoft sees the web running on top of its platform. Google sees platforms running on top of the web. Advantage: Google.

increasingly capable of sending messages and pictures to groups of people, not just to a single recipient (the historical pattern of phone use).

Having been using an iPhone 3G since the day of its release, I can attest that this statement is true, and its group messaging capabilities are only increasing.

Looking at my personal behavior, Facebook and Twitterrific are two applications that I frequently use on my iPhone. I can update my status, as well as glance at the status of my friends and the people I follow. I’m not communicating one-on-one, but rather with an entire group of people who are important to me.

Another interesting aspect to this is the rise of feed-centric updates, popularized by Facebook’s news feed. Upon login, a summary of recent activity from your friends is displayed. Importantly, you read this information at a time that is convenient for you. That stands in stark contrast to typical one-to-one communication, which is often inconvenient for the recipient, who is interrupted by a ringing telephone or an IM window popping up.

Social networking is reaching mainstream audiences at the same time that the Internet is arriving in usable form on mobile phones. The phone, being such a personal device, serves as the perfect complement to a social network. The future implications as these two communication tools converge will be astounding.

With our revolutionary multi-touch interface, powerful hardware and advanced software architecture, we believe we have created the best mobile platform ever for developers.

Developers everywhere agree with that sentiment, and are eagerly anticipating the arrival of the development kit. Currently, developers can only write applications that target the mobile version of Safari. The SDK will provide much more powerful capabilities, allowing software to be created that runs natively on the device.

As an added bonus, the same SDK will also allow applications to be created for the iPod touch. Jobs announced that in his trademark “one more thing” style, with a postscript:

P.S.: The SDK will also allow developers to create applications for iPod touch.

Apple’s incredible mobile platform will now benefit from the innovation of third-party developers. I’m excited dig in and start experimenting myself.

P.S.: Can we please get an SDK for Apple TV?

Unfortunately, the application is restricted to use on the iPhone. Attempting to use any other browser to access .Mac Reader results in an error. However, getting around this restriction is relatively easy. These instructions will show you how.

Requirements

To access .Mac Reader, two things are required: Firefox along with User Agent Switcher (install), an incredibly useful extension.

User Agent Switcher is a tool that has the ability to change the user agent Firefox reports to web servers. Doing so allows us to “spoof” the browser, effectively appearing as a different browser altogether.

iPhone User-Agent

In this particular case, we want to appear as the iPhone, which has the following user agent:

Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/1A538a Safari/419

User Agent Switcher is configurable through the Tools menu. An entry for the iPhone should be added to the list of User Agents.

The entry for the iPhone should contain a description and a user agent exactly as printed above.

As a convenience, I’ve created an XML representation of the iPhone user agent that can be imported into User Agent Switcher.

.Mac Reader Protocol

Now that we know the iPhone’s user agent, we need to understand the protocol used by iPhone to fetch feeds with .Mac Reader. The protocol is a simple HTTP request with the location of the desired RSS feed contained within the URL. The general format is as follows:

http://reader.mac.com/mobile/v1/[url-of-rss-feed]

For example, the URL used to retrieve the RSS feed of this site would be:

http://reader.mac.com/mobile/v1/http://feeds.feedburner.com/backdrifter

However, attempting to access that URL within Firefox (or any non-iPhone browser) will generate an error informing us that “This application can only be viewed using the iPhone.”

Firefox Access

In order to access .Mac Reader using Firefox, we must trick the server into thinking that Firefox is really an iPhone.

To accomplish that, we need use the iPhone’s user agent when requesting pages. iPhone should be checked under the Tools > User Agent Switcher menu.

Now, when accessing the feed, it should appear as it would on the iPhone.

With iPhones in hands, people can now properly address its impact on the future. Umair Haque, writing at Bubblegeneration, offers his perspective on Apple’s strategy:

1) Pick an industry which sucks (ie, imposes significant nuisance costs/menu costs/externalities on consumers)
2) Redress the imbalance by making something consumers love
3) …Which disrupts the long-standing industry equilibrium, and shifts market power
4) Use said market power to redesign (a hyperefficient) value chain

It is eerily similar to the strategy Apple is using to dominate the music retailing industry with iPod + iTunes. I think things are even more interesting when looked at in the broader context of Apple and its products.

“Three screens” is a common term in the vernacular of the technology industry. It refers to the unique types of displays present on desktop computers, televisions, and mobile devices. These comprise the three devices a typical person interacts with every day.

Each screen presents an interface tailored to the situations it is used in. For example, a computer is actively controlled from within a couple feet, using a keyboard and mouse. Meanwhile, a television is more passive, controlled with a few buttons on a remote control while relaxing on couch.

Apple has now put roots down in each of the categories represented within the three screens. Mac computers are mature and respected. The promising iPhone has now been introduced. Meanwhile, the experimental Apple TV continues to improve.

Apple’s focus on user experience, coupled with their control of both hardware and software, gives them a unique advantage and incredible leverage. With technology’s ever increasing pervasiveness in our lives, Apple’s potential seems almost limitless.

The Apple TV had been previously announced, under the code-name iTV. It’s a set-top box that lets movies downloaded from iTunes be watched on a widescreen TV. It’s also capable of playing music from iTunes and displaying photos stored in iPhoto.

The highlight of the keynote, however, was iPhone. It combines a mobile phone, an iPod, and Internet connectivity into a single unit. It does all that with Apple’s signature ease-of-use and revolutionary thinking. The QuickTours available at the iPhone site are amazing. This device is stunning.

The iPhone will be available in June from Cingular, its exclusive carrier. I’m currently a Verizon customer, but that may soon change. I’ve recently been considering switching carriers, in order to upgrade to a BlackBerry Pearl. However, I may put that off and wait for the iPhone’s release.

The keynote address from Macworld San Francisco 2007 is available for viewing online. I’m about to watch it right now…