It was bound to happen. It was just a matter of time. With the “Hello World” iPhone proof-of-concept application forging the way, a fully functional third-party native iPhone application was the next logical step. And, here we have it, folks! The first iPhone application to 1) not be a web-app, 2) be fully functional with a graphical user interface and homescreen icon, and 3) not be made by Apple is now being hosted on Google Code – all hail “Mobile Terminal.”
The application is “a terminal emulator application for the iPhone. MobileTerminal.app is NOT an SSH client, nor Telnet for that matter. It can however be used to execute a console ssh-client application.” Mobile Terminal may not be the most exciting iPhone application. But, an exciting development in iPhone hacking, it most definitely is.
Apple’s determined to keep third-party applications on lock-down, which makes the Mobile Terminal app that much more exciting – no Apple iPhone SDK was used, just pure hacker ingenuity. Could we see a host of community-driven third-party native iPhone applications in the future? It seems to be a distinct possibility at this point.
And, as Gizmodo’s Jesus Diaz sees it. The fact that Mobile Terminal is being hosted by Google Code might mean that Apple supports the effort (to some extent, anyway) and/or that an official Apple iPhone SDK is on the way.
As long as we get games for our iPhones, we could care less how it happens. Although, full third-party support from Apple would spur more development – but you won’t find us holding our breath for that to happen.
Peep the video to see how Mobile Terminal works.
[Via: iPhone Central]