The first “third-party software” for the iPhone is poker. I’m all in.

As with accessories, software developers aren’t waiting for the iPhone to actually, you know, be released before announcing their iPhone-specific wares. Earlier today, Scenario Software announced an iPhone version of their popular Scenario Poker game. (OK, so the company technically announced the product—without knowing how they’d actually produce it, given the lack of an SDK at the time—back on January 13. But now the product actually exists, so it’s time to really announce it.)

How is Scenario providing this poker game, given that Apple isn’t actually allowing third-party developers to install apps on the iPhone? By taking Apple’s controversial “use Web 2.0” policy and running with it. According to the developer:

I was disappointed at the lack of an SDK or other technical info from Apple regarding the iPhone. I’m glad they decided to allow small web apps to run…[T]he only question is how robust the iPhone’s JavaScript engine really is and what practical limits will apply…My main concern…is the rumored five-second consecutive runtime limit on JavaScript. Hopefully that doesn’t count time spent downloading graphic resources after each burst of timer-based script executes.

Which is a fancy way of saying, “Apple, please don’t screw with JavaScript on the iPhone.”

The developer also noted an advantage of having an application that runs from a Web server: any glitches that show up once iPhones are in the wild can be quickly fixed on the server; those changes will immediately be pushed out to people using the app.

If you’d like to get a preview of the iPhone version of Scenario Poker, surf on over to the demo; just be sure to use Safari, as the demo may not work in other browsers. (Which means that in addition to being the first third-party app announced for the iPhone, this may be the first third-party app exclusive to the iPhone. Sorry Opera Mini users.)

Category: News, Software

Posted by Dan Frakes on Jun 23 2007, 6:28 PM ET

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iPhone illustration by Joe Zeff Design Inc. // Design by Jason Brightman