The iPhone app works with the help of a private API that helps in capturing frames live from the iPhone screen. For the app to work, both the sender and the recipient need to have the Knocking Live Video
installed on their devices. Once the sender launches the app on their iPhone , they may choose the iPhone user to 'knock'. This triggers a push notification to the receiver and once it is answered, the iPhone app streams video live to the recipient iPhone . The app works via 3G as well as Wi-Fi networks and requires an
to transmit the video. You may view a demo of how the app works in the video below.
There is an interesting story behind the approval of the iPhone app. You might remember that Apple is against the use of private APIs by iPhone app developers and had recently even introduced an
to the approval process in order to filter those apps that make use of private APIs. Knocking Live Video too was rejected on the same grounds late in October. However, Brian Meehan, the co-founder of Pointy Heads decided to persuade Apple further by writing a passionate email to Steve Jobs. In his letter, Meehan wrote
“I am writing for my fellow developers spending all of their own money, working around the clock just to post their app to your store, only to get rejected in a way that is cold and hopeless is why I am writing you today. Do it for the sake of all developers. Give them a pre-approval process, not a set of guidelines that are subjective and ultimatley up to opinions and feelings. Give them a human to talk to. Imagine building the iPhone for 12 months only to have AT&T send an e-mail with no one to dicussing it saying “rejected due to 3.1.2””.
Within a couple of days, Meehan was contacted by an Apple executive informing him that the iPhone app was approved following instructions ”
“.
Though it is definitely an one-off case where Steve Jobs decided to intervene, it does paint a brighter picture for the future. It was only recently that Apple 's Phil Schiller
.
process. It is still only the beginning and we will have to wait and see if Apple would initiate more steps in order to keep the app developers happy. After all, third party apps are one of the strongest points for the iPhone in its competition against the other smartphones, and Apple would desperately need to maintain the loyalty of these app developers in order to remain on top.
What's your take? Do tell us in the comments.