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Comment by briansmith | Hacker News Reader

I think sometimes it is. But, I don't think this makes sense as an iPhone app given its current capabilities. A mobile-optimized website makes a lot more sense, especially since hosting companies usually have web-based control panels anyway.

I think it is more of a marketing stunt. There are lots of iPhone apps that are just as well (or better) implemented as normal mobile-optimized web apps. But, it is hard to get a lot of free publiclity by showing off yet another webapp. Packaging your web app as an iPhone app gives you some potential instant publicity, and an effective way to charge for it.

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Disclaimer: I'm the developer of this app.

It wasn't a marketing stunt. I made it because I wanted it, and Slicehost offered a nice API. It also gave me a great excuse to learn how to write iPhone apps :)

The SliceManager is great as a mobile web app, but I like that I don't have to enter my username and password to use my account, and I get a native iPhone experience (which isn't really possible in the browser, even with things like IUI).

"Stunt" was a poor choice of words. I simply meant that there is a lot of marketing value in creating an "iPhone App" vs a normal web app, even if the functionality is the same. If you created a web app version, nobody would be interested in it (since SliceHost has their own), even if the web app had the same functionality.

Do you know why the iPhone web browser doesn't (can't?) save your username/password when you use the SliceManager mobile web app? Is a problem with the SliceManager or with the iPhone browser or both? Password saving is a pretty basic feature.

Yeah, there's certainly a lot of buzz around iPhone apps these days...probably more than is warranted in many cases.

As for saving password, I think Mobile Safari doesn't add passwords to the keychain (I may be wrong). Also, I've noticed that switching networks (wifi to 3G, or 3G in one area to a different 3G tower) tends to mess up any sessions I have in web apps. But I haven't really looked into it enough to figure it out.

Well, it's not made by slicehost at all, just a customer who wanted it. They are very appreciative for it and even use it themselves (I'll imagine not for any internal infrastructure stuff.). On their podcast they thanked the guy profoundly.

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