eBay @ Macworld 2007

Earlier this week, I attended Macworld 2007 to check out the eBay tools for the Mac and the latest and greatest Apple has to offer (that's Delyn Simons and I with eBay Web Services API developer Ilja Iwas from iwascoding - who made the trip to SF from Berlin.) Much of the buzz surrounded the iPhone, a new mobile phone device promising to be what Macworld writer Jim Dalrymple calls a ‘wake-up call for the industry’. Think of the iPhone as iPod meets Treo meets Mac OS X desktop. Of course, Apple says it’s much more.

I worked at Apple in Developer Relations prior to joining eBay, so I have a long history with Mac developers. For the exhibitors, the big question was extensibility. With widget technology, could developers be able to create applications for use on the iPhone? What is the possibility for an eBay buying application? I proposed these questions to my former Apple colleagues, who were very quiet on the future availability of an SDK.

I also met with the eBay Mac developers iwascoding, Acclivity, and Equinux, who showed off their Mac eBay listing tools. These applications make use of many cool Mac OS X features, including integration with iPhoto and Mail, photo capture from iSight, listing template Drop Zones, auction Widgets, and image hosting from .Mac.

Alan Lewis wrote up a Cool Tool review of earlier versions of the GarageSale listing app from iwascoding and iSale listing app from Equinux earlier this year -- iSale 3.1 had just recently received an Apple Design Award at the time.

-Laura