There are have been rumors of us creating solutions for the iPhone and I've had many folks approach me with questions of its validity.   I think this is  a great move for us and in no way invalidates the importance of the Windows Mobile platform.   "Playing nicely" with other platforms is something we are doing very well as of late and this is, in my opinion, aonther giant step in that direction!

To summarize, Microsoft Live Labs released a demonstration of Seadragon Mobile, http://livelabs.com/seadragon-mobile for its first mobile platform, the iPhone, on Saturday Dec 13.  For background, Microsoft Live Labs has been experimenting with Seadragon technology on different platforms to validate the experience for as broad an audience as possible.  This technology is an experiment from Live Labs, and in the future the group intends to bring it to Windows Mobile as well.  Seadragon is a way to see incredible detail from graphics and photos, regardless of the size of the screen, size of the file, or bandwidth of the network.  At the core of its mission, Microsoft Live Labs is an applied research organization which advances the state of the art of Internet technologies and enables new scenarios for users.  Bringing Seadragon technology to other platforms including Photosynth, Deep Zoom in Silverlight, Microsoft Surface, the recent release of Seadragon Ajax http://livelabs.com/seadragon-ajax/, and now the Seadragon Mobile viewer for the iPhone, are examples of Live Labs delivering on its mission and continuing to release and test the validity of its experiments with end users to collect feedback on the models and influence the next generation of Microsoft products and services.

While the Seadragon Deep Zoom technology used in Live Labs’ application for the iPhone has the same technological roots as Silverlight Deep Zoom, Silverlight Deep Zoom was not used for the Seadragon application for the iPhone.   There is yet no comment on whether SilveLight will or will not be ported to the iPhone at this point. 

FAQ

What is Seadragon Mobile? Seadragon Mobile is an experiment from Microsoft Live Labs in bringing Deep Zoom imagery to new platforms.  Deep Zoom imagery is a way to see incredible detail from graphics and photos, no matter the size of the screen or size of the file—a multi-gigabyte image would display just as fast as one taken with a camera phone. 

What specifically can end users do with the Seadragon Mobile viewer on the iPhone? The Seadragon Mobile iPhone app is a demonstration which will allow end users to view a collection of approximately 50 sample images using Seadragon technology zooming capabilities as well as view Photosynth collections in 2D on their iPhone.  

Why is Microsoft Live Labs developing for the iPhone? As part of the Microsoft Live Labs core mission, we aim to test the validity of new technologies and models with end users.  We have been experimenting with Seadragon for some time now on a variety of different platforms and have already developed versions for the PC, and for Microsoft Surface.  The iPhone is just one of many platforms we are experimenting with to deliver the power of Seadragon technology to as many people as possible. 

Why isn’t Microsoft Live Labs developing Seadragon Mobile apps for Windows Mobile? The Seadragon Mobile iPhone app is a demonstration from Live Labs, and the technology requires the GPU processors supported by the iPhone.  This release is meant to be an experiment on Seadragon’s first mobile platform and does not mean Microsoft intends to productize this specific experiment.  Since initial prototyping of GPU on the iPhone, Windows Mobile has brought popular phones to market with GPU such as the HTC Diamond.  GPUs on the HTC phones represent continual innovation in the Windows Mobile space by our OEM partners.  Similar to other Live Labs experiments and to demonstrate the validity of the technology on mobile platforms, in the future, Live Labs intends to bring Seadragon technology to Windows Mobile.  As we’ve seen in the past, Live Labs has developed other technologies for Windows Mobile including Deepfish, a mobile browsing experience.   

How do you compare Seadragon Mobile to other technologies available such as Apple’s ZUI in the iPhone or their Opera Mini browser; the zoom technology for phone interface Zumobi? Seadragon Mobile is a zooming interface which essentially solves the problem of searching and scrolling through reams of information on the Web by fluidly moving through large amounts of data as fast as possible. In contrast, other domain-specific applications and Web browsers aren’t optimized for displaying large images over slow connection or allowing for quick and intuitive manipulation that the Seadragon Mobile experience delivers. 

Does this mean that Microsoft Live Labs will continue to look for ways to develop apps for the iPhone in the future? Live Labs has no commitments at this time to develop future iPhone apps.  For this specific iPhone app release, bringing Seadragon technology to a variety of other platforms including Photosynth, Deep Zoom in Silverlight, Microsoft Surface, the recent release of Seadragon Ajax http://livelabs.com/seadragon-ajax/, and now the Seadragon Mobile viewer for the iPhone, are examples of Live Labs continuing to release and test the validity of experiments and demonstrations with end users to collect feedback on the models and influence the next generation of Microsoft products and services.  

How can I get Seadragon Mobile? You can install Seadragon Mobile two ways, either by accessing the App Store on the iPhone or on your computer through iTunes at http://www.itunes.com/app/seadragonmobile.