Like most people say that it's about time that this announcement was made, and yet others who are wondering why its (the announcement) come so late in the day; we on our part are going to take it a step at a time, who knows Mr. Jobs may spring us a surprise with the upped iPhone announcement thereafter. Yes, the noise is about the announcement in the Apple pages about the Third Party Applications on the iPhone, which will be available around February 2008. Jobs also explains the delay saying that making the iPhone more open while keeping it secure from viruses has been a challenge all this while. The SDK will also allow developers to create applications for iPod touch. Arn from Macrumors is of the opinion that the piece includes hints that Apple might pick up a digital signature system for app verification.
Roll over for the full press release.
Third Party Applications on the iPhone
Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers' hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users. With our revolutionary multi-touch interface, powerful hardware and advanced software architecture, we believe we have created the best mobile platform ever for developers. It will take until February to release an SDK because we're trying to do two diametrically opposed things at once--provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc. This is no easy task. Some claim that viruses and malware are not a problem on mobile phones--this is simply not true. There have been serious viruses on other mobile phones already, including some that silently spread from phone to phone over the cell network. As our phones become more powerful, these malicious programs will become more dangerous. And since the iPhone is the most advanced phone ever, it will be a highly visible target. Some companies are already taking action. Nokia, for example, is not allowing any applications to be loaded onto some of their newest phones unless they have a digital signature that can be traced back to a known developer. While this makes such a phone less than "totally open," we believe it is a step in the right direction. We are working on an advanced system which will offer developers broad access to natively program the iPhone's amazing software platform while at the same time protecting users from malicious programs. We think a few months of patience now will be rewarded by many years of great third party applications running on safe and reliable iPhones. Steve P.S.: The SDK will also allow developers to create applications for iPod touch.
