Steve Jobs Announces 3rd Party SDK for iPhone for February 2008

[bretm]

From apple website...


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.

[psychofreak]

Awesome...I'll probably get it when I can use VoIP, so I can unlock the phone and pay very little (I mostly use my mobile where I have WiFi)

[jaw04005]

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/

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. [Oct 17, 2007]

[Speedracer04]

thank the lord. finally apple has gotten some common sense! only thing is that we have to wait until Feb

[MacRumors]

Steve Jobs has posted an open letter revealing that Apple will be releasing a 3rd party SDK for iPhone and iPod Touch development. The SDK will be released in February 2008.

At this time, the letter only appears on Apple's Hot News page:

We've reproduced it here in its entirety:

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. [Oct 17, 2007]

Article Link

[jaw04005]

Exciting. I just hope they aren't directly distributed from iTunes.

[Marcjcd]

Originally Posted by Speedracer04

thank the lord. finally apple has gotten some common sense! only thing is that we have to wait until Feb

Yes and we know that if SJ says Feb that really means the last day of Feb!

[mkaake]

Maybe this will finally put and end to the whining, while simultaneously giving others (and myself, for that matter) a compelling reason to consider the iPhone (or iPod Touch)...

[4God]

Wow! I love it. Lots of great apps coming now....(or at least in a few months).
This is only the beginning.

[plinden]

Originally Posted by Speedracer04

thank the lord. finally apple has gotten some common sense! only thing is that we have to wait until Feb

Yeah, why couldn't they have thought of doing this before? I mean, if they'd planned on doing this all along, they'd probably be announcing around about now that they'll be releasing an SDK in February.

[wheezy]

Will some of the nay-sayers finally shut up now? Please!!

I can't imagine how amazing a device the iPhone is going to be in 1-2 years. I'm excited!

[GodzPeepz]

WOW!

I sure glad that Steve is starting to realize that we need our 3rd party apps on our phone!

[DoreanGrae]

Hope this helps to assuage the complaints about third-party support. I can wait a few more months.

Good job, Steve.

[hooch]

I have said it many times, but I really need to buy appl stock now. This is going to make a lot of people think twice.

[Peace]

Steve is right on with this delay until February.There are virusus and malware on some cellphones.

Now I wish only that people would stop hacking their phones so engineers can breath a little better.The happier a coder is the better the code.

[LxTxNx]

VERY NICE! I can't wait

[Nicky G]

I'm blown away, not only that they are doing it, but that they announced it now and not at Macworld... Makes me wonder what goodies await us in January, that such a huge announcement they are happy to spill now? Maybe they want to spur a lot of holiday sales of iPhone and iPod touch.

[DTphonehome]

Wow, this is going to be KILLER...so long Treo!

[CrackedButter]

This is excellent news, much what people thought would happen, I'm more inclined to buy a new iTouch now.

[bugfaceuk]

Well done Apple. Now... when will the MS BU release Word for iPhone?????

[DTphonehome]

Originally Posted by hooch

I have said it many times, but I really need to buy appl stock now. This is going to make a lot of people think twice.

So stop saying it and do it already! The market waits for no one.

[bytethese]

*in his best Ren voice*

"Oooooh joy!"

[WRXHokie]

Well done.... is this what they've been planning all along or have they found that there is no way to stop this from happening, so they might as well play along? Thats the question in my mind.

[elppa]

This was entirely predictable, an SDK was coming at some stage. The reasons outlined are perfectly acceptable. It is also acceptable that Apple wanted the product to bed down in the market before opening up the platform.

Remember — the first Mac didn't have and SDK.

Please note Jobs also says they "plan" for February, not "definitely" February, so don't start whinging on Feb 1st when we don't have your SDK.

[psychofreak]

Originally Posted by CrackedButter

This is excellent news, much what people thought would happen, I'm more inclined to buy a new iTouch now.

Hopefully the iPod touch will go 32GB around this time, and I'll sprint to the Apple store to get it