Apple's Jobs says third-party iPhone apps coming in February
Editor's note: This story was updated at 9:59 a.m. PDT.
Steve Jobs made it official Wednesday morning: third-party applications are coming to the iPhone.
Apple's CEO posted another of his open letters to the world Wednesday on Apple's Hot News section of its Web site, confirming reports that a software development kit (SDK) for the iPhone will be released to developers next year. It's coming in February, rather than January as reported, but application developers and iPhone owners will probably be able to wait the extra month.
"We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users," Jobs wrote. "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."
It always made sense for Apple to go down this road, since it was never going to win a hacking war and users clearly want third-party applications on their iPhones and iPod Touches, which will also be opened up by the SDK, Jobs confirmed. I actually thought it would take a little longer for Apple to open its precious iPhone up to developers, but the company probably has become more satisfied in recent months with the stability of the OS X operating system. Apple has always said that the iPhone runs Mac OS X at its core, but in practical terms it's really a new operating system that Apple has put together for the iPhone with common DNA from Mac OS.
Jobs implied that the first iPhone SDK would be a step past what Nokia is doing with its developers. Nokia has a huge developer community that creates applications for both Java and Symbian-based phones, and Jobs said those
"While this makes such a phone less than 'totally open,' we believe it is a step in the right direction," he wrote, hinting that Apple would somehow make it possible for almost any developer to add trusted applications to the iPhone using the SDK.
We'll have to see how Apple decides to strike a balance between openness and security, but it's good to see the company acknowledge that there are more options for keeping the iPhone secure than just
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom. 
Now we just need lower price and compatibility with TMobile.
Their focus on security should also be commended. I know that I
personally don't want my phone to 'crash' or become bogged w/
malware...
I feel better about my desire to purchase an iPhone down the line
and I think many will likewise. Good going, Steve.
If you think about it, Apple was smart to force the Web apps to be developed first, then the native apps. Hopefully the web apps will continue.
response to Nokia's recent advertisements that attempt to criticize
the iPhone and benefit from the iBrick fracas by claiming that
Nokia's S60 platform is "Totally open".
Steve Jobs was just giving them a bit of an elbow before giving
them a nod about their work in securing applications.
offering an SDK as a "response" to Nokia???? Hilarious.
I'm glad Apple is walking down this path if only to shut up those
who feel it is somehow their birthright to create "native" apps for
the iPhone. I had no idea developers could be so damn whiney. I
can't wait for all those ****** apps to flood the web. Hello
instability! Thanks guys.
They have a lot of work to do if they want to embrace hobbiest applications.
something that will not be offered for another 4-5 months.
Those of us that know a little bit about developing and creating
an SDK already knew that Apple was likely working on
something but that it would take some time.
As I understand it, iPhone and iPod touch are both based on
Leopard technologies (and will likely require Leopard to develop
for). My guess: Apple probably needed to wait until Leopard was
finalized before they could set a public date for the SDK.
It makes sense that since they pulled tech resources off of Leopard
to get the iPhone out the door, that they had unfinished business in
Leopard that would be necessary for a complete/robust SDK...since
the iPhone is supposedly OSX/Leopard-based.
bloated, and offers nothing that can't be provided through
Cocoa.
6 months after the SDK's release, I guarantee you that the
iPhone/iPod Touch platform will have more 3rd party apps than
any other handheld/mobile device.
Mac developers are salivating at being able to develop for it. And
since the base frameworks are already familiar to them, the
learning curve should be minimal. Look at what has already
happen without any SDK whatsoever.
I know all of the stated advantages, but given two comparable applications -- a native application and a Java application -- I would prefer the native application both for the better user interface and performance.
Apparently that's true for most people, too, as I have found it very hard to even find a popular application written in Java. I only find it in specialized environments, often associated with a web browser. (Perhaps the web browser might be the one platform where it makes most sense, but even then I have to ask... if you need to power of a language like Java, why is the application running in a browser in the first place?)
In Java memory allocation is faster then in C.
Memory deallocation is almost free and safer then C.
Saying that Java is slow was true in 2000, today it makes you hopelessly out of touch.
Java is better then Cocoa, because your app won't be confined to OSX based systems. There are some cases where a developer needs to be careful in Java to ensure platform independence, but to say java is write once debug everywhere is also very 2000.
I'll stick to Windows Mobile, thank you. I've got my eye on the HTC Touch, should it be released in the US. It actually came out before the iphone, does a lot more than an iphone (dial up networking over bluetooth, movie capture, gps, can run 3rd party apps NOW), and wont require a 'certification' to write apps to run on my own phone!
I would suggest you give it a try first, but I would definitely like to see what users think of it. Other than performance concerns, it looks like a good product.
so blame Apple. If you were a developer as you say you are, you
would acknowledge that as the article clearly states "Java and
Sybian" require digital signatures" and he thinks that for SECURITY
reasons it's a necessity.
How does Windows Mobil handle security? (Windows and security
don't go together in case you haven't heard).
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://reviews.cnet.com/smart-phones/htc-touch-" target="_newWindow">http://reviews.cnet.com/smart-phones/htc-touch-</a>
unlocked/4540-6452_7-32465595-4.html?tag=sub
problem getting approved.
The HTC touch phone is not comparable and has problems with
functionality. See the current edition of Computerworld online for
a professional comparison, including the Nokia N95.
and ATT?
otter
How many Billions do you have with your wisdom?
about third-party software development...the platform wouldn't
even be around today without 3rd-parties like, oh, Adobe or
Microsoft developing for them. Or perhaps you've heard of a
little company called Bungie, who first developed shareware for
Macintosh back in the day...and now are millionaires from Halo?
Pretty soon the iPhone niche market will be the dominant
market, and you'll want to be first-position in the software niche
of your choice if you want to compete.
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.createthefuturecontest.com/pages/view/entriesdetail.html?entryID=365" target="_newWindow">http://www.createthefuturecontest.com/pages/view/entriesdetail.html?entryID=365</a>
The Bad: Software companies who develop software typically digitally sign their software, individual developers tend to not digitally sign their software (cost of the certificates, hassle, etc).
The past: Some, but not many apps were available for the iphone. Many of the apps were written by hobby or individual deveopers and not by software corporations.
I applaud apple's distribution of a SDK and allowance of 3rd party apps. What concerns me is the requirement for digital signatures of the software. While good for security reasons, it can still cause problems for those who develop apps to distribute to others freely over the internet. If apple requires digital signatures, then do not expect to see a large quantity of apps written by individual developers or hobby developers, and from the limited past so far that may mean a good chunk of goodies. The question will remain, will it be better to require the digital signatures, or will it be better to make it a truely "open" software development platform?
Apple could set up an automated testing system that checks for memory leeks as well as buffer overflow prevention, and memory space violations....
Write your application. Go to the Apple website. Boom, you have a certified iPhone application. If a bad application gets through screening, they can revoke the cert at any time.
of the matter? Most amateur or independent programmers write
throwaway applications. We iPhone owners will appreciate not
being exposed to endless to useless and flawed apps.
- 3rd Party iPhone Apps
- by i-downloads October 17, 2007 5:32 PM PDT
- Well it seems that apple will support 3rd party apps this is great even better than jail break but before I rejoice I wait and see how it goes with apple For now I use my iphone and ipod for more music and movie downloads at <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.ipodtunesdownloads.com" target="_newWindow">http://www.ipodtunesdownloads.com</a>
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