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 applications are required to have a digital signature that verifies the application has passed certain tests, and that makes sense given the growing concerns about smartphone security.

"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 limiting developers to Web applications.

[sanenazok]

Good

Finally the iPhone starts making sense - requiring all third party apps to run in AJAX within the browser was wrong.

Now we just need lower price and compatibility with TMobile.

[shanewalker]

Smart.

Jobs/Apple & Co. just proved that they "get it."

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.

[rcardona2k]

Stops whiners

This should dent all the whiners who knew upfront they were buying a 'closed' device.

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.

[ciparis]

misunderstood reference: less than "totally open"

This is not a statement about how far Apple will go. This is a small
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.

[m.meister]

The real surprise

The real surprise is that Apple has publicly spoken about
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.

[slehman1803]

Where is Java?

With the iPhone opening up, where is Java? Are they in a power struggle with Sun over this?

[serpicolugnut]

Java is exactly where it should be...

Which is, missing. The iPhone doesn't need Java. Java is slow,
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.

[LuvThatCO2]

Typical Apple

So the impression is that Apple will require that apps be 'certified' and 'signed' to run on an iphone? How much will this certification cost? As a developer, such certification & signature requirements are a major hassle. And its going to kill any possibility of corporate use, as no one's going to go through the trouble of getting an in-house app certified.

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!

[otter]

Options to Edge and ATT?

So how long will it be before we have options to the Edge network
and ATT?

otter

[Captain Bebops]

Niche Market Apps

I've developed apps for both the Palm and Windows Mobile platform. Both companies made it easy and free or almost free to get the SDKs. Undoubtedly I am going to get requests from customers who have purchased iPhones for versions of my software that will run on it. But it is for a niche market and it doesn't make sense to invest a lot of money in development for little return. But I've got a bad feeling that Apple has their heads up their butts and doesn't understand the third party app market very well at all.