Apple Ready To Open iPhone to Third-Party Applications

Apple will soon allow third-party applications to its iPhone. It will launch the Software Development Kit (SDK) early next week to allow other companies to begin writing and developing applications for iPhones.

Until now, Apple didn’t allow any third-party applications on the iPhone, like other mobile operating systems such as Windows Mobile and Palm Operating System. The main reason Apple gave was that it wanted the iPhone to be as stable as possible. So, developers instead had to rely on creating Web-enabled applications for Safari browser, such as Google Docs and Gmail. Apple now is willing to open up its iPhone with a SDK so others can develop suitable applications for it. They will be launching this feature at the iPhone Software Roadmap on March 6 at its main headquarters in Cupertino, California. It is sending out invitations for the developers. The invitation boasts that Apple may release new enterprise features. If they do so, it will go head-to-head against BlackBerry. Avi Greengart, an analyst with Current Analysis, said Apple has to address a lot of issues with the SDK. 1. Can a developer post the application on their website or they can sell only through iTunes. 2. How will the user load the programs onto iPhones 3. Will Apple get a cut of application revenue? 4. Any restriction on the type of applications that can be written for iPhones. Until we know the answers to these and other questions, Greengart noted, it isn't possible to estimate the impact that the much-awaited SDK might have on opening up the iPhone. The Palm and Windows Mobile have a similar SDK. But with additional applications, iPhone might need more memory to run many things at once. This is welcome news for iPhone owners, who would love to have other applications such as Office programs, an eBook reader, a scientific calculator, a dictionary, and various games.