That is correct, so no need to hack your iPhone to get apps on them now, you can just wait another 4 months or so and applications will be available for the iPhone and iPod Touch, this time Apple says we can.
The SDK will be arrive in February of 2008 shortly after MacWorld in San Francisco.
“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.” -Apple
The reason for waiting so long to release the SDK is that “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.”
The last quote seems to make Apple look like they are full of themselves and don’t get me wrong, they are, but they are also very true when they say that security is a major issue, now I don’t know whether it is an issue to Apple or an issue to AT&T but no matter, we are still going to get apps on the iPhone!
They have not explained exactly how they will keep users safe from security issues but they did mention that Nokia is keeping the security issue in check by using digital signatures that can be traced back to the original developer. Apple seemed to dance around the fact that they may be doing the same type of system but I would guess that it will be similar but not exactly the same (my guess would be that the applications may be sold through iTunes instead of through any Joe Shmoe who wants to sell it to you).
Apple – Hot News (Apple’s Official Announcement)
Apple is full of a bunch of control freaks 😀
It is nice to see that they are finally subscribing to the motto “If you can’t win, join them!”