Apple's Stance on Independent iPhone Applications

One of the pitfalls of unsupported, independent development for devices such as the iPhone is that the mother company can at any given time issue an update that will break your applications. Losing all your work in one fell swoop is something that will discourage many developers, and up to now, Apple's exact stance on this subject had been quite unclear.

During an interview with Gearlog, Apple's Greg Joswiak talked about the iPhone/iPod touch software platform and Apple's view on the independent development that is being made. The first good news is that both devices run the same platform. While the hardware might differ a little, there is a very high probability that any application made for the iPhone will also work on the new iPod touch. This is great news for developers, as it will mean that the coding needs only be done once and the application will run on both of these gadgets.

On the topic of independent development, Apple's official stance appears to be one of neutrality. While the company will not support independent apps in any way, and no SDK will be offered, neither will the company actively design updates so that they break applications in any way. What this means is that these applications don't even exist from Apple's point of view and if they stay out of the way that Apple is headed with the iPhone, they will live long and prosper. On the other hand, if any application happens to be in the way when Apple comes rolling through with an update and it gets broke, the company won't blink twice.

Although this is Apple's current policy, the company is leaving the door open and mentions that this policy could change at any given time, which is not surprising really, as there are many kinds of applications that would make AT&T and by extension Apple, very angry.
Last but not least, Joswiak clearly stated that the iPod touch does not have Bluetooth, regardless of what reports and images might be floating around the Internet and that there will be no official games for the device in the near future.