14 DAY TRIAL // Following the release of the iPhone SDK Beta 2, more devs are being granted access to the iPhone Developer Program. Many of the devs whose hearts were bruised by Apple's negative answer when trying to enroll in the program's early stages can now breathe a sigh of relief reading these words:
"Thank you for applying to the iPhone Developer Program. We have reviewed the information you submitted when you initiated your program enrollment request and we are ready to instruct you on the steps required to complete the enrollment process. Please click here to review and agree to the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement. You must execute this agreement prior to completing the purchase and activation process for the iPhone Developer Program. Once you complete and activate your purchase, your enrollment will be complete. iPhone Developer Program," reads the text of the acceptance letter, according to iphoneatlas.com.
One of the web site's readers (the actual person posting his acceptance letter) says: "Looks like Apple is expanding the iPhone dev Beta. I just got accepted into the iPhone developer program. Good timing since I finished my first iPhone app yesterday!"
Apple's CEO officially stated during the iPhone Software Roadmap event in Cupertino, March 6, that the program would be available only to a "limited number of developers" in its early stages. However, Steve Jobs also implied that as v2.0 iPhone software approaches, more developers will be taken aboard.
The release of iPhone 2.0 will coincide with the launch of Apple's newly announced AppStore service through which developers will be able to distribute their apps, whether they're business apps or games, whether they want to charge for them, or not. As far as the purchasable ones go, devs will be getting 70% of the sales revenue paid monthly, no credit card fees being applied.
Developers are free to set any price for their applications to be distributed through the AppStore, but can also opt to release an app for free and will not pay any costs to release/distribute the application, leaving aside the $99 iPhone Dev Program membership fee.