Great day to be an iPhone developer as Apple has updated its iPhone SDK to Beta 8 (Build 9M2199a). Beta release 8 is compatible with the final iPhone OS 2.0 release and needs an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X v10.5.3 or later.

Under the What's New in the iPhone SDK beta release 8 Download Notes Apple reveals that "Beta release 8 is compatible with the final iPhone OS 2.0 release and must be used to build and sign any iPhone OS application to be submitted to the App Store. As a reminder, you must be a member of the iPhone Developer Program to submit apps," the company points out. "We encourage developers to apply to the iPhone Developer Program for access to additional support resources, as well as access to a certificate that enables development directly on an iPhone or iPod touch," Apple explains.

The last iPhone SDK Beta (7), quietly rolled out by the Cupertino-based iPhone maker on June 10th, fixed a number of bugs and added support for the latest iPhone OS as well. Beta release 6 was the first to require the Leopard 10.5.3 software update.

With the iPhone SDK you can develop applications that run on both iPhone and iPod touch. The software includes the Xcode IDE, Instruments, iPhone simulator, frameworks and samples, compilers and the Shark analysis tool.

Note: With Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, by default Xcode 3.0 is installed in /Developer. With Xcode 3.1 the default install location is still /Developer. If you want to keep a previously installed Xcode 3.0 and still install Xcode 3.1, you must either do a "Custom Install" of Xcode 3.1 and specify a new directory name (e.g. Xcode3.1) or you must move the pre-existing /Developer directory to a new name (e.g. Xcode3.0) before you install Xcode 3.1.

The iPhone SDK is a free download, but you need to log in with your Apple ID in order to download it. Click HERE to get the latest iPhone SDK (iPhone SDK Beta 8) release now.