During yesterday's iPhone OS 3.0 event, Apple's SVP of iPhone software, Scott Forstall, revealed to the press that a new beta version of the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) was immediately available. As long as you are enrolled in the iPhone Developer Standard or Enterprise Program, you will have immediate access to the development resources for iPhone OS 3.0 beta, thus you will be able to begin coding as soon as you finish installing the new software.

“With a rich set of over 1,000 new APIs, iPhone SDK for iPhone OS 3.0 beta provides you with an amazing range of technologies to enhance the functionality of your iPhone and iPod touch applications,” Apple says, addressing the vast developer community. “New APIs also provide support for applications to communicate with hardware accessories attached to iPhone or iPod touch.”

Included in these APIs, according to Apple, is the ability to leverage the purchase model of the App Store within apps. In-App Purchases will allow developers to offer subscription content and provide the ability to sell new content and features in a simple and secure process, as revealed by Apple's SVP of iPhone software yesterday. Also, devs will be able to create peer-to-peer games for iPhone and iPod touch by using Bluetooth. What else?

Accessories! “Using the new External Accessory framework, your application can now communicate with 'Made for iPod' hardware accessories attached to iPhone or iPod touch through either the 30-pin dock connector or wirelessly using Bluetooth,” Apple reveals, thus answering some questions regarding a certain chip.

Maps was also one of the great announcements yesterday. According to Apple, with the new SDK and iPhone OS 3.0 beta, developers can now embed maps within their applications using the new Map Kit framework. “Map Kit works with the Google Mobile Maps Service and features panning and zooming, custom annotations, current location and geocoding,” Apple reveals.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg, as far as new development opportunities are concerned. Other changes with the SDK include:

· SDK support for targeting non-Mac OS X platforms, including iPhone OS SDK
· GCC 4.2 & LLVM GCC 4.2 optional compilers for use with Mac OS X 10.5 SDK
· Updated assistants to create new projects, targets, and source files
· Toolbar uses a single popup to choose platform, target, and debug/release
· Integrated SCM support now works with Subversion 1.5.

In order to download the iPhone SDK 3.0 beta, you need to log in with your Apple ID. Also, Apple says, you must be enrolled in the iPhone Developer Standard or Enterprise Program to access the development resources for iPhone OS 3.0 beta. Developers will need to run at least Mac OS X 10.5.5 to run the software.

Download Apple iPhone SDK 3.0 Beta (Free)