iPhone Third Party Apps, Officially Approved and Supported

Earlier this year, Steve Jobs, Apple's Chief Executive Officer, said that it is possible to allow third parties to develop applications for the iPhone. Now Mr. Jobs published an open letter on the Apple website, officially announcing that the iPhone will allow third party applications and that the company will provide third party apps support. For this, a Software Development Kit (SDK) is under development and will be ready by the end of February 2008; the SDK is also intended to be used in making third party apps for the iPod Touch.

"We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers' hands in February," Mr. Jobs said. "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."

The Software Development Kit will only be available in February 2008 because, by providing a breakthrough and open platform to developers, Apple also needs to make sure that the iPhone's security remains at high standards, protecting users from malware, viruses or privacy attacks. "This is no easy task," Steve Jobs said. "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."

Apple's CEO also mentioned other companies that are taking action against malware coming from third party applications, giving Nokia as example, which blocked any application to be installed on some of its new devices unless it's recognized as being produced by a known developer.

To sum it up, Apple does want third party applications on the iPhone, but at the same time, it wants protection. And this can't be bad. Actually, iPhone users should be delighted about Steve Jobs' announcement, especially because ever since the phone's release there have been various dissatisfactions regarding third party apps.