Apple officially announced the software development kit (SDK) for the iPhone today. In short: It looks like it will be really easy to download and install third-party applications for your iPhone. You’ll be able to install and uninstall programs directly from the phone or through iTunes. In addition, if you rely on enterprise e-mail (such as Microsoft Exchange) you’ll be able to access mail directly via Exchange protocols (I can access my KU mail from my phone via IMAP, for what it’s worth).
Tons of blogs have covered the news in detail, so I won’t rehash what they’ve said–read for yourself:
- iPhone gets official third-party apps, AIM, and enterprise support (Lifehacker)
- iPhone SDK - what you need to know (The Unofficial Apple Weblog)
- Streaming video of Steve Jobs’ presentation on the iPhone SDK (Apple, via TUAW)
- iPhone enterprise and SDK: First impressions and questions (Daring Fireball)
- Happy now, bitches? (Fake Steve Jobs–don’t read if you don’t like the swearing.)
One downside to how software will be distributed–that is, exclusively through Apple–is that the availability of freeware from small developers will probably be slim and none. Apple is charging developers $99 per year to distribute software through the exclusive channel. So, unless software developers adopt freeconomics en masse, we may be limited to freebies from the big guys only. That’s not the worst thing in the world–giving the small developers a few bucks every now and then is what keeps things moving forward.
Either way, I’ve been waiting for this since the day I bought my iPhone–I’ve been a chicken about jailbreaking my phone because (a) it’s my only phone, and (b) I’m not well-off enough yet to go around throwing money at expensive cell phones willy-nilly.
