An article in today’s New York Times has cited an unnamed source stating Apple will release a software development kit to developers at next week’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.
The anonymous source stated that Apple “intends to announce that it will make it possible for developers of small programs written for the Macintosh to easily convert them to run on the iPhone.” The article offered no additional offers where this was concerned.
While a software development kit for the iPhone makes sense, Apple has apparently wrangled with the prospect of completely open development for the device, especially with security and stability factored in.
Apple may be shifting its position, though. When the device was first announced in January, the company seemed to steadfastly indicate that it would not allow third-party application development. Last week, CEO Steve Jobs seemed to indicate that iPhone development was now a question of “when”, as opposed to “if”.
During an interview with Wall Street Journal columnist Walter Mossberg, Jobs noted that the Japanese consumer electronics industry had been hindered by poorly written software. Jobs then went on to point out that the iPhone’s more robust Mac OS X underpinnings might allow for a lead on the rest of the handset industry and thus more flexibility where development was concerned.
Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.
An article in today’s New York Times has cited an unnamed source stating Apple will release a software development kit to developers at next week’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.
The anonymous source stated that Apple “intends to announce that it will make it possible for developers of small programs written for the Macintosh to easily convert them to run on the iPhone.” The article offered no additional offers where this was concerned.
While a software development kit for the iPhone makes sense, Apple has apparently wrangled with the prospect of completely open development for the device, especially with security and stability factored in.
Apple may be shifting its position, though. When the device was first announced in January, the company seemed to steadfastly indicate that it would not allow third-party application development. Last week, CEO Steve Jobs seemed to indicate that iPhone development was now a question of “when”, as opposed to “if”.
During an interview with Wall Street Journal columnist Walter Mossberg, Jobs noted that the Japanese consumer electronics industry had been hindered by poorly written software. Jobs then went on to point out that the iPhone’s more robust Mac OS X underpinnings might allow for a lead on the rest of the handset industry and thus more flexibility where development was concerned.
Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.