Third-Party Applications Officially coming to the iPhone (finally) - SDK to be released in February

Steve Jobs has just announced on Apple's website that they want Third Party Applications on the iPhone and are currently working on an SDK which will be released in February. This is indeed great news coming out finally from Apple.

Steve Jobs had this reason to give for the February launch "It will take until February to release an SDK because we’re trying to do two diametrically opposed things at once—provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc. This is no easy task."

However, it doesn't seem like the platform will be completely open as if you read between the lines, Apple might go the Nokia way of allowing only those applications to be installed on the iPhone that have a digital signature so that it can be traced back to a known developer which in my opinion is a reasonable approach to protect users from malicious programs.

This is definitely a step in the right direction from Apple instead of keeping the iPhone, possibly the best mobile platform ever created for developers, as a closed platform and could be a game-changer. Thanks Steve Jobs and Apple for listening and heeding to the demands of iPhone owners who have been rather critical of your "so far closed platform" approach since the launch.

We will be looking forward to the "vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for iPhone users" which you are promising. It seems like well deserved Valentine's day gift for the iPhone fanboys.

BTW, Steve Jobs did add that the SDK will also allow developers to create applications for iPod touch.

Click here to read Steve Jobs letter @ Apple.com

Thanks Judson for the tip.

Share your thoughts on such a momentous occasion in the comments!