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Third Party Applications on the iPhone
Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the
iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers' hands in February.
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.

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. 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.

Some companies are already taking action. Nokia, for example, is not
allowing any applications to be loaded onto some of their newest
phones unless they have a digital signature that can be traced back to
a known developer. While this makes such a phone less than "totally
open," we believe it is a step in the right direction. We are working
on an advanced system which will offer developers broad access to
natively program the iPhone's amazing software platform while at the
same time protecting users from malicious programs.

We think a few months of patience now will be rewarded by many years
of great third party applications running on safe and reliable
iPhones.

Steve

P.S.: The SDK will also allow developers to create applications for
iPod touch. [Oct 17, 2007]

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