Apple said it will open up its iPhone for software developers early next year, as previously rumored. A BusinessWeek report claimed the company may release a native software development kit (SDK) for the iPhone as soon as January. The idea behind the delay was allegedly that Apple needed to get out Leopard first, because the new SDK for the iPhone uses some of its unique features.

However, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said in a posting on the company's website that a kit for developers will not be available until February, as the company works out how to open up the phone without exposing it to malicious software programs. Thus it appears there is no link with Mac OS X Leopard.

"We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users," Jobs wrote.

"Let me just say it: We want native third-party applications on the iPhone," Jobs said. Right! It looks more like Apple tried to pull another exclusivity scheme and realized that just can't be done with all these prolific hackers around.

For customers, it means they will be able to get hundreds of applications and games from third party developers. The iPhone does not have a chat application, for example.

The battle between Apple and the hackers who publishes solutions to unlock the iPhones continues to rage on, exactly how Steve Jobs predicted not long ago. Three weeks ago, during his travel in Europe to launch iPhone Steve Jobs was asked about his opinion on the matter and he said Apple will try to stay ahead of hackers.

"It's a cat-and-mouse game," said Jobs. "We try to stay ahead. People will try to break in, and it's our job to stop them breaking in."

Shortly after that on September 27 Apple issued the famous iPhone Update 1.1.1., which rendered useless all the unlocked iPhones. The users of unlocked iPhones who decided to update their gadget, despite Apple’s warning, were transformed in just a matter of minutes, into the owners of an iBrick.

But the hackers behind the groups like iPhoneSIMFree and iPhone Dev Team were decided to strike back and it seems like they have found a way to bring the bricked iPhones back to life. iPhoneSIMFree, the same team who had published the first unlock solution, announced the Version 1.6 of its software and said it could restore any unlocked "bricked" iPhone. Meanwhile, other unlocking solutions surfaced on the Internet.