Finally it seems like after more than four months since
Jobs’ announcement, Apple is ready to open up the iPhone to the developers’
world by publishing the promised SDK.
On Thursday, Apple has invited the media to a one of its
Town Hall meetings at its Cupertino headquarters to talk about the iPhone,
iPhone SDK and, as the invitation reads, several mysterious “enterprise
features”.
Apple didn’t disclosed until now any details about the new
softweare and its capabilities, and event the unveiling of the iPhone SDK isn’t
a sure a thing as in the invitation to the event Apple said something about
“iPhone software roadmap”.
However, let’s hope that they are ready to release it,
because lately the analysts seemed worried that iPhone has last its appeal for
consumers and some of them are doubtful that Apple will be able to reach its
milestone of 10 million units sold.
In this context, delaying the SDK could be viewed as a bad
sign, though is not the first time when a products is delayed by Apple. Even
its Mac OS X Leopard was delayed to allow to Apple’s engineers to focus on the
iPhone.
The release of the SDK could signal also the dawn of a new
era for iPhone. Apple is ready to combine the flexibility of its software platform
with the creativity of the developers and it will be interesting what
applications will appear.
Through the efforts of the developers’ community, the iPhone
has a good chance to become one of the most complex, useful (and why not
unique) cell phones available on the market.
Until now the cell phone makers were focused on the hardware
versions of their phone rather than on improving the applications or the
software platform.
With iPhone SDK, Apple hopes to change the focus from
hardware to applications, in a similar move to one made sometimes ago by Google
with Android. It is interesting how Apple’s approach of the mobile market will
play out.
On the other hand the iPhone SDK could boost the iPhone
sales and help Apple to reach its sales target. The iPhone has proved to be a
very popular device, not only for its phone capabilities, but also for its
entertainment features. Imagine only what plethora of games will follow after
the SDK release.
Also, Apple spoke about “iPhone software roadmap”. The term
is rather vague, and it could hide also a delay announcement, but maybe Apple
has more thing in mind for its iPhone. Lets’ wait and see what Steve Jobs will
reveal next week.