It seems that Apple has heard our pleas to stop talking it up and get their official iPhone SDK out into developers’ hands. Well, in all actuality, Apple probably wasn’t responding to our singular call for the iPhone SDK, but we’ll take what we can get.
Electronista is reporting that Apple has started seeding the official iPhone SDK to a select few developers. An extremely lucky few software developers are reportedly getting rough-draft versions of the iPhone and iPod Touch Software Development Kit. We’re not sure exactly what comprises the iPhone SDK, but the “special” few that have the pleasure of using the SDK have confirmed that it creates native applications and works in much the same way as Google’s OpenSocial – acting as a middle-man between the iPhone OS and the programmer.
However, programming applications for the iPhone OS will not be the same as on the Mac OS X – the SDK has it limits. Again, details on the SDK’s capabilities are not yet known – the developers have reportedly only been working on the SDK for a couple weeks. And, as such, there is no available release date for any iPhone SDK-sourced applications.
It makes sense for Apple to choose a few high-level developers to get a head-start on programming native applications for the iPhone prior to the official iPhone SDK release in February. Having native applications up and running at the time of the iPhone SDK’s release is a prudent move on Apple’s part. We suppose Apple learned from Google’s Android announcement – you know, the super-hyped mobile phone platform from Google that soon lost steam and fizzled out due to lack of marketable hardware and software. Apple could keep third-party iPhone applications on the hype-radar by releasing working applications at the time of the SDK’s launch.
Bring on the iPhone SDK!
[Via: Electronista]