Official Third-Party iPhone Apps in February

After months of speculation, multiple jailbreaks and not a few bricked iPhones, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced today that a developer’s kit for the iPhone and iPod Touch will be sent out in February, creating a way to add function to the devices through official channels. But he’s still implying that developers will have to jump through hoops to actually get on the platform:

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.

So it sounds truly homebrew apps will get shut out unless starting developers can prove their good intentions. By endorsing Nokia’s new way of doing things, Steve is heavily implying that Apple will stand in between developers and iPhones for our own good. I see his point — virally infected iPhones would be bad for the Apple image. On the other hand, maybe he could just make the iPhone as secure as regular OS X and block access to things like the base band and root folders? Just a thought.

Via AP