ex ped: At the World Wide Developer’s Conference in June, Jobs told the developers in the audience that the tools for writing in Safari (AJAX, etc.) constituted the SDK for the iPhone. To offer an SDK for native apps is a reversal of that policy. –Philip Elmer-DeWitt

But I watched again the video of Jobs's speech, and he said no such thing. What he said was you can develop Web apps using "Web 2.0 + Ajax." To create Web apps, quoth he, "No SDK required." (Look at the big slide projected on the screen behind him!) He most certainly did NOT say that the tools for writing in Safari "constituted the SDK for the iPhone."

Then yesterday, he said that a few months from now an SDK will be available for iPhone. He didn't say that it would no longer be possible to develop Web apps for the iPhone. How is that a "reversal"? At iPhone's release, there was one way for developers to create apps for the device; 8 months after its release, there will be an additional path for developers to take.

It's a shame that your superiors haven't convinced you to correct the errors of fact in your post. That convinces ME that their idea of journalism has nothing to do with reporting information. Rather, their goal seems to be to drive up Web site traffic by encouraging the posting of outrageous claims unsupported by facts.

ex ped: Thanks for the clarification. The point I was trying to make was that initially Jobs didn't want programmers outside Apple writing native apps and now he does. The 3rd party developers I'm hearing from consider that a reversal — and they're delighted. –Philip Elmer-DeWitt

This is not a reversal, it's a new feature. Everything said as WWDC (and since) remains true regarding iPhone app development. Safari/AJAX remains a viable SDK, even preferable for some apps. Developers are just being given an additional option. I'm not aware of any Apple statement that there would never be a native SDK for iPhone app development, only that there wasn't such an SDK available at the present time, without any commitment one way or another regarding the future.

Providing documentation for how to develop apps "now" lead to the development of hundreds of web-based apps. If at the launch of the iPhone Apple only said that there would be a native SDK in 7 months, then many of these terrific tools would not have been developed, and that would have made the iPhone a less valuable product for Apple's customers. In holding back the SDK announcement until now, Apple acted in the best interests of its iPhone customers.

I think Apple is doing a good job by letting third-party developers create applications for their devices. But no matter what this company does, people will always protest and complain about the devices they make. The fact that they are branching out and attracting a wider fanbase has caused a great deal of backlash among people that are loyal Apple customers and newcomers who don't quite understand the products. Hopefully, Apple will begin to ignore the critics and continue to provide great products for those who will not complain and scream at every turn.

The AJAX announcement was one that is fairly self-evident. This is what you can do now. While there was some developers who were annoyed, I did not get the feeling that was true in general. But I know that many (including me) would like to have one, and I am sure Apple engineers got an earful later at the conference.

Given the iPhone is a new platform which looks to be derived from the Leopard codebase, it is not surprising at all that it has taken some time to do an SDK. Things have to be documented and considered stable in order to be well-supported into the future. Even the original Mac did not have an SDK upon launch.

Apple did give warning about bricking possibilities with the most recent update. It is unfortunate that bricking has occurred for some, but the fact is that the 3rd party developers were touching undocumented stuff, modifying firmware, etc. Of course the point of an SDK is to be able to provide some assurance that you are insulated from underlying changes that Apple makes. I am not going to go experimenting with my production device. If I had another iPhone that was considered expendable, then I probably would have tried some of the 3rd party stuff.

But the latter scenario seems highly unlikely.

Therefore, this is NOT a reversal of policy. Steve Jobs has changed no tunes. It's not an admission of anything.

I can't wait to see Mr. Elmer-DeWitt's revised post, in which he resigns himself to reporting based on facts, rather than imagined events.

ex ped: At the World Wide Developer's Conference in June, Jobs told the developers in the audience that the tools for writing in Safari (AJAX, etc.) constituted the SDK for the iPhone. To offer an SDK for native apps is a reversal of that policy. –Philip Elmer-DeWitt

But Apple's share price has risen from 75 bucks to 173 bucks in a year. Microsoft? 28 bucks a year ago today… Today? 31.08

Do the math kids… Microsoft has nowhere to go – with just copy and paste techniques to take over the world. Apple however has opened three new markets at least with full OSX on the Mac, the Apple TV, and the iPhone and IPod. These are not cut down kinda works like our operating systems copies. These are full blown Mac OSX machines in their own right.

Look at the development, look at the progress, look at the improvement.

Vista anyone?

Did you mean "bricking"??????

Ex ped: Yes, thanks. Although brisking has a ring to it. Maybe it should be a verb. — Philip Elmer-DeWitt