Cell Phone
Apple to open up iPhone software
Outside developers will be allowed to create programs for the iPhone, changing a policy that had angered many.
Blocking outsiders from making programs that would run easily on the iPhone has been one of a series of restrictions that have annoyed users, even leading to some lawsuits.
Jobs, in comments on Apple’s Web site, said a kit for developers still will not be available until February, as the company works out how to open up the phone without exposing it to malicious programs.
But until now, Apple also had stopped software engineers from creating whatever they wanted to run on the iPhone, without delivering them through the iPhone’s Web browser.
Some 200 applications have been created for use on those terms, but consumers and software makers have seen that as an extra layer of rules and technology that was unnecessary and throttled innovation.
Under the new policy, applications will be allowed to run in so-called native mode. Apple could require a digital signature for programs to authenticate their developer, he added, referring to a system that he said mobile phone maker Nokia is implementing.
