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Apple to Firms: It's OK to Write iPhone Software

After update uproar, specific developers may get access to platform

By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 5, 2007 5:44 PM CDT

(Newser) – Having roused the ire of iPhone third-party software developers and users when its software update 1.1.1 permanently deactivated modified handsets, Apple is now corralling a groups of developers under strict confidentiality who may be given free reign to develop native apps for the iPhone, Fortune reports.

There are indications that the company is waiting to release the news on iPhone development until its new Leopard edtiion of OS X debuts in three weeks, because the iPhone uses Leopard architecture. The move would mimic the software business model T-Mobile implemented for its successful Sidekick handset, which led to a proliferation of apps for that smartphone.

Chief Executive Officer of Apple, Steve Jobs. (Getty Images)

BIZ CPT-IPHONE 3 HK (KRT Photos)

Telekom CEO, Rene Obermann, left, and Apple-CEO Steve Jobs display Apple iPhones during a news conference in Berlin on Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2007, Obermann and Jobs announced that the iPhone will go on... (Associated Press)

T-Mobile Sidekick Slide. (Photo (Associated Press)

T-Mobile Sidekick LX in espresso brown. (Photo (Associated Press)

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Apple to Firms: It's OK to Write iPhone Software

After update uproar, specific developers may get access to platform

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