Jobs: The iPhone Will be Open to Developers

Thursday, May 31st, 2007 at 11:15 AM - by

Apple CEO Steve Jobs confirmed during an interview at the D: All Things Digital Conference that the soon to be released iPhone will indeed be open to third party developers, but not right away. The trick, he said, was balancing openness with security, and that's something Apple is working on right now, according to Macworld.

"I think sometime later this year we will find a way to let third parties write apps and still preserve security. But until we can find that way, we can't compromise the security of the phone," Jobs said. "Nobody's perfect, but we sure don't want our phone to crash. We would like to solve this problem, if you could be just a little more patient with us, I think everyone can get what they want."

Developers and potential users have been concerned that Apple would not allow any third party applications on the combination iPod and smartphone. Earlier this year, Apple wouldn't commit to opening the iPhone to developers, leaving many fearing that they would be locked out of coding for the device.

Mr. Jobs' commitment should be good news for developers and end users alike. Unfortunately, both will have to practice patience waiting for Apple to give developers the green light.

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iVoid said:

member since 10 Jan 2007 with 56 posts, unranked , send him a message or view his profile

Thu May 31, 2007 1:51 pm

Well, this removes one more reason preventing me from getting an iPhone.

still wish it had a memory slot for additional expansion and a removable battery.

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ipaqrat said:

member since 14 Jan 2005 with 34 posts, unranked , send him a message or view his profile

Thu May 31, 2007 3:03 pm

More Memory! Holy Crap! What can anybody possibly do with more than 16 kilobytes?

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Jun 06, 2007 3:55 pm

Is this really a commitment? "I think sometime later this year we will find a way to let third parties write apps and still preserve security." I think? sometime? That doesn't sound like someone committing to anything. Instead SJ is just trying to sweep the bad press about the iPhone under the carpet with a vague comment. But... that's Apple, press management at its best. Not many people will quote "I think" twice and read that as "will" and "commitment".

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