iPhone prepares for new life as a PC

News analysis Starting from February, you'll finally be able to call the iPhone a mobile computer.

Ever since Apple let the iPhone loose in late June, most of the criticism around the device has centered on the company's decision to shut developers out of the iPhone. CEO Steve Jobs tried to assuage developers by reminding them that they could create Web applications for the iPhone.

However, the PC and the Mac would have never changed lives to the extent they have unless Microsoft and Apple allowed third-party application developers to create the myriad programs that simply couldn't be envisioned or tackled by those two companies. It's just not possible for one organisation to envision everything that you or I might like to do with our computers.

In an inevitable move, Jobs revealed the plan for third-party iPhone applications on Wednesday. Come February, budding iPhone developers will be able to obtain a software development kit that will give them the tools and the know-how to create safe and reliable applications for the iPhone without having to depend on "jailbreak" programs. That means iPhone users will be able to add applications they can trust without voiding their warranties.

The only thing unexpected about this development is the timing. Some thought an SDK would arrive as early as this month, while others didn't expect Apple to provide an opening into the iPhone until next year's Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

The reason it's taking so long, according to Apple, was that the company wanted to find a way to be as "open" as possible to third-party development while still keeping a lid on viruses and malware that could kill the iPhone before it gets off the ground.

The iPhone runs OS X, which is essentially a derivative of Mac OS X with all the parts you don't need on a phone stripped out to make the software smaller and easier on your battery. There are tested and proven Unix fundamentals at the core of OS X, but Apple apparently felt it couldn't guarantee a reliable experience on the iPhone until it made sure that no security holes had been created in the development of the mobile operating system.

Apparently, that fear will be settled by February, when Apple will either ship OS X 2.0, borrow technology from Leopard to make the iPhone more stable, or both. Jobs hinted that developers will probably have to adhere to some sort of digital-signature architecture, similar to one Nokia has in place, to create working applications for the iPhone.

However, some developers can't wait. Almost immediately after iPhone Day, hackers got to work "jailbreaking" the iPhone, or opening it up so third-party applications could be developed and installed on the device. Dozens of small applications sprung up overnight as enterprising developers came up with new ways to use the iPhone.

The problem was Apple never authorised this, and actually said quite specifically in the iPhone's user agreement that loading third-party applications onto the iPhone was a violation of that agreement and would void the warranty. It reinforced that notion with the 1.1.1 software update, which wiped the iPhone clean of any third-party applications.

This SDK will change the way people think about the iPhone. RIM and Motorola will be able to port the BlackBerry and Good Mobile Messaging software to the iPhone, allowing secure access to corporate e-mail.

Browser developers will be able to release products with Flash or Java support and really bring the full Internet to your pocket. And some independent developer toiling away in his or her basement on weekends will come up with a totally new application that takes advantage of the touch-screen interface to do something really cool, and start a business around that software.

One thing the SDK probably won't support is unlocking, at least just yet. Reports have put the exclusive contract between Apple and AT&T at anywhere from two years to five years, so it's unlikely, but not impossible, that Apple will authorise iPhone unlocking with the SDK.

In many ways, that's a shame. Someday we'll look back on this era of carrier control as ridiculous: can you imagine if your cable or DSL provider currently dictated which PC you could buy, and if you then moved your PC to a part of the country or world where that service was unavailable, you couldn't hook it up to the Internet? But it's a classic dilemma between working for change within the system and revolution, and controlling entities with the power of wireless carriers tend to frown on revolutions.

Expect the underground hacking efforts to continue up to and past the point when Apple formally releases the SDK, as there will probably be demand for unlocked iPhones until the day Apple releases a version for other networks. Just as the company knew that one day it'd have to open up the iPhone to other applications, at some point it's going to have to target the segment of the population that wants nothing to do with AT&T, O2, Orange and the other exclusive iPhone partners.