Apple to reveal iPhone SDK in March

BEIJING, Feb. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Apple will reveal its long awaited iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) on March 6 at its Cupertino, California headquarters, the company said on Wednesday.

Apple added that "some exciting new enterprise features" would be unveiled, aiming at businesses, potentially stepping up competition with Research In Motion Ltd's popular Blackberry devices.

Apple's Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook said at a conference that he had "really good confidence" the company could hit its oft-stated goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of the year.

Considering the iPhone is the second best smartphone sold in the U.S. behind the BlackBerry, many iPhone-toting businesspeople are eager for Apple to offer support for corporate e-mail systems, such as Microsoft Exchange. The SDK would also be a boom for software developers anxious to build applications that could run directly on the iPhone's operating system.

When Apple launched the iPhone last June, it only allowed outside software developers to make Web-based programs, not ones that could be installed and run on the device itself.

The policy sparked an outcry among developers, who quickly found ways to crack Apple's restrictions and offer unauthorized programs. Within months, its CEO Steve Jobs backtracked and promised to open the phone up to outside software.

Apple has been expected to ship its iPhone SDK this month, according to Jobs last October, which is expected to enable a new industry created third party applications for the iPod touch and the iPhone to emerge.

But there have been rumors circulated recently that the release of the iPhone SDK would be delayed by as many as three weeks.

Apple also quietly released a firmware update for the iPhone, available through iTunes. The 162.1MB patch, software version 1.1.4, "includes bug fixes and supersedes all previous versions," according to the release from Apple.

(Agencies)