iPhone: da Febbraio aperto allo sviluppo da terze parti

Apple conferma: a partire dal prossimo mese di Febbraio verrà distribuito il Software Development Kit per lo sviluppo da parte di terzi di applicazioni in grado di funzionare nativamente su iPhone e iPod touch.

La Mela spiega che bisognerà attendere fino al mese di Febbraio per un motivo fondamentale: assicurare da una parte la piena flessibilità in fase di sviluppo e dall'altra garantire la sicurezza e la stabilità del telefono da maleware generico ed eventuali attacchi che possano mettere a repentaglio la privacy dell'utente.

Secondo le dichiarazioni rilasciate Apple sta cercando di approntare un progetto all'interno del quale offrire un ampio accesso alla piattaforma iPhone. Non è dato sapere, tuttavia, se questo tipo di accesso sarà reso possibile all'interno dell'eventuale strategia di fornire un sistema di applicazioni certificate oppure in modo completamente libero.

Riportiamo di seguito l'annuncio informale ma ufficiale pubblicato all'indirizzo http://www.apple.com/startpage/.

Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers’ hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users. With our revolutionary multi-touch interface, powerful hardware and advanced software architecture, we believe we have created the best mobile platform ever for developers. It will take until February to release an SDK because we’re trying to do two diametrically opposed things at once—provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc. This is no easy task. Some claim that viruses and malware are not a problem on mobile phones—this is simply not true. There have been serious viruses on other mobile phones already, including some that silently spread from phone to phone over the cell network. As our phones become more powerful, these malicious programs will become more dangerous. And since the iPhone is the most advanced phone ever, it will be a highly visible target. Some companies are already taking action. Nokia, for example, is not allowing any applications to be loaded onto some of their newest phones unless they have a digital signature that can be traced back to a known developer. While this makes such a phone less than “totally open,” we believe it is a step in the right direction. We are working on an advanced system which will offer developers broad access to natively program the iPhone’s amazing software platform while at the same time protecting users from malicious programs. We think a few months of patience now will be rewarded by many years of great third party applications running on safe and reliable iPhones. Steve P.S.: The SDK will also allow developers to create applications for iPod touch.