Apple Shakes Up the Mobile Market (Again)

Yesterday, Apple head-honcho Steve Jobs finally unveiled the long awaited iPhone SDK (Software Development Kit – a collection of software tools and documentation designed to help programmer write new software for the platform). Until now the software on the iPhone was closed to developers, and programmers who wanted to create software for the device had to resort fairly complex ‘hacks’ to get their software working on the device.

The release of the SDK will mean many more developers will be drawn to creating software for the increasingly popular device. And to jumpstart the development of applications apple has announced – in association with verture capitalists KPCB – $100 million ‘iFund’. According to KPCB, “A revolutionary new platform is a rare and prized opportunity for entrepreneurs, and that’s exactly what Apple has created with iPhone and iPod touch.”

At the same time Apple also announced that the company has licensed Microsoft’s Active sync, allowing the devices to transparently communicate with Microsoft Exchange Email servers, like those used by many small and medium sized businesses. This move alone will likely draw a lot of disaffected windows mobile users away to the iPhone.

Since the iPhone was released observers have noted that the device seemed an ideal gaming platform, but Apple has traditionally not actively courted the gaming market either on it’s desktops or mobile devices. At yesterdays presentation, however, EA demonstrated a version of Will Wright’s long awaited Spore running on the iPhone – a move that will create more buzz in the gaming market than anything else they could possibly have done. Jobs brought executives from EA and Sega onto stage, both of whom gushed about the platform, and how much they were able to create in ‘only two weeks’ working on it. It’s interesting to interesting about that is that in Feburary, Apple announced that SDK release would be 2 weeks later than originally announced.