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Third-Party Apps for iPhone ... Someday

by Terrence O'Brien on June 5, 2007 at 01:51 PM

Third-Party Apps for iPhone ... Someday
One of the few, but troubling, complaints about the iPhone that's managed to squeeze its way out through all the hype is the lack of support for third-party software. Every other smart phone OS -- Windows Mobile, Palm OS, Symbian -- allow for user-installable applications.

So far, Apple has maintained that only Apple or Apple-approved software would run on the phone (as is the case with the iPod). Apple's reasoning is that this must be done in order to keep the iPhone up to the company's legendarily high standards of quality. But according to rumors and recent statements made by Steve Jobs, it appears Apple may have had a change of heart -- or is wisely relenting to all of the criticism.

"We're working through a way [to make third party software a reality]," Jobs recently said at the Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital conference. "We've got some pretty good ideas that we're working through, and I think sometime later this year we will find a way to let third parties write apps and still preserve security."

Now, rumors are ricocheting around the Internet that an iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) will be announced next week at Apple's World Wide Developer's Conference.

Given Jobs' assertion that the iPhone runs the full-version of OS X and not a stripped-down micro version for phones, that makes possible some incredibly powerful apps. We won't be seeing a mini version of Photoshop anytime soon, but here's our list of totally feasible third-party apps we'd like to see running on our iPhone:

Firefox –- The Safari browser packaged with OS X is OK, but you can't beat the customization available with Firefox.

Skype -- Free Wi-Fi Internet calls could be a killer app for the iPhone.

Yojimbo -- Yojimbo is similar to Microsoft's One Note, except better in every possible way. It allows you to collect text, photos, links, documents, etc. and keep it all neatly organized.

MacMAME, SNES9X and other video-game emulators -- Why wait for companies to release lame mobile phone games for the iPhone when you can bust out classic arcade quarter gobblers and Super Nintendo games like 'Centipede,' 'Bubble Bobble' or 'Zombies Ate My Neighbors.'

What software would you like to see on the iPhone? Tell us in the comments section below.

From iTWire

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Tags: apple, iphone, software

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