Apple unveiled the long promised SDK (Software Development Kit) for the iphone, along with serious support for business enterprise applications and services, including Cisco VPN (Virtual Private Network) support and Microsoft Active Sync support. The latter is needed to make the iPhone work fully with businesses using Entourage and other Microsoft business applications. The SDK allows developers to write and distribute iPhone native software applications, including games.
The iPhone is already the most popular cellphone in the world, but with today's announcements, Apple has unleashed the full power of the device, which actually runs Mac OS X. I wrote in this space years ago that the iPod was not a music player, but actually a new platform. Today, Apple has opened up the iPhone (which is actually an iPod) and has made the cellphone obsolete. RIM stock is off several dollars already (RIM makes the popular Blackberry), and Palm stock is down slightly, although Palm has had stock value issues for some time. But Motorola, Nokia, LG, and other phone makers are also in trouble, because the iPhone offers so much more than an old fashioned cellphone that Apple is well on the way to eliminating much of the competition, just as it did in the music player market.