Apple To Allow External Applications On iPhone

Recently speaking at Apple's annual developers' conference in San Francisco, Chief Executive Steve Jobs said Apple would let outside developers create applications for the iPhone by tapping Safari, softening the company's previous position that the device would not support other software due to security concerns.

Addressing concerns that the iPhone would not support programs not created by Apple, Jobs said independent developers could write application software for Safari, which is included in the multimedia device.

"It's an innovative new way to create apps for mobile devices ... and it gives us tremendous capability, more than has ever been in a mobile device," Jobs said.

This is a good news for Apple’s enthusiastic development community.

ThinkEquity analyst Jonathan Hoopes said developers writing applications to run on Safari could have their software run on either a Mac or Windows-based computer. "That same app should be able to run on the iPhone," he said.

At the same conference Jobs announced the beta of Safari for Windows based PCs, which is avilable for only Mac systems until now.
Safari for Windows can be downloaded from Apple's website.