• October 18, 2007

Apple is opening the iPhone for third-party applications, CEO Steve Jobs said in a posting on the company's Web site Wednesday.

Apple created a brouhaha among developers and some iPhone users when it issued a software update Sept. 27 that disabled unofficial programs installed on the handsets.

Jobs said the company intends to release a software development kit in February that will enable coders to create applications to work directly on the iPhone and the iPod Touch. The Touch is the new iPod portable player that resembles the iPhone but lacks the function of a cell phone.

"We are excited about creating a vibrant third-party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users," Jobs said in the posting.