Developers rejected from iPhone program

Hundreds if not more of the developers who applied to Apple's iPhone Developer Program have been rejected for membership. The $100 program promised developer support, entry to the iPhone AppStore and other benefits. Part of a published portion of the rejection letter reads: "We have received your enrollment request. At this time, the iPhone Developer Program is available to a limited number of developers and we plan to expand the program during the course of the beta period. We will contact you again regarding your enrollment status at the appropriate time." As pointed out by TUAW, however, "this is less about 'rejection' than it is about developers being unable to commit resources when Apple won't give a firm go-ahead. Feel free to think about it as a 'limbogram' rather than an outright rejection."

Apple's development kit uses the same programming language and interface used by Apple itself and now includes Cocoa Touch, an API designed to add touchscreen input. Programmers now use a modified version of Xcode that is not only used to write programs for the iPhone but to manage them as well, including designing the visual interface, source control, and debugging. Developers can also test the final results in an environment known as the iPhone Simulator,

Apple previously announced that in the first four days following the release of the beta iPhone SDK, over 100,000 downloads have been processed through the Apple Developer Connection, to which people must officially belong before they can use the software. "Developer reaction to the iPhone SDK has been incredible with more than 100,000 downloads in the first four days," reads a statement by Apple's senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing, Philip Schiller. "Also, over one million people have watched the launch video on Apple.com, further demonstrating the incredible interest developers have in creating applications for the iPhone."

Apple has also let slip the names of some more companies planning iPhone software. These include Intuit, the makers of Quickbooks; NetSuite, who plan to upgrade SuitePhone; and Six Apart, who are developing a native iPhone application for TypePad. Apple has also revealed that PopCap is porting games such as Bejeweled, Zuma and Peggle to the iPhone platform, while Namco is bringing updated versions of Pac-Man and Galaga.