Apple, Cingular and the Case of the Missing iPhone SDK

Published by Eric Litman on Wednesday, June 13th, 2007 12:29am

At Apple's annual developer event this week, Steve Jobs announced that there was no native SDK for the iPhone and that developers wanting to add functionality to the device could write web applications with limited hooks into some of the phone's native functions. Steve has cited concerns for the sanctity and stability of Cingular's network, but that's a veil for other, far more salient reasons behind this. Let's walk through some of the more interesting ones. The Apple/Cingular deal represents a significant departure from the typical relationships found between device manufactures and mobile operators. To close their deal, both companies had to evaluate and learn ...