How Long Has the iPhone SDK Been in the Works?

Jason O’Grady asks:

It’s pretty obvious that the iPhone SDK is a really big deal, right? Could Apple have been planning an SDK all along? Or were they coerced into doing it by the crafty cottage industry of jailbreakers that’s grown around iPhone?

The conventional wisdom seems to be that Apple changed its mind in the fall (the SDK was announced in October), but I think it’s pretty clear this was in the cards all along. Simply judging by the quality and scope of the iPhone SDK documentation and tools, it seems like far more than a few months of work.

★ Thursday, 13 March 2008