OStatic

After much teeth-gnashing from the developer community, Apple has finally dropped its draconian and restrictive non-disclosure agreement (NDA) on the iPhone software development kit (SDK). In the seven months since the SDK showed up, Apple has taken much heat from developers and iPhone users alike over its lack of platfrom openness. The platform still isn't open, but it is a step in the right direction for Apple to eliminate this NDA. Here's what this means for the open source phones that will be competing with the iPhone.

At yesterday's Apple Worldwide Developer Conference, where Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone 3G and numerous other initiatives, it became very clear that the coming battle among smartphones will be largely decided onﾠ the basis of who gets the best applications. Applications built with the upcoming iPhone 2.0 SDK looked very mature, and there were many demonstrations showing how easy they were to create. What does this mean for Google's Linux-based Android mobile platform and the wave of Linux-based phones expected later this year?