iPhone Will Support Third-Party Web 2.0 Applications

At its developer's conference today, Apple announced that its upcoming iPhone will run applications created with Web 2.0 Internet standards.

This announcement had been expected since late last month, when the company's CEO Steve Jobs said for the first time that third-party developers will be allowed to write applications for this smartphone. But this is the first time details had been available.

In his keynote address today, Jobs said developers will be able to create Web 2.0 applications which look and behave just like the applications built into the iPhone, and which will be able to seamlessly access iPhone’s services, including making a phone call, sending an email and displaying a location in Google Maps.

“Developers and users alike are going to be very surprised and pleased at how great these applications look and work on iPhone,” said Jobs. “Our innovative approach, using Web 2.0-based standards, lets developers create amazing new applications while keeping the iPhone secure and reliable.”

As opposed to traditional stand-alone software, the Web 2.0 applications will operate through the version of the Safari web browser included on the iPhone.

Jobs promised that no special programming skills or development packages will be required.

Why Web 2.0 Applications?

Apple says it chose to support Web 2.0-based applications on the iPhone because it believes they are far more interactive and responsive than traditional web applications, and can be easily distributed over the Internet and painlessly updated by simply changing the code on the developers’ own servers.

The modern web standards also provide secure data access and transactions, like those used with online retailers or banks.

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