Was the iPhone SDK Deliberately Delayed?

Agree with you that from Day 1 (i.e., Jan 2007), an SDK was being contemplated and the issues (security) were being worked. Jobs said as much to John Markoff at the Times in Jan 2007. The only thing the complaints may have done is get Apple to put more resources on it, though I also doubt this - Apple was focused on getting the already-delayed Leopard out first.

Arik,

That last paragraph was about the most intelligent thing I've read from anyone on this subject. The idea that the SDK is the result of some massive corporate "give-in" to the collective whine of the geek community is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. You have to know that these things were in the cards from the beginning. However, anyone who was disappointed because the iPhone did not emerge fully formed from the cranium of Apple, enterprise- and developer-ready, does not know how Apple works.

Recent articles have marveled at Apple's low R&D-to-revenue ratio, but there is a simple reason behind it - they don't throw billions of dollars worth of projects at the wall simultaneously to see which will stick. They concentrate on perfecting one item at a time. This allows them to be a smaller company, and helps explain the 2007 product year: iPhone announcement, iPhone launch, iPod upgrade, iPod Touch, iMac upgrade, Leopard launch - all these things were spread out and introduced when they were ready.

I personally believe that one of the primary purposes of the iPhone is to create a portal into the enterprise market without having to dislodge Windows from its entrenched position. Consequently, Apple could ill afford to enter a market in which it had no experience with a product loaded from the beginning with every possible feature, only to have it fall on its face. This is how you think when looking to establish a platform as opposed to just introducing a product. So they chose to introduce features and aspects sequentially, gaining experience as they went. Can anyone argue with their methods? First, they fundamentally changed for the better the relationship between device manufacturers, service providers, and customers (people who continue to complain about the exclusive deal with AT&T seem to frequently forget this). They completely altered the expectations for smart phones and the environment in which they are evaluated. Now they are re-introducing concern for the user experience into the enterprise, a concern which has been sorely missing since Apple allowed itself to be driven from the market in the late 80's.