Apple released the long-awaited Software Development kit for the iPhone today. Getting your hands on the new Xcode with the iPhone SDK costs you nothing. To download it, all you need is a free membership with the Apple Developer Connection. However, if you want to get your apps in the App Store (as well as other features like live debugging on an attached iPhone), you’ll have to upgrade your account to “iPhone Developer” and pay a $99 annual fee. That’s not a bad deal since Apple does all the heavy lifting for you. Imagine trying to get your app in front of every iPhone user yourself. Apple does it for you with the App Store. Also, I think the $99 fee will do a good job of weeding out the riff-raff, leaving you with an amazing selection of quality apps from serious programmers.

After signing up with the ADC, get your hands on the new SDK and install it.

The new Xcode Installation is like any previous version.



Starting a new project is a little different than in previous versions. The “New Project” window has been redone to include iPhone templates.



To test your code, the new Xcode comes with an iPhone simulator. It’s amazing. It acts just like the real thing. It responds to user input just as you’d expect. Full networking capabilities are built right in. As you can see, you can hop on Safari and even surf the web!





You can work on your project in Xcode, Build and Go, and immediately test your results in the simulator. If you choose to sign up as an iPhone Developer, the $99 Apple fee you pay not only allows you to deploy your app to an attached iPhone for hands-on testing, you will be able to publish your applications to the App Store.

Right now the SDK is a beta. The full version with all the bells and whistles, including a new Interface Builder, is slated for a June release. It’s going to be awesome. I cant wait to finally buy an iPhone. Now only if my tax refund would show up...