[azulum]

the SDK was planned from the beginning, not the result of developer outcry—though it certainly didn't hurt. apple had to make sure that the APIs were solid before releasing them to everyone. that takes time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd97us27eSg

[doomlaser]

The SDK was around from the beginning, but planned for a curated channel of third parties that Apple selected itself. Apple wsa incredibly worried about security issues on the device, and initially tried to satisfy everyday developers with: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/06/11iPhone-to-Support-...

The outcry was so fierce and sustained that around 3 months later, Apple backpedaled on this strategy and Jobs himself announced that they would open the platform up.