Steve Jobs stumbled a bit around the quick price drop of the new iphone so maybe he is learning because the Apple web site confirms that Apple will be opening up the iPhone and iPod Touch to third party developers.

While the recent iphone update (ver 1.1.1) bricked hacked iPhones, it also bricked iPhones running legitimate third party apps. Oops. What to do?

Jobs said Apple intends to release a software development kit (SDK) in February 2008 that will enable coders to create applications to work directly on the iPhone and the iPod Touch.

More chat apps (such as AIM) and games (no more Bejeweled apps – give us FPS!) could be on the way soon if the track record of third party app creation is any indication. The first guy that figures out how to get Skype on the iPhone is going to get rich. Imagine skirting the deathstar and making free calls via Skype using the iPhone’s wifi hookup. Sweet!

It is possible that Apple will insist on approving all software, and on limiting sanctioned distribution to an Apple-owned Web site (helloooo, iTunes), much like it already does for software for Macintosh computers and operating system widgets

Apple has always said that the iPhone runs Mac OS X at its core, but in practical terms it’s really a new operating system that Apple has put together for the iPhone with common DNA from Mac OS.