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LOS ANGELES - Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said that outside developers will be allowed to create programmes for the iPhone, changing a policy that had angered many fans of the company.
Blocking outsiders from making programmes that would run easily on the iPhone has been one of a series of steps that have annoyed users, even leading to some lawsuits.
Jobs, in comments on the company's website, said a kit for developers will not be available until February, as the company works out how to open up the phone without exposing it to malicious programmes.
"We think a few months of patience now will be rewarded by many years of great third party applications running on safe and reliable iPhones," Jobs said. (http://www.apple.com/hotnews/)
Developers have tried to open up the iPhone for use in the United States on networks beyond Apple's US partner, AT&T Inc , though Apple has blocked many such moves.
It also has avoided a system that would let imaginative software engineers create whatever they like, until the policy change was announced.
- REUTERS
