SDK for the Apple iPhone — A True “Community” Software?!?

Apple has done a 180 and will now allow third-party applications to work directly on the iPhone. Chief Executive Steve Jobs said the company intends to release a software development kit in February that will let coders create applications to work directly on the iPhone and iPod Touch. “We are excited about creating a vibrant third-party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users,” Jobs said in a posting on Apple’s Web site.

According to a Business Week article, “Apple will release a software-development kit for the iPhone in early 2008, enabling programmers to create games, business-productivity tools, and countless other applications for the device.”  However, upon further reading BW states that Apple might restrict which programmers get access to the SDK, “Concerns like that (privacy) will probably lead Apple to be careful in selecting which programmers are given the tools to build iPhone software.”

As a community marketer, it concerns me that this “community” SDK might only go to select companies and continue to make the avid MAC fans upset.  What are your thoughts?