Apple has officially announced the iPhone SDK, and it is amazing. In fact, the SDK gives third-party developers access to the exact same tools, APIs, and Cocoa Touch framework that Apple has been using to design their own iPhone apps. This includes features like location-aware applications, hardware-accelerated 3D graphics, the 3-axis accelerometer, and complete access to the media features available on the iPhone. The SDK is built right in to Xcode, which includes an iPhone emulator, called iPhone Simulator. This let’s you test your applications without having to load them onto an actual iPhone, where you might end up with a bricked device. When you are ready to test on your actual phone, it is simple to send your app over to the iPhone for real-world testing.

Exciting, right? If you want to give it a shot, the SDK toolset is available for all to download - free of charge. You won’t be able to send your apps to your iPhone unless you are selected to participate in the iPhone 2.0 firmware update beta program, but hey, that’s what iPhone Simulator is for.