The countdown has finally begun for the launch of the much awaited Apple iPhone SDK. A week before the scheduled event on March 6, 2008 Apple Inc. circulated invitations for “an iPhone software road map” event at its headquarters in Cupertino at 10 a.m. PST. This raises the possibility of announcement of details on the plans for an iPhone software development kit (SDK), which is also said to be Apple’s third-party iPhone software.

Industry experts believe that Thursday’s event will hold discussions on the state of the iPhone, and about how iPhone application development will unfurl. There are also reports that Apple might unveil a few innovative enterprise features, which many experts believe would be an attempt to get the iPhone work strongly with corporate e-mail software.

Although there are still some doubts about the SDK release on March 6, there are indications that Apple Inc. might reveal what options developers will have for getting their applications on the iPhone. The expectations for the iPhone SDK has been high since the time the then Apple CEO Steve

Jobs announced the plan for release of an official software development kit (SDK) that would allow third parties to create applications that would run directly on the iPhone.

Although all this issues are expected to be discussed on the March 6 event, there are news that the preliminary SDK will be just an alpha or beta release; with a complete version coming later this year at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference. Apple has always been conservative about the kind of platform iPhone will provide for the SDK. While they are enthusiastic of providing a sophisticated and open podium to developers, they are at the same time cautious about providing protecting iPhone users from viruses, confidentiality threat, etc.

However, there are still now quite a few ambiguities regarding how Apple defines the iPhone SDK platform. Either it can allow free access to the iPhone to develop applications for the iPhone but only those applications that have been certified by Apple; or the company can be the sole arbitrator over who can create applications and what can be installed on the iPhone.