"No software developer kit (SDK) is required for the iPhone." That statement may prove to be the death knoll for those who hoped to run cutting-edge third party applications on the iPhone.

As pointed out by Jesus Diaz in his Gizmodo post, third party software developers are now only limited to using AJAX, an internet standard that spawned applications such as Gmail, Facebook, and Google Maps. While AJAX has proven to be indispensable, it still gives developers little freedom when it comes to creating applications.

Apple's press release has this to say about the iPhone not having SDK:

Developers can create Web 2.0 applications which look and behave just like the applications built into iPhone, and which can seamlessly access iPhone's services, including making a phone call, sending an email and displaying a location in Google Maps.

However, this is hardly new, since the Safari is already included in the iPhone, which can auto-detect phone numbers and addresses embedded in webpages effortlessly.

Needless to say, a lack of SDK means lack of innovative third party programs that may improve the experience of using the iPhone. More importantly, there will be a severe lack of great games that could possibly be played on the iPhone. Apple may have ties with Electronic Arts (EA) and id software - both game geniuses in their own right - but how about other game developers who know their stuff as well?

Simply put, not giving software developers enough freedom to create applications may very well hurt possible iPhone users hoping to get cutting edge technology.

Well, there's still widgets to work with, anyway.