Rubicon Consulting released an extensive study back in Tuesday this week, and it shows that at least half of the Apple iPhone owners have installed third-party applications once. But more importantly, the firm has noted that at 40% of those surveyed had a strong will to add new software to their phones, though only a third of them were most likely to push through with the add-on.

This was most probably because the type of software wasn't factored in. So even though most users of the iPhone are early adopters, one could attribute the drop in actual customers to the fact they weren't exactly confident about instantly adding new applications to their phone when the utility of the applications were in question.

Rubicon believes that if Apple is able to reel in mainstream developers - those developers well-known in the industry for their quality software - there's reason for the consumer base for third-party applications to rise naturally. The firm speculates, however, that not all iPhones will have a third-party application installed, and thus the potential market for developers isn't exactly 100% of the iPhone user base.

While the launch of the new Apple iPhone third-party application store has yet to push through, a fraction of the iPhone user base have consistently installed third-party applications via unofficial means. A community around Apple homebrew was born because of some people's needs to do more on their phone than what Apple initially provided.

Some play old games, some change the way their applications are organized, and some even look to enhancing the features of the capable iPhone.

Apple has since conveyed their support for third-party applications but only through official means. The previous unveiling of the Apple iPhone software development kit (SDK) came with a push for an official portal for purchasing and downloading applications created for the iPhone alone.

Developers in the homebrew scene are partial to the arrival of the SDK. Some believe that it would be better to remain independent and offer their software for free. In another point, users have yet to see what kind of software will be offered from Apple's initiative. More updates on this as we come by them.